Quote:
Originally Posted by dragoon500ly
The MP43 developed the "short" 7.92mm round. The major arguements against the weapon is that there was no stockpile ammo and no one was willing to take responsibility for replacing 8 milliard rounds of ammo, in the middle of a shooting war. Okay, its understable from a REMF standpoint. But when the MP43 was issued to test platoons on the Eastern Front, the soldats loved the weapon, not due to its ability to fire automatic, but more due to its semiautomatic capability. Hitler, at first, ordered that production be stopped on the MP43, because the MP40 was doing a excellent job and did not need to be replaced. It was only when at a firearms demonstration (where the honor guard was issued MP43) that Hitler actually saw the weapon and order its production to continue and its name was changed to the Sturmgeschutz 44.
While the Stu44 was an issue weapon, there is a great deal of debate over just how widely issued it really was. Stories of entire divisions being equipped with the new assault rifle have proven to be just that, stories. It is more realistically believed that the scale of issue was one or two platoons per regiment on the Western Front and at least one company per regiment on the Eastern Front.
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I should have been clearer, the 7.92x57mm round then in use would still have been retained for use, specifically for the MG34 & MG42 machineguns and sniper rifles. It wouldn't have been obsolete because of the development of the 7.92x33mm Kurz cartridge. It would never have been used to replace the 7.92x57mm round specifically as that round was being used not just for the army's MGs but also for some of the MGs fitted to Luftwaffe aircraft and the MGs fitted to armoured vehicles.
The MP43 wasn't the cause of the 7.92mm Kurz round, the Germans had been studying intermediate rounds since at least the mid-1930s and the decision to use a 7.92mm projectile was taken by the Heereswaffenamt (HWA) to save the cost of developing new tools for the manufacture of a new calibre.
While at least five different companies were involved with design studies, the 7.92x33mm developed by Polte Werke probably in 1938 was selected by HWA for production. The decision to develop a weapon for the new cartridge was made in 1939.
http://www.quarry.nildram.co.uk/Assault.htm
http://world.guns.ru/assault/as51-e.htm
While not produced in the same numbers as other German weapons, the StG44 was still made in a significant quantity as sufficient numbers were available for it to be used as the standard rifle of the East German Workers Militia and Volkspolizei and the Yugoslav paratroop battalions for many years.
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=57447
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StG_44
http://www.battlegroup42.de/modules....=1614.msg27257