Weapons of World War 2 USSR. Soviet small arms of the Second World War

Let's remember the 7 types of Soviet automatic weapons of the Great Patriotic War.

Submachine gun or machine gun

A submachine gun is an automatic weapon that can fire in bursts and is chambered for a pistol cartridge. But we say “company of machine gunners” (and not submachine gunners), although if we're talking about about the Great Patriotic War, in the vast majority of cases we are talking about a submachine gun. An assault rifle, to be terminologically precise, is a different weapon that is no longer chambered for a pistol, but for an intermediate cartridge. The first Soviet submachine gun syst. Degtyarev PPD was put into service in 1934. with a box magazine for 25 rounds. However, it was produced in small quantities, and the weapon itself was clearly underestimated. The Soviet-Finnish War showed the effectiveness of submachine guns in close combat, so it was decided to resume production of the PPD, but with a 71-round disc. However, PPD was expensive and difficult to produce, so another sample was needed that would combine reliability and ease of production. And the legendary PPSh became such a weapon.

PPSh-41

The Shpagin submachine gun was adopted for service on December 21, 1940, but its mass production began already during the Great Patriotic War, at the end of August 1941. And the first time this weapon will appear at the front, apparently, is after the parade on November 7, where the PPSh was for the first time captured on newsreels. The first PPSh had a sector sight at 500 meters. But it is almost impossible to hit an enemy with a pistol bullet from 500 meters, and later a reversible sight appeared for 100 and 200 meters. A fire selector is located at the trigger, allowing you to fire both bursts and single shots. Initially, PPSh were equipped with a disk magazine, which was quite heavy and which needed to be loaded with one cartridge at a time, which field conditions, is inconvenient (the weapon number was painted on the disc). Since March 1942, it was possible to achieve interchangeability of stores, and since 1943. a sector magazine for 35 rounds will appear.

PPS-43

From the second half of 1943 into the army in large quantities The submachine gun system begins to arrive. Sudaeva. The lack of a fire translator was compensated for by a low rate of fire (600 rounds per minute versus 1000 for the PPSh), which made it possible, with a certain skill, to fire single shots. The popularity of PPS is evidenced by the fact that this model, unlike PPSh, was produced both after the war and for a long time held in airborne troops Oh. The main production during the war was deployed in besieged Leningrad, where only at the plant named after. Up to 1 million units of Voskov were produced. General features PPSh and PPS were easy to manufacture and assemble and reliable in operation. At the same time, we managed to avoid the other extreme - primitivism, which is characteristic of the English Stan submachine gun. The consequence of this was the high saturation of the Red Army with this type of small arms. In total, during the Great Patriotic War, about 5 million PPSh and about 3 million PPS were produced, while the total number of submachine guns produced in Germany is estimated by various researchers to be around 1 million units.

DS-39

Shortly before the start of the Great Patriotic War, the heavy machine gun of the Degtyarev system (DS-39), which replaced the machine gun of the Maxim system, began to enter service with the Red Army. This weapon was distinguished by very tough automatic operation and required cartridges with a steel sleeve rather than a brass one. The production of special cartridges intended for use by only one type of weapon was considered inappropriate, and Soviet industry returned to the production of what had been known since the days of Russo-Japanese War Maxim machine gun, which until the end of 1943 remained the main and practically the only heavy machine gun of the Red Army.

Tokarev rifle

In the last pre-war years in the USSR, much attention was paid to rearming the army with self-loading rifles. Tokarev (SVT-40). In total, by June 1941, about 1.5 million units were produced, and the Red Army was the most equipped army with self-loading rifles in the world. From July 1942 to active army The AVT-40 began to arrive, allowing continuous fire in close combat. The fuse also served as a fire translator. However, 10 rounds of ammunition for burst shooting turned out to be clearly not enough, shooting accuracy due to the lack of a bipod was low, and barrel wear was immediate. Also in 1942, it was generally prohibited to fire in bursts from any rifles (AVT-40, ABC-36). Combat experience has shown that the SVT-40 and AVT-40 are very difficult weapons for recruits who, after an accelerated training course, rush into battle. At the slightest malfunction, the Tokarev rifle was abandoned, replaced with the usual three-ruler, which worked in any conditions. Despite the fact that in general the Tokarev rifle did not take root in the army, it became the favorite weapon of well-trained units - marines, motorized rifles and cadet units.

DP-27

From the beginning of the 30s, the light machine gun of the Degtyarev system began to enter the army, which became the main light machine gun of the Red Army until the mid-40s. First combat use DP-27 is most likely associated with the conflict on the Chinese Eastern Railway in 1929. The machine gun performed well during the fighting in Spain, Khasan and Khalkhin Gol. During operation, a number of shortcomings were identified - a small magazine capacity (47 rounds) and an unfortunate location under the barrel of the return spring, which was deformed from frequent shooting. During the war, some work was carried out to eliminate these shortcomings. In particular, the survivability of the weapon was increased by moving the return spring to the rear of the receiver, although general principle The operation of this sample has not undergone any changes. The new machine gun (DPM) began to enter the army in 1945.

ABC-36

In the second half of the 30s, in order to increase the firepower of the infantry, an attempt was made in a number of countries to create an automatic rifle capable of firing in bursts. In the USSR, production of the Simonov automatic rifle mod. 1936 ABC-36 was produced in Izhevsk in small batches, and the total number did not exceed 65 thousand units. The rifle first found combat use in battles with the Japanese at Khalkhin Gol. When the question arose about rearming the entire army with a single type of rifle, the choice was between the automatic Simonov and the self-loading Tokarev (SVT-38). The situation was resolved by J.V. Stalin’s question about the need to fire in bursts. The answer was negative and production of ABC-36 was curtailed. Most likely, at that time it was very difficult to provide an army armed with millions of automatic rifles with an appropriate amount of ammunition in the near future. At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War most ABC-36 was in service with the 1st Moscow Proletarian Division and was lost in the first months of the war. And in 1945, the use of ABC was also noted in the Soviet-Japanese War, where this rifle was used the longest.

about the weapons of the USSR. And so, about tanks.

