Background In the late 19th century, small-arms cartridges had become able to fire accurately at long distances. Jacketed bullets propelled by
smokeless powder were lethal out to . This was beyond the range a shooter could engage a target with open sights, as at that range a man-sized target would be completely blocked by the front sight blade; only units of riflemen firing by volley could hit grouped targets at those ranges. That fighting style was taken over by the widespread introduction of machine guns, which made use of these powerful cartridges to suppress the enemy at long range. Rifles remained the primary infantry weapon, but in some forces were seen as a secondary or support weapon, backing up the machine guns. This practice left a large gap in performance: the rifle was not effective at the ranges it could theoretically reach while being much larger and more powerful than needed for close combat. Weapons for short-range use existed, initially semi-automatic pistols and, later, automatic submachine guns. These fired pistol rounds which lacked power, accuracy, and range. They were only useful at very short ranges of no more than . This led to extensive research into creating an intermediate round to fill this gap. This type of ammunition was being considered as early as 1892, but militaries at the time were still fixated on increasing the maximum range and velocity of bullets from their rifles. A problem with this mix was that the standard rifles were too large to be effectively used by mechanized and armored forces, where they were difficult to maneuver in the cramped spaces of an armored vehicle. Submachine guns, such as the
MP 28,
MP 38, and
MP 40 were issued to augment infantry rifle use and increase individual soldiers' firepower, but lacked range and accuracy beyond .
New requirements During the invasion of the
Soviet Union, increasing numbers of
semi-automatic Tokarev SVT-38 and
SVT-40s were used by the Red Army – mostly elite units and
non-commissioned officers – while some Soviet rifle companies were completely equipped with
PPSh-41 submachine guns. After experiencing high volumes of automatic fire from these weapons, German commanders re-thought their small arms requirements. The German army had been attempting to introduce semi-automatic weapons such as the
Gewehr 41, but these proved troublesome in service, and production was insufficient to meet requirements. Several attempts had been made to introduce lightweight machine guns or automatic rifles, but recoil from the powerful 7.92×57mm Mauser round was too difficult to control in
automatic fire. By 1941, it was becoming clear that action needed to be taken. Although various experimental rounds had been developed, the Army ultimately chose a new design, the Polte 8×33mm '''' ("short cartridge"). It used a
spitzer bullet and the basic cartridge design of the standard 7.92×57mm Mauser rifle cartridge, cutting down the cartridge from the original 7.92×57mm Mauser to 7.92×33mm Kurz.
MP 43, MP 44, StG 44 As work moved forward to incorporate this new firing system, Hitler demanded top priority for the production of FG 42 rifles, MP 40 submachine guns and telescopic sights for the Kar98k and Gewehr 41 rifles as well. To keep the MKb 42(H) development program alive, the
Waffenamt (Armament Office) re-designated the weapon as the
Maschinenpistole 43 (MP 43) ("Machine pistol 43") and, making a few improvements, billed the weapon as an upgrade to existing submachine guns, temporarily deceiving Hitler. According to Hogg, little attention was paid on the MP 43 finish or close tolerances except when they were vital and the gun had to be considerably modified to allow production on simple
stamping presses. , Germany in December 1944 Much time was wasted trying to make the MP 43 a replacement for the Karabiner 98k rifle. This goal was eventually realized to be impossible; the MP 43 cartridge was too weak to fire rifle grenades, too inaccurate for sniping, and the weapon was too short for bayonet fighting. In September 1943, it was decided that the MP 43 would supplement rather than replace the Kar 98k. As a result, the optical sight base, grenade-launching extended muzzle thread, and bayonet lug were removed. A primary use of the MP 44/StG 44 was to counter the Soviet
PPS and
PPSh-41 submachine guns, which used the
