small arms

small arms. Those used by the combatant armies in 1939–45 fell into five groups: pistols, sub-machine-guns (the Germans called them machine pistols, the British also called them machine carbines), rifles, machine-guns, and anti-tank rifles (see Table).

Small arms: Principal types of major powers

Title	Calibre	Magazine Capacity	Weight Empty	Rate of Fire (rounds per minute)
Penetration 30 mm (1.2 in) of armour at 100m (109 yd) range
aBoth misnomers: Schmeisser never had anything to do with the design of the MP40 and though the original Maxim guns of the First World War were made at Spandau arsenal, and became known as ‘Spandau machine guns’, the MG42 was manufactured elsewhere.
Germany
Pistols
Parabellum P08 (Luger)	9 mm	8	870 g (31 oz)	n/a
Walther P38	9 mm	8	960 g (34 oz)	n/a
Rifles
Mauser Kar 98	7.92 mm (.311 in)	5	3.9 kg (8.6 lb)	n/a
Fallschirmgewehr 42	7.92 mm	20	4.5 kg (9.9 lb)	750
Sturmgewehr 44	7.92 mm	30	5.1 kg (11.2 lb)	500
Walther G41	7.92 mm	10	5.0 kg (11 lb)	n/a
Gewehr 43	7.92 mm	10	4.3 kg (9.5 lb)	n/a
Submachine Guns
MP40 (Schmeissera)	9 mm	32	4.0 kg (8.8 lb)	500
Machine Guns
MG34	7.92 mm	250	12.1 kg (26.6 lb)	850
MG42 (Spandaua)	7.92 mm	50	11.5 kg (25.3 lb)	1,200
Anti-tank Rifles
PzB38	7.92 mm	1	15.9 kg (35 lb)	n/a
PzB39	7.92 mm	1	12.4 kg (27.3 lb)	n/a

Penetration of armour 27 mm (1.05 in) at 300m (328 yd) range
Italy
Pistols
Glisenti	9 mm	7	820 g (29 oz)	n/a
Beretta 34	9 mm	7	660 g (23.3 oz)	n/a
Rifles
Carcano M1891	6.5 mm (.25 in)	6	3.8 kg (8.4 lb)	n/a
Carcano M1938	7.35 mm (.28 in)	6	3.7 kg (8.1 lb)	n/a
Submachine Guns
Beretta 18/30	9 mm	25	3.3 kg (7.3 lb)	900
Beretta M38A	9 mm	30	4.2 kg (9.2 lb)	600
Machine Guns
Fiat-Revelli M35	8 mm (.31 in)	50	18.1 kg (40 lb)	500
Breda M30	6.5 mm (.255 in)	20	10.2 kg (22.4 lb)	475
Breda M37	8 mm	20	19.5 kg (43 lb)	450
Anti-tank Rifles
Solothurn S-18/100	20 mm (.78 in)	10	45.0 kg (99.2 lb)	n/a

Penetration of armour 25 mm (.98 in) at 300 m (328 yd.) range.
Japan
Pistol
Nambu 14	8 mm	8	900 g (32 oz)	n/a
Type 94	8 mm	6	765 g (27 oz)	n/a
Rifles
38th Year	6.5 mm	5	4.3 kg (9.5 lb)	n/a
Type 99	7.7 mm (.3 in)	5	4.2 kg (9.2 lb)	n/a
Submachine Gun
Type 100	8 mm	30	3.8 kg (8.4 lb)	800
Machine Guns
Type 92	7.7 mm	30	55.3 kg (122 lb)	450
Type 96	6.5 mm	30	9.1 kg (20 lb)	550
Type 97	7.7 mm	30	10.9 kg (24 lb)	500
Type 99	7.7 mm	30	10.4 kg (23 lb)	850
Anti-tank Rifles
Model 97	20 mm	7	69.0 kg (152 lb)	n/a

Penetration 21 mm (.82 in) armour at 300 m (328 yd) range
UK
Pistols
Enfield No 2	.38 in (9.7 mm)	6	780 g (27.5 oz)	n/a
Browning HPb	9 mm (.35 in)	13	992 g (35 oz)	n/a
bCommando and Airborne forces only, 1944 onward
Rifles
Lee-Enfield No 4	.303 in (7.7 mm)	10	4.1 kg (9 lb)	20
Lee-Enfield No 5	.303 in	10	3.2 kg (7 lb)	20
Submachine Guns
Lanchester (RN only)	9 mm	50	4.3 kg (9.5 lb)	600
Sten Mk II	9 mm	32	2.9 kg (6.4 lb)	550
Machine Guns
Lewis	.303 in	47	11.8 kg (26 lb)	550
Bren	.303 in	30	10.2 kg (22.4 lb)	500
Vickers-Berthierc	.303 in	30	9.4 kg (21 lb)	500
Vickers Medium	.303 in	250	18.1 kg (40 lb)	450
cIndian Army only
Anti-tank Rifles
Boys	.55 in (14 mm)	5	16.3 kg (36 lb)	n/a