And so it's legendary Soviet tank T-34. or as it was called the Victory Tank. It was very
dangerous enemy German tanks. And so the description.
The T-34 is the most famous and successful tank of the Second World War. The T-34 was designed
M.I. Koshkin. The first T-34 was released in September 1940. The tank was modernized
several times, the most famous was the T-34-85, which appeared in the winter of 1943-1944. T-34
turned out to be an unpleasant surprise for the tank crews of Nazi Germany, especially in
the first years of the war. In total, about 80,000 tanks were produced.
About the tank: Classification medium tank
Combat weight, t 32
Classic layout diagram
Crew, people 5
Armament: 76.2 mm cannon. Armor thickness: 20-65 mm.

And this is the KV-1 tank. Description.
KV-1 "Kliment Voroshilov". This tank appeared in the army in 1940, during the war with Finland. The tank weighed 47 tons, was armored with 75 mm armor, carried a 76.2 mm cannon and 3 machine guns. The tank was usually used as an assault tank - to suppress firing points and break through enemy defenses. About the tank:
Combat weight: 47.50 t;
crew: 5 people;
length of tape sections in contact with the ground: 4330 mm;
track width: 650 mm;
engine: V-2K, 12-cylinder, 4-stroke, V-shaped diesel, liquid cooling;
engine power: 600 hp;
armament: 76.2 mm L-11 obr. 1939 (F-32 model 1940), four 7.62 mm DT machine guns;
ammunition: 135 shells, 2772 rounds.

And here is a picture of the BT-7 tank. Description.
The BT-7 tank was a further development of the BT-2 and BT-5 tanks. The BT was a high-speed tank. In addition to moving on tracks, this tank could move on wheels, reaching a speed of 86 km/h. The tank took part in the battles at Khalkhin Gol, in the winter war with Finland and was in service during the Great Patriotic War.
Armament: 45 mm cannon, 2 7.62 mm machine guns, 22 mm armor, weight: 14-15 tons.

And here is a picture of the great tank of the Second World War, the IS-2!
Description:
The first heavy tank IS-2 - "Joseph Stalin" appeared in 1944 and became the most powerful tank in the world. The 122 mm gun made him a very dangerous opponent for any German tanks Having powerful 100-120 mm armor, this tank weighed 46 tons - less than the Tiger. In addition to the cannon, the tank carried 3 7.62 mm machine guns and a large-caliber 14.5 mm anti-aircraft machine gun. The tank was equipped with a large number of observation devices, providing excellent visibility.
Now about small arms.

Here is a picture of a PPSh submachine gun Soviet army World War II. Description. And so the Shpagin Submachine Gun was in service with the USSR during the Second World War and was very convenient in that the magazine was in a disk that held 72 rounds. Each soldier had 2 disks with cartridges. Ground forces, sailors and paratroopers were armed with it .

PPS-42.Description.
PPS-42 - "Sudaev submachine gun" was put into service in 1942.
It was easier to manufacture than the PPSh and more compact. It was used by tankers, reconnaissance officers, saboteurs, and paratroopers. The magazine held 35 rounds.

And here is the famous Mosin rifle. Description.
The 7.62 mm (3-line) rifle of the 1891 model (Mosin rifle, three-line, Mosin-Nagant rifle) is a repeating rifle adopted by the Russian Imperial Army in 1891. It was actively used in the period from 1891 to the end of the Great Patriotic War, during which it was modernized many times. The name of the weapon comes from the caliber of the rifle's barrel, which is equal to three Russian lines (an old measure of length) - one line is equal to one tenth of an inch, or 2.54 mm - respectively, three lines are equal to 7.62 mm. Based on the rifle mod. 1891 and its modifications, a number of models of sporting and hunting weapons, both rifled and smooth-bore, were created.

A rifle equipped with an optical sight. SVT-40 (Tokarev self-loading rifle 1940) SVT-40 was the best version of the SVT-38 and was produced until January 1945. Caliber - 7.62 mm, effective firing range - 1500 m. Now about anti-tank weapons.

Simonov's PTRS anti-tank rifle was put into service in 1941. The five-shot 14.5 caliber rifle was successful with light and medium tanks, and the same with enemy armored vehicles. From a distance of 200 m it was possible to penetrate 35 mm armor. There were cases when even tanks such as the Tiger were disabled by PTRS. The gun was serviced by two soldiers. Its small size helped to camouflage it and ambush the least protected areas of the tank And its small weight, compared to an anti-tank gun, made it possible to quickly change the firing position.

Next is small arms...
The DP light machine gun (Degtyarev, infantry) was one of the first examples of small arms created during Soviet power. It was designed by the famous Soviet gunsmith Vasily Alekseevich Degtyarev (1880-1949), and in 1927 the Degtyarev machine gun was already put into service. By the beginning of World War II, more than 110 thousand machine guns had been produced. Caliber:7.62
disk magazine capacity: 47 rounds.
and here is the famous Tokarev pistol.TT. The Tula Tokarev was put into service in 1930 and was in service for more than 20 years, being the main pistol of the Red Army during the Great Patriotic War. The defensive grenade, nicknamed the “lemon” for its shape, weighed 600g. and hit the enemy within a radius of 50 m. It could only be thrown from behind cover.

Now about USSR aviation.
I-16 1939, Hero of the Soviet Union B.F. Safonov. Speed 462 km/h, armament 2-20 mm guns. and 2 7.62 mm machine guns. I-16 fighter designed by N.N. Polikarpov was created in 1933. Defended the skies of Madrid, fought in Mongolia and China, was used in the winter war with Finland. I-16 was the main fighter in service Air Force The Air Force of the Soviet Union at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War.
I apologize that the picture is a toy, but there are only stupid games on the Internet. The IL-2 attack aircraft designed by S.V. Ilyushin became one of the most successful aircraft of the Second World War. Possessing amazing survivability, the IL-2 carried powerful weapons: 2 cannons with a caliber of 23 or 36 mm, 2 machine guns of 7.62 mm, a defensive machine gun of 12.7 mm, up to 600 kg of bombs and rockets. The IL-2 successfully fought against any ground targets. The Germans nicknamed it “Black Death”... The speed of the IL-2 was 414 km/h. The ceiling was 6000 m. 36,150 aircraft were built IL-2.
Pe-2 (Peshka) (NATO reporting name: Buck - “Deer”) is a Soviet dive bomber of World War II. The most massive front-line bomber produced in the USSR. In the Finnish Air Force he received the unofficial nickname Pekka-Eemeli. The 31st Bomber Aviation Regiment of dive bombers, equipped with the Pe-2 (regiment commander Colonel Fedor Ivanovich Dobysh), became the first bomber Guards aviation unit in the Red Army Air Force of the USSR. The title was awarded to the regiment for actions on the Leningrad Front in November-December 1941 during the defensive operation and counter-offensive of Soviet troops near Tikhvin.

