Short and well on point - just one minor thing: the earliest German rifle squad had 13 men(!) which was after the Polish campaign soon cut down to 10, simply because that squad size was too unwieldy for a squad leader to handle.
My grandfather was a machine gunner in a German infantry division on the eastern front and he told me that the MG34 was in his opinion a better machine gun than the MG42 , he never told me why
One of the most important facts to recall on this versatile weapon was that it was developed as a result of the German army not being allowed to build MG's above 14kg. Water cooled MG's were standard but the water jacket was cumbersome with it's own problems. A quick change barrel like in the ZB 26 solved this problem.
Both the MG 34 and MG 42 GPMGs were weapons that the US Ordnance Corps failed to duplicate until the advent of the M60- 15 years after the close of WW II. Various excuses we're made as to why the US could not/did not simple copy either of these fantastic German MGs, but perhaps the best reason is the 'not-invented-here' syndrome and pride in not adopting a weapon of the enemy!
Yeah. Funny how the Germans could re-calibrate MG-42 to NATO 7.62 but the Americans couldn't re-calibrate to .306. Ever wonder how many Americans died because of the Chief of Ordnance's pride? Practically criminal.
Fun fact : MG-34 was used by the vietcongs during the Vietnam war, some captured from the french colonialists when they left the country, some supplied by the USSR
Like most Fin Facts it's neither fun nor a fact. I've never seen an authoritative source that backs your claim. No intelligence publications or photos show the Viet Cong using MG34 machine guns. I'm calling horsecrap on this one.
The MG-34 was produced throughout the war for AFVs. It had to do with the barrel change. It was impractical to use an MG-42 as a co-axle or bow machine gun.
mg34's were ahead of their time until the mg42 came out. The major difference between the two models was the fact the 34 was more sensitive to the dirt and grime of the battlefield. At this time the 34's were fazed out of the infantry and instead installed as the secondary armorment of tanks/amored vehicles. To the day, the German army still has in service the called the mg-3 Some changes have been made but the same general design is the same.
The surprising part of the MG-34 for me was that some of it ended up in Vietnam, either by supplied by the Soviet and Czechslovakia or stolen from the French. Then it was used during the war against Americans as anti-air guns and finally being discarded due to running out of both ammunition and spare parts
British infantry was trained to 'hunt' the machine gunner in any infantry engagement, as once the MG gunner was killed, a german infantry unit would usually withdraw.
@@Fer-sc5sb If you take out the gunner another Kamerad would take over Not saying they didn't try to take out the machine gun but the gunner is less important
Yes, definitely, continue this format! Maybe a video about how Sweden, after WW2, tried to make a belt fed version of the Swedish Army Browning BAR guns? And weren't too happy with what they could come up themselves. So they asked FN in Belgium, who had the license for Brownings in Europe, to sort this out. FN did so, by flipping the gun upside down, and using the proven MG42 belt feed mechanism on top of the upside down BAR. This worked, and Sweden got the Ksp58 in Swedish Mauser 6.5 mm. FN, meanwhile, thought this gun might be marketable, if it were in a more common caliber, so they rechambered it for NATO 7.62x51 mm. And marketed it as the FN MAG. The rest, as they say, is history...
Great question! It was... which was one of the biggest factors leading to the development of the MG 42, which ended up requiring significantly fewer milled parts & hours of skilled labor to construct 👍
The only parts that were not machined on the MG34 was the top cover and feed tray. Very expensive weapon to produce. The Germans manufactured it until the end of the war though because it could be used in a tank where as the MG42 could not.
Not a WWII question, but I was stationed in Germany with US Army in the ‘80’s. We did a joint weapons qualification with German army and we shot a pistol, Uzi and machine gun. It looked like the MG34 in the video, but would it have been the same weapon? Or had Germany updated? We (US) still use Browning M2 machine gun, so it’s possible that a good design stands the test of time Curious of any feedback
Seen some of these old guns in Iraq in 2005-2006 An have seen news reels were they were being used by the Ukrainians seems like a very popular light machine gun even today
The way I understand it, a German infantry squad was based around the MG34 as the main weapon, and the riflemen being mostly there to provide fire support. While a British infantry squad, or section as I think they call it, was based around the riflemen, with the Bren machine gun only being there as fire support. I guess that has to do with the volume of fire those machine guns could provide. The MG34 being belt fed, so it could fire hundreds of rounds before having to reload, while the Bren was magazine fed, having to reload after only thirty rounds. And the MG34 fired a lot faster than the Bren, too. Interesting how what maybe was seen as just a slight improvement in the machine gun, totally altered the dynamics within the group of people working together.
