WI: WW1 Assault Rifles

RLBH

What if one of the combatants in WW1 had developed a weapon meeting the definition of an assault rifle, and issued it on a large scale as a standard infantry rifle?

There are plenty of candidates, but the obvious ones to me are the Russian Fedorov Avtomat, and the French fully-automatic version of the Winchester Model 1907. The Fedorov was issued on a larger scale IOTL, but had issues; the Winchester is sometimes credited as the first assault rifle.
 

TimPhillips

RLBH said:
What if one of the combatants in WW1 had developed a weapon meeting the definition of an assault rifle, and issued it on a large scale as a standard infantry rifle?
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I don't think it would have lead to much of a change. Assault rifles work because the tactics/leadership are there to use them properly. Iran and Iraq pretty much engaged in a WW1 trench-warfare battle with modern weaponry back in the the 1980s. Not much to show for it but a lot of bodies.

Tim
 

trurle

Banned
TimPhillips said:
I don't think it would have lead to much of a change. Assault rifles work because the tactics/leadership are there to use them properly. Iran and Iraq pretty much engaged in a WW1 trench-warfare battle with modern weaponry back in the the 1980s. Not much to show for it but a lot of bodies.

Tim
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Also ammunition logistics may be too difficult for WWI. Intermediate cartridge used by assault rifles requires a lot of ammo boxes - twice worse compared to SMGs. Only improved logistics (driven by wide machine guns adoption during WWI) made infantry select-fire weapons usable.
 

RLBH

Yep, the rifles existed, but were only issued on a small scale. I'm thinking of the French making it the standard issue rifle for units raised later in the war, or something like that. Perhaps if the war drags on into 1919 it becomes more likely?

It wouldn't make too much difference to the conduct of the war if they were widely issued. The downstream effects are where the interest lies - the concept was largely ignored until after WW2 IOTL despite the experience of WW1. If an assault rifle is in widespread use during WW1, then others are likely to follow in the interwar years. That could see WW2 infantry looking much more modern.
 

Knoxville Jim

Banned
Does the German MP 1918 not count? It had a 32 snail mag
Maybe not, since it was supposed to have 2 men to operate but the 2nd soldier carried ammo.
 

Intosh

RLBH said:
What if one of the combatants in WW1 had developed a weapon meeting the definition of an assault rifle, and issued it on a large scale as a standard infantry rifle?

There are plenty of candidates, but the obvious ones to me are the Russian Fedorov Avtomat, and the French fully-automatic version of the Winchester Model 1907. The Fedorov was issued on a larger scale IOTL, but had issues; the Winchester is sometimes credited as the first assault rifle.
Click to expand...

Well for fighting conditions during trench war, best weapons will be LMG as the Lewis or the Chauchat, and SMG as the german MP18, and a mix of reliable handguns (as the semi-automatic Luger) and shotgun, and of course hand grenades.

Your assault rifle is in one war too earlier.

As the the Stug-44 was developed for WWII East Front conditions and even on the East Front, some battles as Stalingrad were fought in the conditions of the trench war with units equipped fully with SMG...
 

pattersonautobody

hardrada55 said:
French Model 1918 Ribeyrolle 8x35SR with 25 shot magazine. Blowback operated. Selector switch for automatic or semi-automatic fire. 8x35SR was .351 WSL necked down to 8mm and used the same bullet as the 8mm Lebel rifle cartridge. 11 pounds in weight. 17.7in barrel. The French developed an early version of what later became known as, the assault rifle.

https://www.alternatehistory.com//www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/
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Cool, what if the French had a ton of these in WW2?
 
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