Now about the artillery of the USSR.

And this is the famous Katyusha. Description. Rocket launcher volley fire. Used during the Second World War.
Howitzer D-1 - 152 mm towed howitzer mod. 1943
Developed by a design team led by P. F. Petrov. The project and five howitzers were completed from April 13 to April 30, 1943. Record-breaking short term carrying out design work became possible thanks to the accepted concept that the new gun would, in principle, be an enlarged copy of the 122-mm howitzer M-30 mod. 1938 After completion of qualification tests, the gun was sent for mass production and in 1943 it began to arrive in the artillery units of the Red Army. After the Second World War, these guns entered service with many armies, in particular, the states of the former Warsaw Pact.
The D-1 howitzer is designed to engage manpower, destroy and pin down infantry and artillery fire weapons, destroy field defensive fortifications, and also to make passages through engineering barriers. The gun is non-automatic, equipped with a rifled monoblock barrel (with variable rifling pitch), connected to the breech using a coupling.

About edged weapons... An ordinary knife, of which there are many. The officers had a longer one. used to kill sentries and for throwing. Always useful.

NOW ABOUT THE ARMAMENTS OF GERMANY.

About tanks.

PzKpfw 6 "Tiger" is perhaps the most famous heavy tank in Germany. It was designed by Henschel in 1941 and was produced until August 1944 until it was replaced by the "Royal Tiger". Tiger tanks first appeared on the Volkhov Front in August-September 1942. 88 mm gun. and powerful 100 mm armor made this tank very dangerous, especially in open spaces. The Tiger weighed 57 tons. Armament: 2 7.62 mm machine guns, 88 mm cannon, 120 rounds, 2500 rounds.

and here is a picture of the rather famous German Panther tank. Description
"Panther" This tank was designed by MAN. The first tanks were ready in January 1943. The Panthers were first used at the Kursk Bulge in July 1943, where, along with good combat characteristics, they showed not very high reliability of the chassis. After increasing reliability, the Panther became one of the most successful tanks of the Second World War. Weight: 45 tons. Armament: 75 mm cannon, 2 MG34 machine guns.
Maximum speed - 55 km/h. Armor - 40-100 mm.

Tank fighter - "Elefant"
("Elephant") was created on the basis of the "Tiger" tank of the Porsche company. Like the Panther, it was preparing for an offensive on the Kursk Bulge in the summer of 1943. Possessing low mobility ( maximum speed 30 km/h), these vehicles were dangerous in large open spaces. Their 88-mm gun could penetrate 200 mm of armor at a distance of 1 km. The thickness of the armor reached 200 mm. A total of 120 Elephants were produced. Also known as “Ferdinand” ".

German tank "Mouse"
Designed by Ferdinand Porsche. The weight of this super-tank reached 180 tons. The armor thickness was 210-220 mm. Armament: 128 mm gun, 75 mm cannon and 2 machine guns. Crew of 6 people. It was planned to produce 150 tanks. However, only 2 were fully ready by the end of the war .he did not take part in the battles. In the spring of 1945, the Germans blew them up, and a single copy was collected from the debris, which is now an exhibit of the museum in Kubinka.
Now about small arms.

The MP-40 submachine gun was the main machine gun of the German army. At first, tankers and paratroopers were armed with it, but soon it became the most mass weapons About 1.2 million copies were produced, Caliber 9mm, rate of fire 350-380 rounds per minute, sighting range 200 m.

The German pistol P-38. Walther system was adopted for service in 1940. The pistol was produced until the end of the Second world war, and in 1957 its production was resumed. Caliber - 9mm. sighting range 50m.

Self-loading rifle of the Walter G-41 system Possessing good combat characteristics (rate of fire 20 rounds per minute, sighting range 1200 m), this rifle was not highly reliable, and in German units it was preferred to the SVT-40.

Hand grenade-M24. This grant was in service with Germany back in the First World War. The grenade was intended to combat lightly armored targets and against infantry.

Mauser, rifle model 1898. weapon of German riflemen. There was an optical sight for snipers.

And here is the STG 44. It became the very first assault rifle in the world. It was used in special units, and was effective in battle, it could hold 30 rounds. The 1944 model.

MG-42 light machine gun of the German army. Perhaps the best machine gun of the Second World War. Caliber - 7.62 mm.

Anti-tank weapons.
The Faustpatron hand-held anti-tank grenade launcher was one of the most effective means fighting tanks used by infantry. A 149 mm caliber grenade could penetrate 200 mm of tank armor from a distance of 30 m. It was especially dangerous in street battles.

Now about aviation.

Primary fighter Nazi Germany Masserschmitt bf-109. It was first used in battles during civil war in Spain in 1937. The first series had a speed of 410-470 km/h. After modernization, the speed increased to 630 km/h. (Bf-109 K-4). The Masserschmitt BF-109 was produced before the end of the war and was a very dangerous enemy for pilots of the USSR, England, and the USA. The most successful ace of the war, Erich Hartmann-352 victories, fought on the BF-109. The Bf-109 is depicted f-4 captain Warner Brandl 180 victories.

Focke-Wulf FW190A-4. The Focke-Wulf fighter entered service in the summer of 1941 and could carry, in addition to machine gun and cannon armament, a bomb load of 500 kg. The aircraft was produced in various modifications: fighter, attack aircraft. A total of 13,367 fighters were produced during the war years and 6634 fighter-bombers. Armament: 2 20mm cannons and 2 7.92mm machine guns.
Now about the artillery.

An ordinary mortar was used to destroy enemy infantry.

30 mm cannon for destroying enemy light tanks.

A serious weapon, suitable for everything: for shelling cities, for fighting armored vehicles, for destroying infantry.

By the end of the 30s, almost all participants in the coming world war had formed common directions in the development of small arms. The range and accuracy of the attack were reduced, which was compensated by the greater density of fire. As a consequence of this, the beginning of mass rearmament of units with automatic small arms - submachine guns, machine guns, assault rifles.

Accuracy of fire began to fade into the background, while the soldiers advancing in a chain began to be taught shooting on the move. With the advent of airborne troops, the need arose to create special lightweight weapons.

