GERMAN MACHINEGUNNER

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.The first paramilitary unit to have the abbreviation SS (German: Schutz Staffel) in its name was the personal protection of the dictator of the Third Reich called Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler, which was officially formed in 1933. From 1934, the SS was an independent formation headed by Heinrich Himmler. With time, further SS units were formed, including the SS-Totenkopfverbände and the SS-Verfügungstruppe. It is worth adding that the latter was trained similarly to regular Wehrmacht infantry units. On a relatively small scale, SS units were used in combat during the fighting in Poland in 1939 and in the French campaign in 1940. The first units intended from the beginning to fight at the front were created in mid-1940, giving them the name of the Waffen SS. Initially, they were recruited on a voluntary basis, also among non-German people, but over time, compulsory recruitment began to apply. Within the Waffen-SS, many divisions of different combat value were formed. Nevertheless, a few of them (e.g. the 1st SS LAH Panzer Division, the 2nd SS Das Reich Panzer Division or the 12th SS Hitlerjugend Panzer Division) can be considered elite units, with very high combat value and often equipped with the best available equipment. They demonstrated their considerable advantages not only on the Eastern Front (1941-1945), especially during the battles near Kharkiv in 1943, but also during the battles in France in 1944. Another thing is that the quality of the commanding staff of these units was in many cases debatable, and many Waffen-SS soldiers committed war crimes during World War II.