d All three rifles were the same calibre but the .300 round had a bottle-necked case 63 mm long; the .30 round had a straight-sided case 33 mm long
USA
Pistols
Colt M1911A1	.45 in (11.5 mm)	7	1.1 kg (2.4 lb)	n/a
Colt M1917	.45 in	6	1.1 kg	n/a
Smith & Wesson M1917	.45 in	6	1.0 kg (2.2 lb)	n/a
Riflesd
Springfield M1903	.300 (7.62 mm)	5	3.9 kg (8.6 lb)	n/a
Garand M1	.300	8	4.4 kg (9.7 lb)	n/a
Carbine M1	.30	15	2.5 kg (5.5 lb)	n/a
Submachine Guns
Thompson M1	.45 (11.43 mm)	20	4.8 kg (10.5 lb)	700
M3 ‘Grease Gun’	.45	30	3.7 kg (8.1 lb)	450
Machine Guns
Browning Auto Rifle	.300	20	9.98 kg (22 lb)	550
Browning M1917	.300	250	15.0 kg (33 lb)	500
Browning M1919	.300	250	14.0 kg (31 lb)	500
Browning M2HB	.50 (12.8 mm)	110	38.2 kg (84 lb)	500

Penetration 25 mm (.98 in) of armour at 500 m (547 yd) range
Source: Contributor.
USSR
Pistols
Nagant M1895	7.62 mm (.3 in)	7	790 g (28oz)	n/a
Tokarev TT-33	7.62 mm	8	830 g (29oz)	n/a
Rifles
Mosin-Nagant M1891	7.62 mm	5	4.4 kg (9.7 lb)	n/a
Tokarev SVT40	7.62 mm	15	4.4 kg	n/a
Submachine Guns
PPD-40	7.62 mm	71	3.7 kg (8.1 lb)	800
PPSH-41	7.62 mm	71	3.6 kg (7.9 lb)	900
PPS-43	7.62 mm	35	3.4 kg (7.5 lb)	650
Machine Guns
Degtyarev DP	7.62 mm	47	9.1 kg (20 lb)	550
Maxim M1910	7.62 mm	250	23.8 kg (52.5 lb)	560
Goryunov SG43	7.62 mm	250	13.6 kg (30 lb)	650
DShK M1938	12.7 mm (.5 in)	50	35.5 kg (78 lb)	550
Anti-tank Rifles
Simonov PTRS	14.5 mm (.56 in)	5	20.8 kg (63.4 lb)	n/a
Degtyarev PTRD	14.5 mm	1	17.3 kg (38 lb)	n/a

The primary weapon of all modern soldiers is, of course, the rifle, and almost without exception the rifles with which all soldiers were armed in 1939 were virtually the same as those which their forebears had carried during the First World War (in the case of the Japanese, the Russo-Japanese War of 1905); the only changes were minor, intended to make mass-production easier. The British had the Lee-Enfield, the Germans the Mauser, the Soviets the Mosin-Nagant, the Italians the Mannlicher-Carcano and the Japanese the Arisaka, all manually operated, bolt-action magazine weapons. The only exception to this was the US Army, where issue of the semi-automatic Garand M1 rifle had begun, though the majority of troops were still armed with the 1903 Springfield bolt-action rifle.

During the course of the war the US forces were completely equipped with the Garand, and the Red Army developed two or three semi-automatic rifle designs which were not particularly successful. The major advance in this field came from Germany, where a pre-war reassessment of the infantryman's task led to an entirely new type of weapon, the assault rifle. In brief, analysis of wartime experience showed that the infantry rarely fired at ranges in excess of 300–400 m. (330– 440 yd.), whereas the contemporary bolt-action rifles were designed to deliver accurate fire up to 1,000 m. (1,100 yd.) or more. By developing a shorter cartridge of less power, a lighter rifle could be made and the soldier could carry more ammunition for a given weight. A suitable 7.92 mm. (0.3 in.) cartridge was designed, using a light bullet in a short cartridge case. Around this an automatic rifle was developed, capable of single shots or full automatic fire. The light bullet and lower charge made it controllable, and thanks to the short cartridge the weapon was compact. It was issued in 1943 as the ‘Machine Pistol 43’ but was later re-named the ‘Sturmgewehr (assault rifle) 44’ and proved an excellent weapon. It became the inspiration for an entirely new class of rifle which, by the 1970s, armed the majority of the armies of the world.