Maneuver warfare also affected machine guns: they became much lighter and more mobile. New types of small arms appeared (which was dictated, first of all, by the need to fight tanks) - rifle grenades, anti-tank rifles and RPGs with cumulative grenades.

Small arms of the USSR World War II

On the eve of the Great Patriotic War, the rifle division of the Red Army was a very formidable force - about 14.5 thousand people. The main type of small arms were rifles and carbines - 10,420 pieces. The share of submachine guns was insignificant - 1204. There were 166, 392 and 33 units of heavy, light and anti-aircraft machine guns, respectively.

The division had its own artillery of 144 guns and 66 mortars. The firepower was supplemented by 16 tanks, 13 armored vehicles and a solid fleet of auxiliary vehicles.

Rifles and carbines

The main small arms of the USSR infantry units of the first period of the war was certainly the famous three-line rifle - the 7.62 mm S.I. Mosin rifle of the 1891 model, modernized in 1930. Its advantages are well known - strength, reliability, ease of maintenance, combined with good ballistics qualities, in particular, with an aiming range of 2 km.

The three-line rifle is an ideal weapon for newly recruited soldiers, and the simplicity of the design created enormous opportunities for its mass production. But like any weapon, the three-line gun had its drawbacks. The permanently attached bayonet in combination with a long barrel (1670 mm) created inconvenience when moving, especially in wooded areas. The bolt handle caused serious complaints when reloading.

On its basis, a sniper rifle and a series of carbines of the 1938 and 1944 models were created. Fate gave the three-line a long life (the last three-line was released in 1965), participation in many wars and an astronomical “circulation” of 37 million copies.

At the end of the 30s, the outstanding Soviet weapons designer F.V. Tokarev developed a 10-round self-loading rifle cal. 7.62 mm SVT-38, which after modernization received the name SVT-40. It “lost weight” by 600 g and became shorter due to the introduction of thinner wooden parts, additional holes in the casing and a decrease in the length of the bayonet. A little later, a sniper rifle appeared at its base. Automatic firing was ensured by the removal of powder gases. The ammunition was placed in a box-shaped, detachable magazine.

The target range of the SVT-40 is up to 1 km. The SVT-40 served with honor on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War. It was also appreciated by our opponents. Historical fact: Having captured rich trophies at the beginning of the war, among which there were many SVT-40s, the German army... adopted it for service, and the Finns created their own rifle on the basis of the SVT-40 - TaRaKo.

The creative development of the ideas implemented in SVT-40 was automatic rifle AVT-40. It differed from its predecessor in its ability to fire automatically at a rate of up to 25 rounds per minute. The disadvantage of the AVT-40 is its low accuracy of fire, strong unmasking flame and loud sound at the moment of firing. Subsequently, as automatic weapons entered the military en masse, they were removed from service.

Submachine guns

The Great Patriotic War was the time of the final transition from rifles to automatic weapons. The Red Army began to fight, armed with a small number of PPD-40 - a submachine gun designed by the outstanding Soviet designer Vasily Alekseevich Degtyarev. At that time, PPD-40 was in no way inferior to its domestic and foreign analogues.

Designed for a pistol cartridge cal. 7.62 x 25 mm, the PPD-40 had an impressive ammunition load of 71 rounds, housed in a drum-type magazine. Weighing about 4 kg, it fired at a rate of 800 rounds per minute with an effective range of up to 200 meters. However, just a few months after the start of the war it was replaced by the legendary PPSh-40 cal. 7.62 x 25 mm.

The creator of the PPSh-40, designer Georgy Semenovich Shpagin, was faced with the task of developing an extremely easy-to-use, reliable, technologically advanced, cheap to produce mass weapon.

From its predecessor, the PPD-40, the PPSh inherited a drum magazine with 71 rounds. A little later, a simpler and more reliable sector horn magazine with 35 rounds was developed for it. The weight of the equipped machine guns (both versions) was 5.3 and 4.15 kg, respectively. The rate of fire of the PPSh-40 reached 900 rounds per minute with an aiming range of up to 300 meters and the ability to fire single shots.

To master the PPSh-40, a few lessons were enough. It could easily be disassembled into 5 parts made using stamping and welding technology, thanks to which during the war years the Soviet defense industry produced about 5.5 million machine guns.

In the summer of 1942, the young designer Alexey Sudaev presented his brainchild - a 7.62 mm submachine gun. It was strikingly different from its “bigger brothers” PPD and PPSh-40 in its rational layout, higher manufacturability and ease of manufacturing parts using the arc welding.

PPS-42 was 3.5 kg lighter and required three times less manufacturing time. However, despite its quite obvious advantages, it never became a mass weapon, leaving the PPSh-40 to take the lead.

By the beginning of the war, the DP-27 light machine gun (Degtyarev infantry, 7.62mm caliber) had been in service with the Red Army for almost 15 years, having the status of the main light machine gun of infantry units. Its automation was powered by the energy of powder gases. The gas regulator reliably protected the mechanism from contamination and high temperatures.

The DP-27 could only fire automatically, but even a beginner needed a few days to master shooting in short bursts of 3-5 shots. Ammunition of 47 rounds was placed in a disk magazine with a bullet towards the center in one row. The magazine itself was mounted on top of the receiver. The weight of the unloaded machine gun was 8.5 kg. An equipped magazine increased it by almost another 3 kg.

It was a powerful weapon with an effective range of 1.5 km and a combat rate of fire of up to 150 rounds per minute. In the firing position, the machine gun rested on a bipod. A flame arrester was screwed onto the end of the barrel, significantly reducing its unmasking effect. The DP-27 was serviced by a gunner and his assistant. In total, about 800 thousand machine guns were produced.

Small arms of the Wehrmacht of World War II

The main strategy of the German army is offensive or blitzkrieg (blitzkrieg - lightning war). The decisive role in it was assigned to large tank formations, carrying out deep breakthroughs of the enemy’s defenses in cooperation with artillery and aviation.

Tank units bypassed powerful fortified areas, destroying control centers and rear communications, without which the enemy quickly lost their combat effectiveness. The defeat was completed by motorized units of the ground forces.

Small arms of the Wehrmacht infantry division

The staff of the German infantry division of the 1940 model assumed the presence of 12,609 rifles and carbines, 312 submachine guns (machine guns), manual and heavy machine guns- 425 and 110 pieces, respectively, 90 anti-tank rifles and 3,600 pistols.