Hi Hank, I'm loving your WWII History today shorts but I can't see all of the subtitles because they are covered by the details of what's in the shorts for that day in history. Please bring back the videos where you narrated the video it was so much better. Sorry to be a downer but it's not the same. Your channels are so great but it lets you down.
To this very day ....either models the MG34 or the MG 42 look as though they were teleported from the future ...beyond the 4th millennium ...perhaps even more distant. I served 3 years during the cold war in Germany USAREUR 56th Brigade 1970`s ..cannot say anything more about it , anyway both of those human mowers are owned by gun ranges , or gun clubs that would let active military members fire them .I never did fire one the cost of the ammo was too high for me to agree to pay , but was present during a demonstration .. impression ???? They are from the future to this very day .
Very interesting video. I would have be better if you had mentioned the weight of the MG34 , barrel length, twist rate , rate of fire and other interesting facts about the MG34
People tends to misunderstand things like RPM. The MG 34 could fire up to 800-900 RPM. Originally it was possible to vary the RPM, but this feature was discarded. The actual RPM of a MG 34 would be 300-350 RPM. The squad carried enough ammunition for around 3 minutes of intense fighting. Since the MG 34 was working much like a shotgun, the gunner did not need to fire small busts. Instead, on old films you will see that the gunner fires as long as there are targets. Short bursts is a really, really bad idea because it allows the enemy to collect their thoughts.
I don't think the BAR or the MG34 were select fire in the sense that there was a semi- auto function. There was a fast full auto and a slower full auto. In the slow mode if you pulled and released the trigger fast enough you could fire a single shot. For the BAR I think it was about 450 rounds per minute to 750 rounds per minute. The USA M3 "Grease gun" also cycled slow enough to fire single shots. Both the MG34 and MG 42 had a very fast cyclic rate.
But the MG34 actually got a semi fire mode build in the trigger. "Einzelfeuer" literally is semi fire in german. It wasn't a "slow fire" mode. It was really a single shot mode.
Nice Video. But your pronounciation of einzelfeuer and dauerfeuer was horrible 😅 as a native speaker without the picture i Would have no idea what you Talking about 😅
Short and well on point - just one minor thing: the earliest German rifle squad had 13 men(!) which was after the Polish campaign soon cut down to 10, simply because that squad size was too unwieldy for a squad leader to handle.
SKFZ 251 half track: Driver [1] TRack commander [2] Machine gunners {2} and 8 man rifle squad. Mechanized infantry [panzergrenadiers] pretty much remained unchanged through '45. th-cam.com/video/KvKTWymxhqY/w-d-xo.html
My grandfather was a machine gunner in a German infantry division on the eastern front and he told me that the MG34 was in his opinion a better machine gun than the MG42 , he never told me why
One of the most important facts to recall on this versatile weapon was that it was developed as a result of the German army not being allowed to build MG's above 14kg. Water cooled MG's were standard but the water jacket was cumbersome with it's own problems. A quick change barrel like in the ZB 26 solved this problem.
Good video. I already knew all this but still enjoyed it due to the excellent presentation.
Both the MG 34 and MG 42 GPMGs were weapons that the US Ordnance Corps failed to duplicate until the advent of the M60- 15 years after the close of WW II. Various excuses we're made as to why the US could not/did not simple copy either of these fantastic German MGs, but perhaps the best reason is the 'not-invented-here' syndrome and pride in not adopting a weapon of the enemy!
Yeah. Funny how the Germans could re-calibrate MG-42 to NATO 7.62 but the Americans couldn't re-calibrate to .306. Ever wonder how many Americans died because of the Chief of Ordnance's pride? Practically criminal.
Fun fact : MG-34 was used by the vietcongs during the Vietnam war, some captured from the french colonialists when they left the country, some supplied by the USSR
That is a good fun fact! Thank you!
They also used MG42 and Sturmgewehr 44s, same reason.
@@KeithFletcher-po4wy so has/ does the Taliban Isis. And the Ukraine "army"
Like most Fin Facts it's neither fun nor a fact. I've never seen an authoritative source that backs your claim. No intelligence publications or photos show the Viet Cong using MG34 machine guns. I'm calling horsecrap on this one.
@@huh-cb1rkWhy „army“? Just call it Army.
