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German military technology during World War II increased in terms of sophistication, but also cost, mechanical unreliability, and time to manufacture. Nazi Germany put effort into developing weapons; particularly aircraft, rockets, submarines and tanks during the war.
Germany developed numerous new weapons during the war although was unable to field many of these weapons in any meaningful number, including the first mass-produced assault rifle in the world.
Beginning in 1940, Germany solicited developmental prototypes for a semi-automatic rifle to replace the commonly used Karabiner 98k, a bolt-action rifle, for better performance in infantry. Two rifle manufacturers, Walther and Mauser submitted competing designs. These would be known as the Gewehr 41, with the entry by Mauser being designated G41M and Walther's being designated G41W.
In 1941, Germany began developing the first mass-produced assault rifle, in what eventually became the Sturmgewehr 44 . However, the rifle did not make a decisive impact on the war due to a variety of factors. Some of the factors which affected the utility of the Sturmgewehr 44 were, the declining state of the German war effort as of early 1943, delays in design and production due to administrative infighting, the allied bombing of German industry, and concerns over the feasibility of introducing a new rifle and ammunition into Germany's strained logistical infrastructure. [1]
The primary German submachine gun of the war was the MP40. This 9×19mm Parabellum open bolt submachine gun was a simplified version of the MP38 making use of stamped steel as opposed to machined components. The MP40 is notable for being an early user of polymers with both the handguard and the pistol grip being made of Margolit (a variation of Bakelite). It is believed over 1,000,000 MP40s were produced by 1944. [2]
Germany is notable also for their development and use of the General purpose machine gun although doctrinally these were known as universal machineguns with the two most notable examples of these being the MG34 and MG42, these air-cooled, open bolt machineguns were originally designed to circumvent the ban on machineguns imposed by the Treaty of Versailles. [3]
Germany, like the Soviet Union, France, and the United Kingdom; recognized the importance of tanks at the beginning of the war. Heinz Guderian largely helped the development of Panzer forces and the organization of tanks into divisions. Though starting out with training and interim vehicles like the Panzer I and the Panzer II respectively, Germany eventually developed medium tank such as the Panzer III and Panzer IV, both tanks that Heinz Guderian specified for since 11 January 1934. An important feature both of these tanks presented at the time was a three-man turret with a commander, gunner, and loader. Compared to contemporary tanks of the time that used one or two-man turrets, the three-man turrets proved valuable in freeing the commander from other duties in the tank, allowing him to survey the battlefield with ease from his cupola. [4]
Germany produced the first jet powered plane to see combat, the Messerschmitt Me 262. Entering service one month before the Gloster Meteor in April 1944, it was too late to make an impact against the allied air forces.
The Germans also experimented with flying wing aircraft. Namely the Horten_Ho_229 using the same engines as the Me 262. Several prototypes of the aircraft were made with 60 being ordered in total however no examples of the aircraft ever entered service, and what was left of the project was captured by Allied forces.
Germany also developed a pulsejet powered cruise missile known as the V-1 as well as the first rocket-powered ballistic missiles known as the (V-2). Though their impact on the course of the war was minimal, after the war, the Allied powers made efforts to capture personnel involved in these projects for their own weapons programs, in the case of Russia this was known as Operation Osoaviakhim and in the case of the United States it came in the form of Operation Paperclip however these are by no means the only efforts made by the allies to secure German technical personnel during or after WW2.
A submachine gun (SMG) is a magazine-fed automatic carbine designed to fire handgun cartridges. The term "submachine gun" was coined by John T. Thompson, the inventor of the Thompson submachine gun, to describe its design concept as an automatic firearm with notably less firepower than a machine gun. As a machine gun must fire rifle cartridges to be classified as such, submachine guns are not considered machine guns.
The Panzer I was a light tank produced by Nazi Germany in the 1930s. Its name is short for Panzerkampfwagen I, abbreviated as PzKpfw I. The tank's official German ordnance inventory designation was Sd.Kfz. 101.
The StG 44 is a German assault rifle developed during World War II by Hugo Schmeisser. It is also known by its early designations as the MP 43 and MP 44. The StG 44 was an improvement of an earlier design, the Maschinenkarabiner 42(H).
This article lists production figures for German armored fighting vehicles during the World War II era. Vehicles include tanks, self-propelled artillery, assault guns and tank destroyers.
Nazi Germany developed numerous tank designs used in World War II. In addition to domestic designs, Germany also used various captured and foreign-built tanks.
The 9×19mm MP 3008 was a German last ditch submachine gun manufactured towards the end of World War II in early 1945.
