Taking a history course on the Third Reich. The prof assigned an essay and gave everyone free reign on the subject, as long as it had to do be about Nazi Germany. Being a gun enthusiast (nut), I decided to write about the small arms of the Wehrmacht. Know any good books or journals about the manufacture, use, and other information about the various weaponry the Germans had during WWII?
Doing an essay on the small arms of Nazi Germany.... known any good books?
- Thread starter Ioncannon
- Start date
dgradinaru
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- British Columbia
"GUNS OF THE THIRD REICH "
By John Walter
is a very good book,
By John Walter
is a very good book,
V-2: Walter Dornberger
Panzer Leader: F.M Heinz Guderian
Taschenbuch des Deutschen Panzer: F.M. von Senger und Etterlin
The Machine Gun: George M. Chinn You NEED Volumes 1 and 4: 1 for history & development, 4 for working diagrams
Small Arms of the World, 11th Edition, no later: Smith and Smith
There are a dozen or so more, but those will get you started.
Be sure you understand thoroughly any term you come up with: Stecke System, Barnitzke System, delayed-blowback, straight-blowback, short-recoil operated, long-recoil operated, short-stroke versus long-stroke pistons, flap locks (Degtyarev did not invent it; it is much older). Know how to describe accurately any particular firearm: K-43 is a good example; it is a short-stroke piston, gas-operated, flap-locked, magazine-fed semi-automatic battle rifle equipped with a Tego System compressed-lamination stock and manufactured almost entirely from green-sand castings and lathe-turned parts.
Know how to recognise a firearm for what it IS: the famous FG-42 is a Lewis Gun gas/piston assembly with a Johnson-type Lee box magazine and a Johnson searing mechanism; it was later modified to belt-feed with a modified MG-42 feed syatem and became the M-60 family of MGs.
Stress in part the continuity of development through the inter-war period in which Germany was not allowed to develop MGs; they were developed in Holland and Switzerland by German-owned companies instead (emphasis here on FF and AA guns), tested by Germans in Russia. Same thing with tanks: designed as "agricultural tractors" with chassis faster than necessary for combining, tested in Russia in joint German-Soviet tests. Kar 98k was a Short Rifle development of the Gew 98 through the Czech VZ-24 and the FN-24, both of which were made on German WW1 equipment, adopted as the Standard-modell and named Kar 98k in 1935.
That should get you started.
In my opinion, there is no satisfactory cross-reference of design and development influence as integrated with mechanical and physical features. That is because I haven't written it yet, still have a number of Mediaeval tales to do before that one, but it is in the works.
Hope this helps.
.
.
BTW, it's "free rein", as in horses running free of the influence of the reins. Dock you 2% for spelling!
Yes, I am a miserable old B*stard..... and I'm GOOD at it!
.
Panzer Leader: F.M Heinz Guderian
Taschenbuch des Deutschen Panzer: F.M. von Senger und Etterlin
The Machine Gun: George M. Chinn You NEED Volumes 1 and 4: 1 for history & development, 4 for working diagrams
Small Arms of the World, 11th Edition, no later: Smith and Smith
There are a dozen or so more, but those will get you started.
Be sure you understand thoroughly any term you come up with: Stecke System, Barnitzke System, delayed-blowback, straight-blowback, short-recoil operated, long-recoil operated, short-stroke versus long-stroke pistons, flap locks (Degtyarev did not invent it; it is much older). Know how to describe accurately any particular firearm: K-43 is a good example; it is a short-stroke piston, gas-operated, flap-locked, magazine-fed semi-automatic battle rifle equipped with a Tego System compressed-lamination stock and manufactured almost entirely from green-sand castings and lathe-turned parts.
Know how to recognise a firearm for what it IS: the famous FG-42 is a Lewis Gun gas/piston assembly with a Johnson-type Lee box magazine and a Johnson searing mechanism; it was later modified to belt-feed with a modified MG-42 feed syatem and became the M-60 family of MGs.
Stress in part the continuity of development through the inter-war period in which Germany was not allowed to develop MGs; they were developed in Holland and Switzerland by German-owned companies instead (emphasis here on FF and AA guns), tested by Germans in Russia. Same thing with tanks: designed as "agricultural tractors" with chassis faster than necessary for combining, tested in Russia in joint German-Soviet tests. Kar 98k was a Short Rifle development of the Gew 98 through the Czech VZ-24 and the FN-24, both of which were made on German WW1 equipment, adopted as the Standard-modell and named Kar 98k in 1935.
That should get you started.
In my opinion, there is no satisfactory cross-reference of design and development influence as integrated with mechanical and physical features. That is because I haven't written it yet, still have a number of Mediaeval tales to do before that one, but it is in the works.
Hope this helps.
.
.
BTW, it's "free rein", as in horses running free of the influence of the reins. Dock you 2% for spelling!
Yes, I am a miserable old B*stard..... and I'm GOOD at it!
.
- Location
- Leduc County, Alberta
Look into any of the "Collector Grade Publications" books on Teutonic WW2 Firearms. Very spendy, but worth the money! 
