BROŃ WSPARCIA NIEMIECKIEJ PIECHOTY 1939

The German experience from World War I showed a large role of mine throwers and mortars in infantry operations. Already at the beginning of the 1920s, designs of new mortars based on lessons learned from the Great War appeared, but they entered production at the beginning of the 1930s. We are talking here primarily about the mortar 8 cm Grenatwerfer 34 , which was the basic mortar of the German infantry during World War II and the less successful 5 cm Leichter Granatwerfer 36. In 1939, however, the heavy Nebelwerfer 35 mortar was introduced into service with infantry units, and in 1942/1943 it was supplemented by 12 cm Granatwerfer 42. German infantry tactics saw mortars as a very important means of supporting attack and defense, which should work closely with machine weapons. It is worth adding that the equipment of the German infantry division mobilized as part of the so-called In the 1st wave, in September 1939, there were 84 light 50 mm mortars (grenade launchers) and 54 81 mm mortars.Based on the experience of World War I, the German army paid a lot of attention to the development of both light and heavy infantry machine weapons in the interwar period. The result of these efforts was the introduction into service in 1934 of the very successful MG34 machine gun, which replaced the less handy and much heavier MG08 or leMG 08/15 rifles. During World War II, another, equally successful, but cheaper to produce design was introduced - the MG42. Both of these rifles were de facto the basic machine weapons of the German infantry and armored grenadiers during World War II. Their very high rate of fire and high ballistic parameters meant that they were perceived as the basic support weapon at the level of a platoon or company, and often even a team. Interestingly, thanks to the relatively low weight, they could be successfully used both in offensive and in defense. Very often, in the course of combat operations, the soldier responsible for servicing the MG34 or MG42 was assigned from 2 to 3 ammunition to ensure that the rest of the team was firing machine guns uninterruptedly.