The Wehrmacht's small arms generally met the high wartime requirements. It was reliable, trouble-free, simple, easy to manufacture and maintain, which contributed to its serial production.

Rifles, carbines, machine guns

Mauser 98K

The Mauser 98K is an improved version of the Mauser 98 rifle, developed at the end of the 19th century by the brothers Paul and Wilhelm Mauser, founders of the world famous arms company. Equipping the German army with it began in 1935.

Mauser 98K

The weapon was loaded with a clip of five 7.92 mm cartridges. A trained soldier could shoot 15 times within a minute at a range of up to 1.5 km. The Mauser 98K was very compact. Its main characteristics: weight, length, barrel length - 4.1 kg x 1250 x 740 mm. The indisputable advantages of the rifle are evidenced by numerous conflicts involving it, longevity and a truly sky-high “circulation” - more than 15 million units.

The self-loading ten-shot rifle G-41 became the German response to the massive equipping of the Red Army with rifles - SVT-38, 40 and ABC-36. Its sighting range reached 1200 meters. Only single shooting was allowed. Its significant disadvantages - significant weight, low reliability and increased vulnerability to contamination - were subsequently eliminated. The combat “circulation” amounted to several hundred thousand rifle samples.

MP-40 "Schmeisser" assault rifle

Perhaps the most famous Wehrmacht small arms of the Second World War was the famous MP-40 submachine gun, a modification of its predecessor, the MP-36, created by Heinrich Vollmer. However, as fate would have it, he is better known under the name “Schmeisser”, obtained thanks to the stamp on the store - “PATENT SCHMEISSER”. The mark simply meant that, in addition to G. Vollmer, Hugo Schmeisser also participated in the creation of the MP-40, but only as the creator of the store.

MP-40 "Schmeisser" assault rifle

Initially, the MP-40 was intended to arm the command staff of infantry units, but later it was transferred to the disposal of tankers, armored vehicle drivers, paratroopers and special forces soldiers.

However, the MP-40 was absolutely unsuitable for infantry units, since it was exclusively a melee weapon. In a fierce battle on open area Having a weapon with a firing range of 70 to 150 meters meant for a German soldier to be practically unarmed in front of his enemy, armed with Mosin and Tokarev rifles with a firing range of 400 to 800 meters.

StG-44 assault rifle

Assault rifle StG-44 (sturmgewehr) cal. 7.92mm is another legend of the Third Reich. This is certainly an outstanding creation by Hugo Schmeisser - the prototype of many post-war assault rifles and machine guns, including the famous AK-47.

The StG-44 could conduct single and automatic fire. Its weight with a full magazine was 5.22 kg. At a target range of 800 meters, the Sturmgewehr was in no way inferior to its main competitors. There were three versions of the magazine - for 15, 20 and 30 shots with a rate of up to 500 rounds per second. The option of using a rifle with an under-barrel grenade launcher and an infrared sight was considered.

Not without its shortcomings. The assault rifle was heavier than the Mauser-98K by a whole kilogram. Her wooden butt couldn't stand it sometimes hand-to-hand combat and just broke down. The flame escaping from the barrel revealed the location of the shooter, and the long magazine and sighting devices forced him to raise his head high in a prone position.

MG-42 caliber 7.92 mm is quite rightly called one of the best machine guns World War II. It was developed at Grossfus by engineers Werner Gruner and Kurt Horn. Those who experienced its firepower were very outspoken. Our soldiers called it a “lawn mower,” and the allies called it “Hitler’s circular saw.”

Depending on the type of bolt, the machine gun fired accurately at a speed of up to 1500 rpm at a range of up to 1 km. Ammunition was supplied using a machine gun belt with 50 - 250 rounds of ammunition. The uniqueness of the MG-42 was complemented by a relatively small number of parts - 200 - and the high technology of their production using stamping and spot welding.

The barrel, hot from shooting, was replaced with a spare one in a few seconds using a special clamp. In total, about 450 thousand machine guns were produced. The unique technical developments embodied in the MG-42 were borrowed by gunsmiths from many countries around the world when creating their machine guns.

Small arms of the USSR World War II

The division had its own artillery of 144 guns and 66 mortars. The firepower was supplemented by 16 tanks, 13 armored vehicles and a solid fleet of auxiliary vehicles.

Rifles and carbines

Three-line Mosin
The main small arms of the USSR infantry units of the first period of the war was certainly the famous three-line rifle - the 7.62 mm S.I. Mosin rifle of the 1891 model, modernized in 1930. Its advantages are well known - strength, reliability, ease of maintenance, combined with good ballistics qualities, in particular, with an aiming range of 2 km.

Three-line Mosin

After the fight

Sniper with Mosin rifle

SVT-40
At the end of the 30s, the outstanding Soviet weapons designer F.V. Tokarev developed a 10-round self-loading rifle cal. 7.62 mm SVT-38, which after modernization received the name SVT-40. It “lost weight” by 600 g and became shorter due to the introduction of thinner wooden parts, additional holes in the casing and a decrease in the length of the bayonet. A little later, a sniper rifle appeared at its base. Automatic firing was ensured by the removal of powder gases. The ammunition was placed in a box-shaped, detachable magazine.

The target range of the SVT-40 is up to 1 km. The SVT-40 served with honor on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War. It was also appreciated by our opponents. Historical fact: having captured rich trophies at the beginning of the war, among which there were many SVT-40s, the German army... adopted it for service, and the Finns created their own rifle on the basis of the SVT-40 - TaRaKo.

Soviet sniper with SVT-40

The creative development of the ideas implemented in the SVT-40 became the AVT-40 automatic rifle. It differed from its predecessor in its ability to fire automatically at a rate of up to 25 rounds per minute. The disadvantage of the AVT-40 is its low accuracy of fire, strong unmasking flame and loud sound at the moment of firing. Subsequently, as automatic weapons entered the military en masse, they were removed from service.

Submachine guns

PPD-40
The Great Patriotic War was the time of the final transition from rifles to automatic weapons. The Red Army began to fight, armed with a small number of PPD-40 - a submachine gun designed by the outstanding Soviet designer Vasily Alekseevich Degtyarev. At that time, PPD-40 was in no way inferior to its domestic and foreign counterparts.

PPSh-40
The creator of the PPSh-40, designer Georgy Semenovich Shpagin, was faced with the task of developing an extremely easy-to-use, reliable, technologically advanced, cheap to produce mass weapon.

