"mg42 - when?" Topic

When would German infantry be equipped with the mg42 as opposed to the mg34?
Did the transition take a long time?
Where the replaced 34s given to other troops?
Thanks for any info.

It was introduced in 1942 but the MG34 soldiered on until the end of the war.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MG42
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MG_34

When would German infantry be equipped with the mg42 as opposed to the mg34?

Starting from sometime in 1942. Wikipedia (take with a pinch of salt) gives production numbers for MG42 as follows:

- 17,915 in 1942
- 116,725 in 1943
- 211,806 in 1944
- 61,877 1945

This being Germans, it might be that the new MG42 guns might have been directed at new units, rather than for replacing existing (perfectly good) MG34 guns.

Griefbringer

In 1942. From pictures, almost all pictures of front line troops in late 1942 and onwards show new MG42s, so I guess it was fairly quick (PK probably had a hand in that).
I imagine that replaced MG34s went to rear echelon troops. Some troops, like the Fallschirmjaeger, held on to MG34s for as long as they could. They liked the rate of fire better. I've also seen pictures of vehicles that used MG34s in an antiaircraft role later than 1942.

In the book Infantry Aces by Franz Kurowski, Rudi Brasche's regiment received the new MG42 on the Eastern Front by September 15, 1942.

MG34s when they could were collected and MG42s substituted. This was because the MG34 was more suitable for installation on tanks, and thus the spare weapons were collected to be used on armored vehicles.

Damon.

I read an account from an officer of 6th SS Mountain Division (which fought mainly in Northern Russia/Finland), he said they first saw MG42s in the winter of 1944 when then finally arrived back in Germany before being committed to Operation Northwind.

As an aditional point this was the first time they saw/ were issued with panzerfaust/panzershreck too…..

So obviously not all SS got first rate new equipment.

Later in the war there were MORE MG34's in use than in late 42 and 43 because they were stripped out of knocked out vehicles and used for a variety of purposes and the older MG34's were given to the Volksturm or 3rd echelon troops while the MG42 was usually given to standing front line units – when they could deliver them.

I'd say that by June of 42 most front line units had replaced their MG34's with the MG42, especially on the Russian Front, not so much in Africa as there were shipping and delivery issues.

Richard

That is because the Finnish theatre was Finnish controlled. The Germans made them pay for everything as they had access to cash from Neutral countries, Most PF went to the Finns in the South.

The German forces in northern Finland were neither under Finnish control nor supply – they got their supplies from Germany, and managed to accumulate quite sizable supply dumps by 1944. Most noticeable (from Finnish perspective) were their generous supplies of central European booze of various sorts.

However, northern Finland tended to make for poor tank terrain, so probably was not a priority location when it came to the delivery of the new anti-tank weapons.

Griefbringer

By 1944 the Germans weren't throwing anything away – look at the obsolete French gear that they used for lack of anything else

For the SS, there were SS divisions and SS divisions – while the "low number" divisions did get first pick of gear, there were plenty of "ethnic" SS divisions that got whatever was left over

photographic evidence seems to mostly show MG42 but every now and again you find a 34 here and there

So the answer is that actually no-one knows either the extent or pace of the changeover, nor how it was organised.

I had a quick look through a few old firearms books. One of my favourites, Modern Smallarms by Maj F Myatt says the MG42 is said to have been first used by Rommel's Panzer Grenadiers in Tunisia. Combat Guns by Chris Bishop and Ian Drury says it apeared in 1942 on the Eastern Front and in North Africa. The German Infantry Handbook by Alex Buchner says the MG42 'was fully introduced to the troops by 1943'. The March 1945 US Handbook on German Forces reckoned the MG42 had in most cases replaced the MG34 at its time of print.

As this is the WW2 era German supply system then looking for absolutes is likely an exercise in futility. The production figures Griefbringer posted would suggest limited numbers were available through 1942, rising quickly over the next two years. I think most armies prefer to bring troops out of the line to familiarise them with a new weapon that's going to see widespread use. Commitments, especially in the East, would most likely have made that difficult for the Germans during 1943.

Gary

I think most armies prefer to bring troops out of the line to familiarise them with a new weapon that's going to see widespread use.

Especially good idea when the weapon plays such an essential role as the MG34/42 did in the German infantry.

On the other hand, I would think that it shouldn't take too long for somebody familiar with MG34 to get familiar with MG42 – though I have never fired either, so cannot really tell how significant differences there are in their usage.

Also, the Germans tried to pull their units regularly away from the frontline for brief periods when assigning reinforcements, and this would have probably also provided for opportunities to assign and familiarise with new weapons.

Logistically it would of course be easiest to assign the MGs to newly established divisions, or to divisions held in reserve.

Griefbringer

Read a good account recently by a German Infantry man who said "The MG42 was excellent but it slowed in the winter so we used the MG34 instead as it was more reliable" intersting statement…..hope thats useful