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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).
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). |
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Cite this article
I. C. B. DEAR and M. R. D. FOOT. "small arms." The Oxford Companion to World War II. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. 12 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. I. C. B. DEAR and M. R. D. FOOT. "small arms." The Oxford Companion to World War II. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. (February 12, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O129-smallarms.html I. C. B. DEAR and M. R. D. FOOT. "small arms." The Oxford Companion to World War II. 2001. Retrieved February 12, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O129-smallarms.html |
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small arms
small arms firearms designed primarily to be carried and fired by one person and, generally, held in the hands, as distinguished from heavy arms, or artillery .
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Cite this article
"small arms." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. 12 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "small arms." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. (February 12, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-smallarm.html "small arms." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Retrieved February 12, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-smallarm.html |
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small arms
small arms • pl. n. portable firearms, esp. rifles, pistols, and light machine guns. |
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Cite this article
"small arms." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. 12 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "small arms." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. (February 12, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-smallarms.html "small arms." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Retrieved February 12, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-smallarms.html |
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small arms
small arms portable firearms, especially rifles, pistols, and light machine guns.
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Cite this article
"small arms." The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. 12 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "small arms." The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. (February 12, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O63-smallarms.html "small arms." The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military. 2001. Retrieved February 12, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O63-smallarms.html |
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