PPSh-40

Fighter with PPSh-40

PPSh-40 assembly shop

PPS-42
In the summer of 1942, the young designer Alexey Sudaev presented his brainchild - a 7.62 mm submachine gun. It was strikingly different from its “bigger brothers” PPD and PPSh-40 in its rational layout, higher manufacturability and ease of manufacturing parts using arc welding.

PPS-42

Son of the regiment with a Sudaev machine gun

PPS-42 was 3.5 kg lighter and required three times less manufacturing time. However, despite its quite obvious advantages, it never became a mass weapon, leaving the PPSh-40 to take the lead.

DP-27 light machine gun

Machine gun crew DP-27 in battle

Small arms of the Wehrmacht of World War II

Small arms of the Wehrmacht infantry division
The staff of the German infantry division of the 1940 model assumed the presence of 12,609 rifles and carbines, 312 submachine guns (machine guns), light and heavy machine guns - 425 and 110 pieces, respectively, 90 anti-tank rifles and 3,600 pistols.

The Wehrmacht's small arms generally met the high wartime requirements. It was reliable, trouble-free, simple, easy to manufacture and maintain, which contributed to its serial production.

Rifles, carbines, machine guns

Mauser 98K
The Mauser 98K is an improved version of the Mauser 98 rifle, developed at the end of the 19th century by the brothers Paul and Wilhelm Mauser, founders of the world famous arms company. Equipping the German army with it began in 1935.

Mauser 98K

At the shooting range. Mauser 98K rifle

G-41 rifle
The self-loading ten-shot rifle G-41 became the German response to the massive equipping of the Red Army with rifles - SVT-38, 40 and ABC-36. Its sighting range reached 1200 meters. Only single shooting was allowed. Its significant disadvantages - significant weight, low reliability and increased vulnerability to contamination - were subsequently eliminated. The combat “circulation” amounted to several hundred thousand rifle samples.

G-41 rifle

MP-40 "Schmeisser" assault rifle
Perhaps the most famous Wehrmacht small arms of the Second World War was the famous MP-40 submachine gun, a modification of its predecessor, the MP-36, created by Heinrich Vollmer. However, as fate would have it, he is better known under the name “Schmeisser”, obtained thanks to the stamp on the store - “PATENT SCHMEISSER”. The mark simply meant that, in addition to G. Vollmer, Hugo Schmeisser also participated in the creation of the MP-40, but only as the creator of the store.

MP-40 "Schmeisser" assault rifle

A German soldier fires from an MP-40

However, the MP-40 was absolutely unsuitable for infantry units, since it was exclusively a melee weapon. In a fierce battle in open terrain, having a weapon with a firing range of 70 to 150 meters meant for a German soldier to be practically unarmed in front of his enemy, armed with Mosin and Tokarev rifles with a firing range of 400 to 800 meters.

StG-44 assault rifle
Assault rifle StG-44 (sturmgewehr) cal. 7.92mm is another legend of the Third Reich. This is certainly an outstanding creation by Hugo Schmeisser - the prototype of many post-war assault rifles and machine guns, including the famous AK-47.

Creator of Sturmgever 44 Hugo Schmeisser

Not without its shortcomings. The assault rifle was heavier than the Mauser-98K by a whole kilogram. Its wooden butt sometimes could not withstand hand-to-hand combat and simply broke. The flame escaping from the barrel revealed the location of the shooter, and the long magazine and sighting devices forced him to raise his head high in a prone position.

Sturmgever 44 with IR sight

In total, before the end of the war, German industry produced about 450 thousand StG-44s, which were used mainly by elite SS units.

Machine guns
By the beginning of the 30s, the military leadership of the Wehrmacht came to the need to create a universal machine gun, which, if necessary, could be transformed, for example, from a manual one to an easel one and vice versa. This is how a series of machine guns was born - MG - 34, 42, 45.

German machine gunner with MG-42

The 7.92 mm MG-42 is rightly called one of the best machine guns of World War II. It was developed at Grossfus by engineers Werner Gruner and Kurt Horn. Those who experienced its firepower were very outspoken. Our soldiers called it a “lawn mower,” and the allies called it “Hitler’s circular saw.”

Content

Based on materials from techcult

Modern war will be a war of engines. Motors on the ground, motors in the air, motors on the water and underwater. Under these conditions, the one who has more engines and a larger power reserve will win.
Joseph Stalin

At a meeting of the Main Military Council, January 13, 1941.

During the years of the pre-war five-year plans Soviet designers created new models of small arms, tanks, artillery, mortars and aircraft. More and more advanced destroyers, cruisers, and patrol ships entered service with the fleet, and special attention was also paid to the development of the submarine fleet.

As a result, before the start of the Great Patriotic War, the USSR had a fairly modern weapons system and military equipment, and according to some tactical and technical characteristics even surpassed German weapons analogues. Therefore, the main reasons for the defeats of Soviet troops in initial period wars cannot be attributed to miscalculations in technical equipment troops.

TANKS
As of June 22, 1941, the Red Army had 25,621 tanks.
The most popular were the light T-26s, of which there were almost 10 thousand vehicles, and representatives of the BT family - there were about 7.5 thousand of them. A significant proportion were wedges and small amphibious tanks - a total of almost 6 thousand were in service with the Soviet troops. modifications T-27, T-37, T-38 and T-40.
The most modern KV and T-34 tanks at that time numbered about 1.85 thousand units.

KV-1 tanks

Heavy tank KV-1

The KV-1 entered service in 1939 and was mass-produced from March 1940 to August 1942. The tank's mass was up to 47.5 tons, which made it much heavier than existing German tanks. He was armed with a 76 mm cannon.
Some experts consider the KV-1 to be a landmark vehicle for global tank building, which had a significant impact on the development of heavy tanks in other countries.

The Soviet tank had a so-called classic layout - the division of the armored hull from bow to stern successively into a control compartment, a combat compartment and an engine compartment. It also received an independent torsion bar suspension, all-round anti-ballistic protection, diesel engine and one relatively powerful weapon. Previously, these elements were found separately on other tanks, but in the KV-1 they were brought together for the first time.
The first combat use of the KV-1 dates back to the Soviet-Finnish War: prototype The tank was used on December 17, 1939 during the breakthrough of the Mannerheim Line.
In 1940-1942, 2,769 tanks were produced. Until 1943, when the German Tiger appeared, the KV was the most powerful tank of the war. At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, he received the nickname “ghost” from the Germans. Standard shells from the Wehrmacht's 37mm anti-tank gun did not penetrate its armor.