The MG-34 was produced throughout the war for AFVs. It had to do with the barrel change. It was impractical to use an MG-42 as a co-axle or bow machine gun.
replacement for the MG34 was MG 42 not MG 44
In 1944 came the next icon, the Sturmgewehr 44, which was the first automatic cabin
mg34's were ahead of their time until the mg42 came out. The major difference between the two models was the fact the 34 was more sensitive to the dirt and grime of the battlefield. At this time the 34's were fazed out of the infantry and instead installed as the secondary armorment of tanks/amored vehicles. To the day, the German army still has in service the called the mg-3 Some changes have been made but the same general design is the same.
I loved using the MG34 playing Call of Duty. It had exceptional low kickback and did not go through ammo like the MG42.
The surprising part of the MG-34 for me was that some of it ended up in Vietnam, either by supplied by the Soviet and Czechslovakia or stolen from the French. Then it was used during the war against Americans as anti-air guns and finally being discarded due to running out of both ammunition and spare parts
It has LMG and Heavy MG attempt’s
- semi auto / squad max use
- Tripod+ optical sight’s like heavy Mg .
British infantry was trained to 'hunt' the machine gunner in any infantry engagement, as once the MG gunner was killed, a german infantry unit would usually withdraw.
Doubt that. Not that difficult to operate
Same with the 60 !!
(different wars) 😮😁👍
@@KonradvonHotzendorfThink about 💀 rate dd...
@@Fer-sc5sb If you take out the gunner another Kamerad would take over
Not saying they didn't try to take out the machine gun but the gunner is less important
@@KonradvonHotzendorfimagine seeing your fellow soldier being shot next to you while shooting on mg. would you take his place?
Thats a cool format! you should 100% continue it!
maybe a video about the bren gun or weapons from countries we dont know anything about!
Yes, definitely, continue this format! Maybe a video about how Sweden, after WW2, tried to make a belt fed version of the Swedish Army Browning BAR guns? And weren't too happy with what they could come up themselves. So they asked FN in Belgium, who had the license for Brownings in Europe, to sort this out. FN did so, by flipping the gun upside down, and using the proven MG42 belt feed mechanism on top of the upside down BAR. This worked, and Sweden got the Ksp58 in Swedish Mauser 6.5 mm. FN, meanwhile, thought this gun might be marketable, if it were in a more common caliber, so they rechambered it for NATO 7.62x51 mm. And marketed it as the FN MAG. The rest, as they say, is history...
If you know the US M60, the old MG 34 is no mystery!
Good info about tactical use.
spandau was the name the brits gave it nobody else.
Great video with excellent information, thank you Hank!
Thanks, interesting and informative.
Was the MG-34 considered “complex to produce” because of that semi-automatic and fully automatic firing system via the trigger?
Great question! It was... which was one of the biggest factors leading to the development of the MG 42, which ended up requiring significantly fewer milled parts & hours of skilled labor to construct 👍
The only parts that were not machined on the MG34 was the top cover and feed tray. Very expensive weapon to produce. The Germans manufactured it until the end of the war though because it could be used in a tank where as the MG42 could not.
The select fire trigger was only one of many reasons the MG34 cost so much.
Not a WWII question, but I was stationed in Germany with US Army in the ‘80’s. We did a joint weapons qualification with German army and we shot a pistol, Uzi and machine gun. It looked like the MG34 in the video, but would it have been the same weapon? Or had Germany updated? We (US) still use Browning M2 machine gun, so it’s possible that a good design stands the test of time
Curious of any feedback
That was an MG3. Essentially an MG42 chambered in 7.62 NATO. Some of the earliest MG3's were true converted 42's.
You betcha great design !!!
@wdstauter8429 You did a good job of making your post about yourself. 😉
I need 900000000000000 of those to buy ok
Seen some of these old guns in Iraq in 2005-2006 An have seen news reels were they were being used by the Ukrainians seems like a very popular light machine gun even today
Wild!!
Got to fire one in Vegas! Loved it.
Outstanding video and presentation
Well done. Thank you.
The most deadly machine in ww2
The M60 and Squad Automatic Weapon are the American versions of the MG 34.
The way I understand it, a German infantry squad was based around the MG34 as the main weapon, and the riflemen being mostly there to provide fire support. While a British infantry squad, or section as I think they call it, was based around the riflemen, with the Bren machine gun only being there as fire support. I guess that has to do with the volume of fire those machine guns could provide. The MG34 being belt fed, so it could fire hundreds of rounds before having to reload, while the Bren was magazine fed, having to reload after only thirty rounds. And the MG34 fired a lot faster than the Bren, too. Interesting how what maybe was seen as just a slight improvement in the machine gun, totally altered the dynamics within the group of people working together.
