Volkssturmgewehr
As volkssturmgewehr or People's gun several weapons are designated by the Wehrmacht to equip the Volkssturm were procured.
history
development
After the Volkssturm had been formed on October 18, 1944 and thus all "men who were capable of arms between the ages of 16 and 60" were required to do military service, it turned out that under no circumstances could they be equipped with weapons from current production, as these were not once nearly enough for the Wehrmacht . In autumn 1944 the monthly loss of carabiners was 98k 300,000, whereby only 200,000 could be manufactured. The Wehrmacht leadership was not ready to equip the Volkssturm as well. However, in September 35,000 carbines "disappeared" from ongoing production - and were illegally sent to the Volkssturm.
First, prey weapons were issued. However, these were not sufficient, no ammunition could be brought in and so the construction of new weapons was planned. SS-Standartenführer Purucker from the Heereswaffenamt (HWA) received the order to look after a program for a rifle that was as cheap and quick to manufacture as possible. It should consist of easy-to-manufacture parts without forging parts or deep-drawn sheet metal. Designs submitted by the companies Appel in Berlin-Spandau , Bergmann KG in Velten , Gustloff Werke in Suhl , Walther-Werke in Zella-Mehlis (or in Neuengamme concentration camp ), Deutsche Industriewerke in Berlin and Röchling-Werke in Wetzlar . Hitler approved the German industrial works model on November 5, 1944.
Existing Luftwaffe and Army rifle barrels as well as existing Rifle 43 magazines should be used for production. As early as December 1944, Hitler expected the production of 100,000 rifles. The district commissioners on the modalities for the manufacture of the Volksturmgewehr were not summoned and informed by the chairman of the main “Arms” committee at the Reich Minister for Arms and War Production until December 8, 1944. The production should be decentralized. In each district, a lead company was designated as the main contractor who was responsible for the subcontractors. A "Volkssturm armament staff" at the respective Gauleiter should help with the procurement of materials. Depending on the technical possibilities, between 3,000 and 4,000 rifles per month were expected from each district , so that a monthly total of between 100,000 and 150,000 rifles was assumed.
The development company Carl Walther in Zella-Mehlis was the seat of the “People's Rifle Working Committee”, responsible for all design and manufacturing details.
production
In order to start production without delay, all rifle barrels that are somehow present should first be used (machine gun barrels should be turned off on the outside and thus get the necessary shape). The production of the machine parts was transferred to the companies Rheinmetall in Düsseldorf , Astrawerke in Chemnitz and Metallwerke Neuengamme . Possible monthly production figures from February onwards (if enough material is available):
- Walther-Werke: 100,000 rifles
- Steyr-Werke: 15,000 rifles
- Rheinmetall-Borsig: 25,000 rifles
After the existing runs had been used up, new deep hole drilling machines would be required, but they could not be put into operation before May / June. This made it clear that only the existing barrels could be used for the time being.
In order to be able to achieve the specified goal, the chief of replenishment in the Wehrmacht command staff provided 245,000 machine gun barrels of the types MG 15 , MG 17 and MG 81 and later a further 180,000 reserve barrels from the air force . These should be reworked according to the plans for the Volkssturmgewehr.
The Allied bombing raids destroyed production facilities and traffic routes, the targeted production of 100,000 rifles per month therefore remained a utopia. The (non-verifiable) official data reported a quantity of 8,400 rifles produced in January, 19,900 rifles in February and 24,700 rifles in March 1945. For the time after that there is no more information.
variants
The following weapons were developed and issued:
- VG 1, caliber 7.92 × 57 mm , original manufacturer CG Haenel , Suhl
- VG 1-5 , caliber 7.92 × 33 mm . This weapon is known under the official designation Volkssturmgewehr Spezial , but also Volksgewehr , VG 1-5 or VG-45 . It has a ground seal delayed by gas pressure.
- VG 2 (Spreewerk Berlin)
- Volkskarabiner 98, a highly simplified Mauser model 98 (manufactured only by Steyr with the code "bnz")
The Volkssturmgewehre 1 and 2, as well as the Volkskarabiners, could be equipped with a curved barrel if required .
Furthermore, the people's submachine gun MP 3008 , a replica of the English Sten Gun , was produced in cooperation with several manufacturers . According to American data, a maximum of 3500 of the 1 million pieces ordered were assembled, but it is not known whether they were still issued.
In addition, assault rifles were developed by various companies for testing, of which only the VG 1-5 of the Gustloff works went into production.
literature
- Franz W. Seidler: German Volkssturm - The last contingent 1944/45. Bechtermünz Verlag, 1999, ISBN 3-8289-0329-0
Individual evidence
- ↑ Seidler p. 193 ff
- ↑ Terry Gander, Peter Chamberlain: Encyclopedia of German Weapons 1939-1945 - Hand weapons, artillery, captured weapons, special weapons . 2nd edition, Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-613-02481-6 , p. 36
- ↑ R I C H T L I N I E *) Semi-automatic military rifles i. See number 29 d of the War Weapons List (KWL) ( Memento of October 10, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Guideline VB 3 - 10 17 03, Federal Office of Economics and Export Control , April 21, 1999
- ↑ Article, Arming the German Volkssturm. In: Internationale Waffen-Börse Kassel 2007. Board of Trustees for the Promotion of Historical Weapons Collections, pp. 8 and 9
- ↑ Terry Gander, Peter Chamberlain: Encyclopedia of German Weapons 1939-1945 - Hand weapons, artillery, captured weapons, special weapons , 2nd edition, Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-613-02481-6 , p. 36