Wunderwaffe is a German word meaning "wonder-weapon" and was a term assigned during World War II by Nazi Germany's propaganda ministry to some revolutionary "superweapons". Most of these weapons however remained prototypes, which either never reached the combat theater, or if they did, were too late or in too insignificant numbers to have a military effect. The V-weapons, which were developed earlier and saw considerable deployment, especially against London and Antwerp, trace back to the same pool of highly inventive armament concepts. In the German language, the term Wunderwaffe generally refers to a universal solution which solves all problems related to a particular issue, mostly used ironically for its illusionary nature.
The Volkssturmgewehr is the name of several rifle designs developed by Nazi Germany during the last months of World War II. They share the common characteristic of being greatly simplified as an attempt to cope with severe lack of resources and industrial capacity in Germany during the final period of the war. The Volkspistole was a partner program, almost identical, but for pistols instead.
The Battle of Bryansk was a twenty-day battle during World War II conducted in the Bryansk Oblast as a part of the overall Moscow campaign. Returning from the Kiev operation, Heinz Guderian attacked in an unexpected direction capturing Bryansk and Oryol with few casualties thereby encircling two Soviet formations, the 13th Army and 3rd Army. A third Soviet formation, the 50th Army was encircled by infantry of the German 2nd Army north of Bryansk. However the encircled Red Army units continued fighting, delaying the drive on Moscow for two weeks. This delay, as well as the casualties taken by the Wehrmacht liquidating the pockets contributed to the German collapse at the gates of Moscow. See also: Vyazma and Bryansk pockets. As a result of this battle, the Germans occupied Bryansk until they were expelled by the Red Army on 17 September 1943 as a part of the Smolensk campaign.
The StG 45(M) (abbreviation of Sturmgewehr 45, "Assault Rifle 45") sometimes referred to as the MP 45(M), was a prototype assault rifle developed by Mauser for the Wehrmacht at the end of World War II, using an innovative roller-delayed blowback operating system. It fired the 7.92×33mm Kurz (or "Pistolenpatrone 7.9mm") intermediate cartridge at a cyclic rate of around 450 rounds per minute.
The evolution of German military rifles is a history of common and diverse paths followed by the separate German states, until the mid-19th century when Prussia emerged as the dominant state within Germany and the nation was unified. This article discusses rifled shoulder arms developed in or for the military of the states that later became Germany; it excludes firearms of the Austrian Empire, except where they were used substantially by German troops.
Ludwig Vorgrimler is the man most commonly associated with the design of the Spanish roller-delayed CETME rifle, and its prolific offspring from the German gunmaker Heckler & Koch such as the G3, HK21, P9 and MP5.
The Erfurter Maschinenfabrik (ERMA) was a German weapons manufacturer founded in 1922 by Berthold Geipel. Prior to and during World War II it manufactured many firearms, including the Karabiner 98k, the MP40 and other submachine guns.
The 7.92×33mm Kurz is a rimless bottlenecked intermediate rifle cartridge developed in Nazi Germany prior to and during World War II, specifically intended for development of the Sturmgewehr 44. The ammunition is also referred to as 7.9mm Kurz, 7.9 Kurz, 7.9mmK, or 8×33 Polte. The round was developed as a compromise between the longer 7.92×57mm full-power rifle cartridge and the 9×19mm Parabellum pistol cartridge, and is the first mass-used intermediate cartridge in the world.
American military technologies developed during World War II became more advanced and specialized as the war progressed. The technologies produced ranged in complexity from relatively simple items such as small arms and armored vehicles, including tanks, to more complex items such as the atomic bomb. The latter, produced under the secretive Manhattan Project, proved to be an incredibly powerful weapon that revolutionized warfare and was used to end the war. Other technologies, such as the M4 Sherman tank, the M1 Garand and M1 Carbine, and the gas mask, were refinements on previously existing technologies.
The Maschinenkarabiner 42(H) or MKb 42(H) (machine carbine Model 1942 (Haenel)) was an early German assault rifle firing an intermediate round of World War II. Designed in 1940 – 1941 by Hugo Schmeisser working for C. G. Haenel Waffen und Fahrradfabrik, several thousand were made and the gun was used on the Eastern Front in 1943.
The Maschinenkarabiner 42(W) (German: "machine carbine model 1942 (Walther)" ) or MKb 42(W) was an early German assault rifle designed in 1940-41 by Walther during World War II. The Mkb 42(W), and the more successful Maschinenkarabiner 42(H) designed by Haenel, were predecessors of the Sturmgewehr 44 (StG 44) assault rifle.
C.G. Haenel is a German weapon manufacturer located in Suhl, Germany.