MG34
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| Maschinengewehr 34 | |
|---|---|
 German infantry equipped with MG34 (Poland, 1939). |
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| Type | General Purpose Machine Gun |
| Place of origin |  Nazi Germany |
| Service history | |
| In service | 1935-1945 (officially, Germany military) |
| Used by | Germany, Nationalist Party of China |
| Wars | World War II, Chinese Civil War |
| Production history | |
| Designer | Heinrich Vollmer |
| Designed | 1934 |
| Manufacturer | Numerous |
| Produced | 1934-1945 |
| Number built | - |
| Specifications | |
| Weight | |
| Length | |
| Barrel length | |
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| Cartridge | 7.92x57mm Mauser |
| Action | Recoil operated |
| Rate of fire | 800-900 rounds/min
Early verions: 600 - 1000 round/min selectable on early versions pistol grip. MG34"S" : 1,700 round/min. MG34/41 : 1,200 round/min. |
| Muzzle velocity | 755 m/s (2,477 ft/s) |
| Feed system | 50/200-round belts or 75-round drum magazine |
| Sights | Iron sights |
The Maschinengewehr 34, or MG34, was a German machine gun that was first produced and accepted for service in 1934, and first issued to units in 1935. It was an air-cooled machine gun firing 7.92x57mm Mauser rounds and had similar performance to other medium machine guns.
However, it was also designed to perform both as a light machine gun and also in heavier roles, in an early example of a general purpose machine gun. In the light role, it was intended to be equipped with a bipod and 50-round belt contained in a drum-shaped ammo basket, which attached to the receiver. In the heavier role it was mounted on a larger tripod and was belt-fed. In practice the infantry usually just belt-fed the bipod version, resulting in it functioning as a classic medium support weapon.
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[edit] History
The MG34 was used as the primary infantry machine gun during the 1930s, and remained as the primary tank and aircraft defensive weapon. It was to be replaced in infantry service by the related MG42, but there were never enough of the new design to go around, and MG34s soldiered on in all roles until the end of World War II. The MG34 was intended to replace the MG13 and other older machine guns, but these ended up still being used in WWII as demand was never met.
It was designed primarily by Heinrich Vollmer from the Mauser Werke, based on the recently introduced Rheinmetall-designed Solothurn 1930 (MG30) that was starting to enter service in Switzerland. The principal changes were to move the feed mechanism to a more convenient location on the left of the breech, and the addition of a shroud around the barrel. Changes to the operating mechanism improved the rate of fire to between 800 and 900 rpm.
The new gun was accepted for service almost immediately and was generally liked by the troops. It was used to great effect by German soldiers assisting Nationalist Spain in the Spanish Civil War. At the time it was introduced it had a number of advanced features and the general purpose machine gun concept that it aspired to was an influential one. However the MG34 was also expensive, both in terms of construction and the raw materials needed (49 kg (108 lb) of steel) and its manufacture was too time-consuming to be built in the numbers required for the ever expanding German army. It also proved to be rather temperamental, jamming easily when dirty.
[edit] Characteristics
The MG34 could use both magazine-fed and belt-fed 7.92 mm ammunition. Belts were supplied in a fixed length of 50 rounds but could be linked up to make longer belts for sustained firing. A 250 round belt was also issued to bunker mounted MGs. Ammo boxes contained 250 rounds in three belts that were linked to make one continious 100 round belt and one 150 round belt. The assault drums held a 50-round belt, or a 75-round "double drum" magazine could be used by replacing the top cover with one made specially for that purpose. A gun configured to use the 75-round magazine could not be returned to belt-feed mode without changing the top cover again. All magazine feed MG.34s had been withdrawn from infantry use by 1941 with some remaining in use on APC mounted MG.34s.
Like most machine guns, the barrel is designed to be easily replaced to avoid overheating during sustained fire.
In the light machine gun role it was used with a bipod and weighed only 12.1 kg (26.7 lb). In the medium machine gun role it could be mounted on one of two tripods, a smaller one weighing 6.75 kg (14.9 lb), the larger 23.6 kg (52 lb). The larger tripod, the MG34 Laffette, included a number of features such as a telescopic sight and special sighting equipment for indirect fire. The legs could be extended to allow it to be used in the anti-aircraft role, and when lowered it could be placed to allow the gun to be fired "remotely" while it swept an arc in front of the mounting with fire, or aimed through a periscope attached to the tripod.
[edit] Variants
[edit] MG34/41
The MG34/41 was requested as the first war experiences in the beginning of the World War II proved that a higher fire rate generates more dispersion of the bullets. The MG34/41 could cope with a fire rate of 1200 rpm. The weight of the MG34/41 was 14 kg, slightly more than the original MG34 version. A limited number of MG34/41 were produced. The MG34/41 was beaten in trials by the MG39/41, later designated MG42.
[edit] MG34-T
Tanks normally used the MG34-T model, whose main difference was that it had a different barrel sheath that was heavier and that it did not have the normal ventilation holes like the MG34.
[edit] MG81
The MG34 was also used as the basis of a new aircraft-mounted machine gun, the MG81. For this role the breech was slightly modified to allow feeds from either side, and in one version two guns were bolted together on a single trigger to form a weapon known as the MG81Z (for zwilling, German for "twin" as in twin-mounted). Production of the MG34 was never enough to satisfy any of its users, and while the MG81 was a huge improvement over the earlier MG30-based MG15 and MG17 guns, these guns were used until the end of the war. It should be noted that as the Luftwaffe lost the battle for air superiority and declined in priority in the German war effort, MG15s and MG81s, which were designed as flexibly-mounted aircraft machine guns, were modified and adapted for ground use by infantry, with varying degrees of success.
[edit] M53
Yugoslavia license-built the MG34 as the M53, retaining the 7.92x57mm caliber. By doing so, the Yugoslavians retained the original weapon's design features, making the M53 a nearly exact copy of the German MG34. The aiming range of the M53 is 2 km (1.2 mi), and the terminal range of the bullet is 5 km (3.1 mi), the same as the MG34. Many of MG34s captured at the end of WW2 were put in reserve of YPA's teritorial defence as M53/34s.
[edit] See also
- List of World War II firearms of Germany
- MG30, predecessor
- MG42, successor
- MG81 machine gun
- SIG 710-3
[edit] External links
