MG34

Last Updated on Tuesday, 21 July 2009 12:06 Written by Administrator Thursday, 02 July 2009 03:23

The MG43, or the Maschinengewehr 34, was a general purpose machine gun designed in Nazi Germany. It was adopted by the German Army in the year 1934 and deployed in substantial numbers the following year. The performance of the MG34 was comparable to other medium machine guns of that time.

The MG34 was designed to use the 7.92x57mm Mauser round. Early versions of the gun were capable of firing 600 to 1000 rounds per minute. However, in the later versions the rate of fire was decreased to 800 to 900 rounds per minute. The MG 43 used either 50/200-round belts or a 75-round drum magazine based feed mechanism. Similar to other machine guns of that time, the barrel of the gun could be easily replaced to prevent overheating during continuous firing.

Throughout the 1930s, the MG34 remained in use by the German Army as a anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapon. Though a newer machine gun—the MG42—was designed with the intention of replacing the MG34, it was never manufactured on the required scale and thus the MG34 saw widespread deployment until the end of the Second World War.

The design of the MG34 was based on an earlier machine gun called the Solothurn 1930. Design enhancements included the addition of an air-cooling shroud around the barrel, changes to the feed mechanism and adjustment of the rate of fire. Once the MG34 was designed, it was immediately accepted by the German Army and pressed into service.

Though the MG34 had many innovative features and was used to great effect, it was expensive to manufacture. The manufacturing process was too resource-intensive and so the requirements of the expanding armed forces in the light of the war couldn’t be met. Despite superior firepower and advantages it offered, the MG34 has some drawbacks that proved to be costly. One such drawback was its tendency to get jammed in the muddy conditions of trenches.

The MG34 spawned several variants and also influenced the design of other guns. Notable of these variants are the MG34/41 or MG34S, the MG34 Panzerlauf and the MG81. The MG34/41 was a variant which had higher firing rates of about 1200 rpm and higher weight. Limited numbers of this variant were manufactured. The MG34 Panzerlauf was the version that equipped most German tanks of that era to be used as secondary armament. This variant had a thicker barrel-shroud and lacked the butt-stock. The third variant—the MG81—was designed primarily as an aircraft mounted machine gun.

The MG34 was extensively used throughout the Second World War by the Germans. However, after Germany lost the war, production was stopped. In total approximately 354,000 MG34 units were manufactured in between 1934 and 45.

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