Took many lives that gun 😢
Wonder why the soldier at 03:19 has a second rifle on a sling? (note stock protruding below his waist) Seems peculiar is all.
Hi Hank, I'm loving your WWII History today shorts but I can't see all of the subtitles because they are covered by the details of what's in the shorts for that day in history. Please bring back the videos where you narrated the video it was so much better. Sorry to be a downer but it's not the same. Your channels are so great but it lets you down.
Subscribed
Thank you! Welcome aboard
Unfortunately for the lovers of the MG34 it could never acheive the 1200 rounds a minute....
To this very day ....either models the MG34 or the MG 42 look as though they were teleported from the future ...beyond the 4th millennium ...perhaps even more distant.
I served 3 years during the cold war in Germany USAREUR 56th Brigade 1970`s ..cannot say anything more about it , anyway both of those human mowers are owned by gun ranges , or gun clubs that would let active military members fire them .I never did fire one the cost of the ammo was too high for me to agree to pay , but was present during a demonstration .. impression ???? They are from the future to this very day .
Good narrative but not enough footage of the actual weapon …
Hank, the candid and action pix give me ideas for my builds. That Sherman was loaded with stowage just like one of your videos described.
I'm glad to hear it!!
Great informative video history is my favorite topic
I'm really glad to hear it - thank you!
Excelente video informativo Gracias por compartir, te doy un like!!
¡Muchas gracias! Gracias por ver el vídeo 👍
Very interesting video. I would have be better if you had mentioned the weight of the MG34 , barrel length, twist rate , rate of fire and other interesting facts about the MG34
People tends to misunderstand things like RPM.
The MG 34 could fire up to 800-900 RPM. Originally it was possible to vary the RPM, but this feature was discarded.
The actual RPM of a MG 34 would be 300-350 RPM. The squad carried enough ammunition for around 3 minutes of intense fighting.
Since the MG 34 was working much like a shotgun, the gunner did not need to fire small busts. Instead, on old films you will see that the gunner fires as long as there are targets. Short bursts is a really, really bad idea because it allows the enemy to collect their thoughts.
Dauer-feuer (full auto) is pronounced dow-er-foi-er. And the german "Ei" as in Einzel-Feuer (semi-auto) is pronounced like the letter "I".
nice video :)
Thanks for watching!
Nice vid definitely could learn something new
And didn't you have a mg 34 replica?
Thanks - and I do!
Nice and helpful video. this video made my think about buying tamiya's German Machine Gun Troops set.
Ah nice!!
I don't think the BAR or the MG34 were select fire in the sense that there was a semi- auto function. There was a fast full auto and a slower full auto. In the slow mode if you pulled and released the trigger fast enough you could fire a single shot. For the BAR I think it was about 450 rounds per minute to 750 rounds per minute. The USA M3 "Grease gun" also cycled slow enough to fire single shots.
Both the MG34 and MG 42 had a very fast cyclic rate.
Fast is good. Like 3 shot burst is for weekend soldiers
But the MG34 actually got a semi fire mode build in the trigger. "Einzelfeuer" literally is semi fire in german. It wasn't a "slow fire" mode. It was really a single shot mode.
The original BAR was select fire. The M1918A2 replaced semi-auto with slow auto fire.
Nice Video. But your pronounciation of einzelfeuer and dauerfeuer was horrible 😅 as a native speaker without the picture i Would have no idea what you Talking about 😅
That was dope
Thanks so much! Appreciate it 👍
Pretty sure Einheit in german means unit, not universal.
There are still quite a few floating around parts of Africa.
Most XCLNT weapon !! 💥🔥🦾 The Russians got theirs ..! 😯💀
midt 30.
Amazing,fun?
The name is MG43 not MG34
Respectfully, this is the MG34. The later gun was the MG42, which, while similar in action and form, was simplified for ease of production and use.
There is nothing fascinating about something that brought so much death..
Again sombody using the right name MG 34 not like other idiots saying MG3 🤣
Next video - team up with Gun Jesus (Ian McCallum) from ForgottenWeapons :-D
Haha good idea! 😅
Good video. I already knew all this but still enjoyed it due to the excellent presentation.