Tank T-34

Medium tank T-34
In May 1938, the Armored Directorate of the Red Army invited plant No. 183 (now the Kharkov Transport Engineering Plant named after V. A. Malyshev) to create a new tracked tank. Under the leadership of Mikhail Koshkin, the A-32 model was created. The work proceeded in parallel with the creation of the BT-20, an improved modification of the already mass-produced BT-7 tank.

Prototypes of the A-32 and BT-20 were ready in May 1939; based on the results of their tests in December 1939, the A-32 received a new name - T-34 - and was put into service with the condition of modifying the tank: bringing the main armor to 45 millimeters, improve visibility, install a 76-mm cannon and additional machine guns.
In total, by the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, 1066 T-34s were manufactured. After June 22, 1941, production of this type was launched at the Krasnoye Sormovo plant in Gorky (now Nizhny Novgorod), the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant, Uralmash in Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg), plant No. 174 in Omsk and Uralvagonzavod (Nizhny Tagil ).

In 1944, serial production of the T-34-85 modification began with a new turret, reinforced armor and an 85-mm gun. The tank has also proven itself well due to its ease of production and maintenance.
In total, more than 84 thousand T-34 tanks were manufactured. This model took part not only in the Great Patriotic War, it was in many armed conflicts in Europe, Asia and Africa in the 1950-1980s. The last documented case of combat use of T-34s in Europe was their use during the war in Yugoslavia.

AVIATION
By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, Soviet aviation was armed with many types of combat aircraft. In 1940 and the first half of 1941, almost 2.8 thousand entered the troops. modern cars: Yak-1, MiG-3, LaGG-3, Pe-2, Il-2.
There were also I-15 bis, I-16 and I-153 fighters, TB-3, DB-3, SB (ANT-40) bombers, multi-purpose R-5 and U-2 (Po-2).
The new aircraft of the Red Army Air Force were not inferior to the Luftwaffe aircraft in combat capabilities, and even surpassed them in a number of indicators.

Sturmovik Il-2

Sturmovik Il-2
The Il-2 armored attack aircraft is the most produced combat aircraft in history. In total, more than 36 thousand cars were produced. He was called the “flying tank,” the Wehrmacht leadership called him “the Black Death” and “Iron Gustav.” German pilots nicknamed the Il-2 “concrete plane” for its high combat survivability.

First combat units, which were armed with these machines, were created just before the war. Attack aircraft units were successfully used against enemy mechanized and armored units. At the beginning of the war, the Il-2 was practically the only aircraft that, given the superiority of German aviation, fought the enemy in the air. He played a big role in containing the enemy in 1941.
During the war years, several modifications of the aircraft were created. IL-2 and its further development- Il-10 attack aircraft - actively used in all major battles The Great Patriotic War and the Soviet-Japanese War.
The maximum horizontal speed of the aircraft at the ground was 388 km/h, and at an altitude of 2000 m – 407 km/h. The ascent time to a height of 1000 m is 2.4 minutes, and the turn time at this height is 48-49 seconds. At the same time, in one combat turn, the attack aircraft gained a height of 400 meters.

MiG-3 fighter

MiG-3 night fighter
The design team, headed by A. I. Mikoyan and M. I. Gurevich, worked hard in 1939 on a fighter for combat at high altitudes. In the spring of 1940, a prototype was built, which received the MiG-1 brand (Mikoyan and Gurevich, the first). Subsequently, its modernized version received the name MiG-3.

Despite the significant take-off weight (3350 kg), the speed of the production MiG-3 at the ground exceeded 500 km/h, and at an altitude of 7 thousand meters it reached 640 km/h. This was the highest speed achieved at that time on production aircraft. Due to the high ceiling and high speed at an altitude of over 5 thousand meters, the MiG-3 was effectively used as a reconnaissance aircraft, as well as an air defense fighter. However, poor horizontal maneuverability and relatively weak weapons did not allow it to become a full-fledged front-line fighter.
According to the estimates of the famous ace Alexander Pokryshkin, while inferior in the horizontal direction, the MiG-3 was significantly superior to the German Me109 in vertical maneuver, which could serve as the key to victory in a clash with fascist fighters. However, only top-class pilots could successfully fly the MiG-3 in vertical turns and at extreme overloads.

FLEET
By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the Soviet fleet had a total of 3 battleships and 7 cruisers, 54 leaders and destroyers, 212 submarines, 287 torpedo boats and many other ships.

The pre-war shipbuilding program provided for the creation of a “large fleet”, the basis of which would be large surface ships - battleships and cruisers. In accordance with it, in 1939-1940, battleships of the "Soviet Union" type and heavy cruisers "Kronstadt" and "Sevastopol" were laid down, and the unfinished cruiser "Petropavlovsk" was purchased in Germany, but plans for a radical renewal of the fleet were not destined to come true.
In the pre-war years, Soviet sailors received new light cruisers of the Kirov type, leaders of destroyers of projects 1 and 38, destroyers of project 7 and other ships. The construction of submarines and torpedo boats was booming.
Many ships were completed during the war, some of them never took part in the battles. These include, for example, the Project 68 Chapaev cruisers and the Project 30 Ognevoy destroyers.
The main types of surface ships of the pre-war period:
light cruisers of the "Kirov" type,
leaders of the "Leningrad" and "Minsk" types,
destroyers of the "Wrathful" and "Soobrazitelny" type,
minesweepers of the "Fugas" type,
torpedo boats "G-5",
sea hunters "MO-4".
The main types of submarines of the pre-war period:
small submarines of the "M" type ("Malyutka"),
medium submarines of the "Shch" ("Pike") and "S" ("Medium") types,
underwater minelayers type "L" ("Leninets"),
large submarines of types "K" ("Cruiser") and "D" ("Decembrist").

Kirov-class cruisers

Kirov-class cruisers
Light cruisers of the Kirov class became the first Soviet surface ships of this class, not counting the three Svetlana cruisers laid down under Nicholas II. Project 26, according to which the Kirov was built, was finally approved in the fall of 1934 and developed the ideas of the Italian light cruisers of the Condotieri family.