7.62×25mm Tokarev round. These cheap, mass-produced weapons used a 71-round drum magazine or 35-round box magazine and though shorter-ranged than the Kar 98k rifle, were more effective weapons in close-quarter engagements. The StG 44, while lacking the range of the Kar 98k, had a considerably longer range than the PPS/PPSh submachine guns, more power, an ability to switch between a fully automatic and a default semi-automatic fire mode and surprising accuracy. The StG 44 was an intermediate weapon for the period; the muzzle velocity from its barrel was , compared to of the Karabiner 98k, of the British
Bren, of the
M1 carbine, and achieved by the MP40. Furthermore, the StG 44's inline design gave it controllability even on full-auto. The
1st Infantry Division of
Army Group South and
32nd Infantry Division of
Army Group North were selected to be issued the rifle, both being refitted from heavy losses on the Eastern Front; ammunition shortages meant the 1st ID was the only division fully equipped with it. The Kar 98k was retained as a specialist weapon for sniping and launching rifle grenades, while MP 40s were used by vehicle and artillery crews and officers. The StG 44 was issued to all infantry soldiers and employed for accurate short-range rapid-fire shooting (similar to how the MP 18 was used when it went into service). The assault rifles in a squad added firepower when the machine gun had to cease fire or move. When attacking a position, Kar 98k riflemen would employ grenades against at close-range, while StG 44 riflemen would fire in rapid semi-automatic or automatic bursts to keep the defenders suppressed. The magazine follower spring had a short service life, so soldiers were ordered to load no more than 25 rounds to reduce wear of the spring. While the StG 44 was capable of fully automatic fire, German soldiers were directed to use it primarily in semi-automatic mode. Fully automatic mode was to be used only in emergencies, for short bursts of two or three rounds. Germany had ammunition logistics problems, thus Hitler's calculations came true in part: for the initially planned 200 million rounds per month, 86,000 additional workers were necessary, but were not available. The 400 million rounds per month planned from February 1944 onwards were completely utopian; from February 1945 the number was then reduced to a realistic 110 million. when the rifles were ultimately transferred to
Territorial Defense reserves or sold to friendly regimes in the Middle East and Africa. France adopted captured StG 44 for colonial
Foreign Legion units. Argentina manufactured their own trial versions of the StG 44 made by
CITEFA in the late 1940s and early 1950s, in addition to the importation of around 100 StG 44 rifles from Czechoslovakia in 1949, whose whereabouts became unclear from 1955 onwards, but instead adopted the
FN FAL in 1955, because it used the then more common and powerful 7.62×51mm NATO round, which also lacked connections with the Third Reich. New semi-automatic civilian reproductions of the MKb 42(H), MP 43/1, and StG 44 are being manufactured in Germany today by SSD (Sport Systeme Dittrich) and distributed by HZA Kulmbach GmbH in the original 7.92×33mm Kurz chambering and accepting the standard magazines. The PTR-44 by PTR Industries was produced for a short while, but was soon discontinued due to high prices and lack of demand. A .22 rimfire copy of the StG 44 by GSG (
German Sports Guns) has also been manufactured in great quantity for a lower price, but it is the only widely available reproduction of the StG. Talks have been made by HMG (Hill & Mac Gunworks) to mass-produce a StG-44 replica in different calibers, including the original 7.92×33mm Kurz, but also more modern calibers, like
7.62×39mm,
5.56×45mm NATO and
.300 AAC Blackout, but these have yet to be released. 7.92mm Kurz ammunition is currently manufactured by
Prvi Partizan of Serbia.
Assessment of the StG 44 A late-war U.S. assessment derided the StG 44 as "mediocre", "bulky", and "unhandy", declaring it incapable of sustained automatic fire and prone to jamming, though the report accepted that its accuracy was "excellent for a weapon of its type". According to British Captain Clifford Shore in
With British Snipers to the Reich, the British found the StG 44 to be poorly made compared to the weapons fielded by the Germans early in World War II. Military historian
Ian V. Hogg described the StG 44 as "exceptionally robust and reliable," with a German report stating that it worked well in the dirt, cold and snow of the Eastern Front, had no misfires and was resistant to stoppages. ==Legacy==