"FG42 Use - Help Please" Topic

Dear Experts,

I'm putting together a late war FJ platoon and have two questions:

1) Were FG42s issued as replacements for rifles or for LMGs? As in, would an FJ squad with FG42s have 10 FG42s or would it have 2 FG42s and the rest rifles apart from maybe the NCO with an MP40?

2) Do you know where I could buy FG42 models in 1/72 or 20mm? I'm a big fan of Valiant miniatures so am after just the rifles if possible or cheap miniatures I can nick them from.

Thanks!

Google search:

TMP link

They were issued as LMG replacements. Usually 2 per squad but I've seen as many as 4 in a squad.

Edit: I stand corrected. I've still seen a few photo's where as many as 3-4 were in a squad.

Sorry wrgmr1! I promise you I googled it – I'm clearly just an idiot. Thanks for the link.

Google is funny, depends on your wording. I used FG42 German distribution. TMP was the first to show up after Wikipedia. NO need to apologize. :)

A friend of mine once had the opportunity to interview a veteran (Crete to the end of the war) FJ NCO. I asked him to ask the gentleman this question, did they use the FG-42 as a rifle or LMG. He said they used it as a rifle, when they saw them at all. They tried to get 2 LMGs per squad (not always logistically possible), but they didn't consider the FG-42 as one. He also said they preferred the MG-34 to the MG-42 because it didn't go through ammo as quickly.

At least that's what I remember, for what it's worth.

In "Lions of Carentan".
It says they were received in small numbers usually given to Senior NCO,s and Officers. They replaced Rifles in a squad if a squad got any. There are pictures, in the book, of a mortar crew with three of them which would seem to be a wasted resource. I suspect that in this unit (6 FJR) it came down to bragging rights. Support Companies in Infantry units often contain many of the "old hands".
It says they had 2 MG34 per squad (the first MG 42s were captured off Italians during fighting in Rome and they never received a full complement of MG42.)12 man squads.
It also states they were very happy to receive an extra MP40 per squad, making 2 per squad.
In other units they do not seem to have been that common either. They were I do not think ever considered as an LMG replacement at least not by the men that used them.
The only photos Ive seen with many in a squad are pictures of the Mussolini rescue and that was a special operation/propaganda coup by a training unit so doesn't represent units in the field. However I would like to see other photos if they exist.
Going by this other stuff Ive read and the linked thread Id say 1 per squad as a "general" rule. If at all.
I also don't think all FJ received STG44. Some did but not all.
A fact that still seems to escape most wargamers is that the vast majority of STG production went to Volksgrenadier units whose KSTN was designed for it,then some Panzergrenadier units (many of who by that stage were issued bicycles not trucks, let alone HT!.)

I bought some ready painted & based FJ & there were 10 FG42s… so for a bit of fun, I've given them all to my Recon squad (of 12 men) so that they can get out of trouble to report back… and, of course, as an outpost unit they can give a bloody nose!
Probably not realistic, but good fun (at least if I'm playing the FJ :-) )

Actually it may well be realistic.

I have mention by von der Heydte that in Normandy he pooled some of the few FG42s they had in FJR6 and issued them to what he termed 'scout patrols'.

Most units had none to one per section.
There were one or two units received much more and you could find most and maybe all riflemen had them. This led to a report saying the fj were now replacing their rifles with them.