The sub-machine-gun had been developed in Germany in 1917–18 as a weapon for storm troops, a short-range automatic weapon firing pistol ammunition. In the 1920s the development of this class of weapon was desultory, some armies seeing no tactical function for such a device. On the outbreak of war in September 1939 only the German Army held them in any quantity, and then largely in armoured formations where a compact weapon was desirable for troops carried in cramped vehicles. Similar weapons—the British Sten gun for example—were adopted by other countries largely because of their cheapness and simplicity, and also because of their attraction as a compact weapon of high firepower for airborne and special forces troops. Their major adoption was by the USSR, which saw them as a cheap and effective method of arming their vast armies; moreover this class of weapon suited Soviet tactics—close-quarters fighting rather than distant sniping.

Machine-guns fell into two groups, light and heavy; the latter were almost entirely the water-cooled tripod-mounted weapons familiar in 1918—the Maxim, Vickers, and Browning designs used for long-range suppressive fire in the attack and for overwhelming defensive fire from fixed positions. The light machine-gun (LMG) was almost entirely a development of the inter-war years, though the principle had been explored in the latter stages of the First World War. The 1939–45 LMG such as the British Bren, and the American Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR), was a magazine-fed weapon, usually with a barrel which could be quickly removed and replaced with a cool spare barrel when it grew hot from prolonged firing.

However, the German Army felt that the provision of two types of machine-gun for different tactical functions often led to the desired weapon not being readily available, and they set about the development of an entirely new class, the ‘general purpose’ machine-gun. In this, the basic weapon was the same, a belt-fed gun with a high rate of fire and a quick-change barrel, but the method of mounting varied. Where it was desired to be used in the LMG role it had a bipod and shoulder-butt; for use in the heavy, supporting and defensive, role it was provided with a tripod and long-range sights. The logistical advantage was that only one type of gun had to be manufactured. Experience showed that this system worked well, and in post-war years it was widely adopted by other armies.

Pistols are not as widely employed as is often thought, and very little wartime thought was given to them. The choice between revolver and automatic pistol was still a debating point; the British retained the revolver, adopting automatic pistols only for special forces such as commando and airborne troops; the Soviets retained their 1892 revolver but also gradually introduced an automatic pistol since it was easier to manufacture. The US forces retained the Colt automatic which had been in use since 1911. The Italian and Japanese armies also used automatic pistols, though both also employed quantities of older revolvers since production could not be spared for more automatics. Germany still used the Luger of First World War vintage but had officially replaced it in 1938 by a Walther design which was cheaper and easier to manufacture; even so, such was demand that the Luger remained in manufacture until late in 1943.

Anti-tank rifles were a unique case, since they saw no widespread use before 1939 and were all obsolete by 1945. They stemmed from a Mauser design of 1918, a heavy 13 mm. (0.5 in.) bolt-action weapon capable of penetrating the thin armour of 1918 British tanks. In the inter-war years they were developed and adopted by most armies (the US and Italian being the exceptions), though the execution differed. The British employed the 0.55 in. (14 mm.) bolt-action Boys rifle; the Germans a 7.92 mm. semi-automatic weapon using an enlarged cartridge to generate high velocity; the Poles another 7.92 mm. with over-sized cartridge but with a bolt mechanism; the Soviets two 14.5 mm. (0.56 in.) weapons firing extremely powerful rounds, one a bolt-action, the other a semi-automatic. The Japanese preferred a 20 mm. (0.78 in.) semi-automatic weapon of considerable weight. All these weapons were deployed in 1939 but few stayed the course, since the rapid improvement in the armour strength of tanks and the consequent ineffectiveness of the anti-tank rifle which, at best, could defeat only 15 mm. (0.6 in.) or so of armour plate, made them ineffective. From 1941 onwards the development of hand-held anti-tank rocket weapons, proved far more effective in defeating armour, and the anti-tank rifle was rapidly abandoned. It survived only in the Red Army, since no effective substitute was devised during the war, but survival did not necessarily mean extensive use. See also anti-tank weapons.

Ian Hogg

Bibliography

Hogg, I. V., and and Weeks, J. S. , Military Small Arms of the 20th Century (6th edn., London, 1991).
Smith, W. H. B. and and J. E. , Small Arms of the World (New York, 1973).