The first pair of cruisers, Kirov and Voroshilov, were laid down in 1935. They entered service in 1938 and 1940. The second pair, "Maxim Gorky" and "Molotov", were built according to a modified design and joined the Soviet fleet in 1940-1941. Two more cruisers were laid down at Far East, before the end of the Great Patriotic War, only one of them managed to be put into operation - “Kalinin”. Far Eastern cruisers also differed from their predecessors.
The total displacement of the Kirov-class cruisers ranged from approximately 9450-9550 tons for the first pair to almost 10,000 tons for the last. These ships could reach speeds of 35 knots or more. Their main armament was nine 180mm B-1-P guns mounted in three-gun turrets. On the first four cruisers, anti-aircraft weapons were represented by six B-34 100 mm caliber mounts, 45 mm 21-K and 12.7 mm machine guns. In addition, the Kirovs carried torpedoes, mines and depth charges, and seaplanes.
"Kirov" and "Maxim Gorky" spent almost the entire war supporting the defenders of Leningrad with gunfire. "Voroshilov" and "Molotov", built in Nikolaev, took part in fleet operations on the Black Sea. All of them survived the Great Patriotic War - they were destined for a long service. Kirov was the last to leave the fleet in 1974.

Submarine "Pike"

Pike-class submarines
“Pikes” became the most popular Soviet submarines of the Great Patriotic War, not counting “Malyutoks”.

Construction of the first series of four submarines began in the Baltic in 1930; the Pike entered service in 1933-1934.
These were medium-class submarines with an underwater displacement of about 700 tons, and their armament consisted of six 533-mm torpedo tubes and a 45-mm 21-K cannon.
The project was successful, and by the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, more than 70 Shchukas were in service (a total of 86 submarines were built in six series).
Submarines of the Shch type were actively used in all naval theaters of war. Of the 44 Shchuk that fought, 31 were lost. The enemy lost almost 30 ships from their actions.

Despite a number of shortcomings, the “Pikes” were distinguished by their comparative cheapness, maneuverability and survivability. From series to series - a total of six series of these submarines were created - they improved their seaworthiness and other parameters. In 1940, two Shch-class submarines were the first in the Soviet fleet to receive equipment that made it possible to fire torpedoes without leaking air (which often unmasked the attacking submarine).
Although only two Shchukas of the latest X-bis series entered service after the war, these submarines remained in the fleet for a long time and were decommissioned in the late 1950s.

ARTILLERY
According to Soviet data, on the eve of the Great Patriotic War the army had almost 67.5 thousand guns and mortars.

It is believed that Soviet field artillery was even superior to German in terms of combat qualities. However, it was poorly equipped with mechanized traction: agricultural tractors were used as tractors, and up to half of the implements were transported using horses.
The army was armed with many types artillery pieces and mortars. Anti-aircraft artillery represented guns of caliber 25, 37, 76 and 85 millimeters; howitzer - modifications of caliber 122, 152, 203 and 305 millimeters. The main anti-tank gun was the 45mm model 1937, the regimental gun was the 76mm model 1927, and the divisional gun was the 76mm model 1939.

An anti-tank gun fires at the enemy in the battles for Vitebsk

45mm anti-tank gun model 1937
This weapon became one of the most famous representatives Soviet artillery Great Patriotic War. It was developed under the leadership of Mikhail Loginov based on the 1932 45 mm gun.

The main combat qualities of the 45-millimeter included maneuverability, rate of fire (15 rounds per minute) and armor penetration.
By the beginning of the war, the army had more than 16.6 thousand guns of the 1937 model. In total, over 37.3 thousand of these guns were produced, and production was curtailed only by 1944, despite the presence of more modern models of the ZiS-2 and the similar caliber M-42.

Salvo "Katyusha"

Katyusha rocket artillery combat vehicle
The day before the start of the Great Patriotic War, the BM-13 rocket artillery combat vehicle, later called “Katyusha,” was adopted by the Red Army. It became one of the world's first multiple launch rocket systems.

The first combat use took place on July 14, 1941 near the railway station in the city of Orsha (Belarus). A battery under the command of Captain Ivan Flerov destroyed a concentration of German military equipment at the Orsha railway junction with volley fire.
Due to its high efficiency of use and ease of production, by the autumn of 1941 the BM-13 was widely used at the front, having a significant impact on the course of hostilities.
The system made it possible to fire a salvo with the entire charge (16 missiles) in 7-10 seconds. There were also modifications with an increased number of guides and other versions of the missiles.
During the war, about 4 thousand BM-13s were lost. In total, about 7 thousand units of this type were manufactured, and Katyushas were discontinued only after the war - in October 1946.

SMALL ARMS
Despite the widespread introduction of tanks and aircraft and the strengthening of artillery, infantry weapons remained the most widespread. According to some estimates, if in the First World War losses from small arms did not exceed 30% of the total, then in the Second World War they increased to 30-50%.
Before the Great Patriotic War the supply of rifles, carbines and machine guns to the troops increased, but the Red Army was significantly inferior to the Wehrmacht in terms of saturation automatic weapons, such as submachine guns.

Snipers Rosa Shanina, Alexandra Ekimova and Lidiya Vdovina (from left to right). 3rd Belorussian Front

Mosin rifle
The 7.62 mm Mosin rifle, adopted for service in 1891, remained the main weapon of the Red Army infantryman. In total, about 37 million of these rifles were produced.

Modifications of the 1891/1930 model had to fight during the most difficult months of the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. Thanks to its low cost and reliability, the weapon outperformed its young self-loading rivals.
The latest version of the “three-line” was the 1944 model carbine, distinguished by the presence of a permanent needle bayonet. The rifle became even shorter, the technology was simplified, and combat maneuverability increased - with a shorter carbine it is easier to conduct close combat in thickets, trenches, and fortifications.
In addition, it was Mosin’s design that formed the basis sniper rifle, adopted for service in 1931 and becoming the first Soviet rifle specifically designed for “sharp shooting and primarily destroying enemy command personnel.”

Soviet and American soldiers. Meeting on the Elbe, 1945

PPSh
The 7.62 mm Shpagin submachine gun was adopted for service in 1941.

This legendary weapon has become part of the image of a victorious soldier - it can be seen in the most famous monuments. The PPSh-41 fell in love with the soldiers, receiving from them the affectionate and respectful nickname “daddy.” He shot at almost anyone weather conditions and at the same time it was relatively cheap.
By the end of the war, about 55% of the fighters were armed with PPSh. In total, about 6 million pieces were produced.