Sturmgewehr 44

Frobe77

Banned
I may be fairly new to Alternate History, yet I know german ww2 questions are cliche.

But, I would like to pose a question. In 1942, germany invented the Sturmgewehr 44, but it came into production only in 1944.
My question is: What if the germans had deployed this amazing rifle in 1942?
How would D-Day and Operation Barbarossa differ etc.,
 
I may be fairly new to Alternate History, yet I know german ww2 questions are cliche.

But, I would like to pose a question. In 1942, germany invented the Sturmgewehr 44, but it came into production only in 1944.
My question is: What if the germans had deployed this amazing rifle in 1942?
How would D-Day and Operation Barbarossa differ etc.,

No effect at all really; German superiority in small unit tactics and small arms battle effectiveness was already well established (German squads organized around their MG-42's where already damn lethal and effective)
 
The problem is that it cost roughly the same to make a Sturmgewehr 44 as a MG42 and that Germany's problem isn't military equipment but making enough of it to not get swarmed by the Allies. Thus every 1000 StG 44's means 900 less MG42's. Assault rifles are great but it isn't a comparison between getting more StG44's and less Kar 98's because of the machining required means you can't do a straight swap. You could only convert a MG factory to producing StG 44's not Rifle factories.
As the Germans already had tactical superiority on the platoon level this won't aid them that much but will eat up massive resources in order to expand its use beyond OTL. i.e. small scale and confined to NCO's in elite units. This could actually weaken the German effort as it means that 2nd line units which make up the bulk of the Army and are doing most of the fighting get less MG's and are thus less able to stand up to Russian zerg rushes.
 

CalBear

Moderator
Donor
Monthly Donor
Much less than the question indicates you imagine. Assault weapons aren't all that special or spectacular an improvement, especially the early models, over conventional combat rifles in most combat roles. The StG 44 was an interesting weapon, but it was also heavy as hell (at 11.5 pounds EMPTY, it was only a couple pounds lighter than the BAR squad automatic, which at least was a real automatic weapon, as a comparison the original AK went 9.5 pounds, as did the Garand) and had some problems with the construction, especially in the bolt. Now, had they managed to get a weapon to come in at under 8 pounds it would have been a significant advance, especially if it was in a 6.5-7mm caliber. Fortunately the Riech wasn't able to get that sort of a weapon.

The weapon that had far better potential was the Gewehr 43. It wouldn't have altered the final result of the war, but it was a far better weapon.

Both weapons would have put quite a strain on the Heer's logistical tail, which was barely able to deal with the demand as was.
 
Top