MG34 (Maschinengewehr Modell 34)

Before the MG42 became the principle machine gun of the German Army in World War Two, the MG34 was enjoying all the attention as the squad support weapon of choice. Based on an earlier Swiss-German design in the form of the Solothurn MG30 system, the MG34 was an excellent weapon in its own right.

The MG34 could be operated from an adjustable bipod system, a light and a heavy tripod assembly. The bipod allowed for portability of the weapon in the squad support role with a decrease in overall accuracy when firing in burst or full automatic. The light tripod allowed for the system to engage targets (either land-based or anti-aircraft) in a more stationary role with improved accuracy. Lastly, the heavy tripod mounting allowed the machine gun to fall into the "heavy" classification and fire from only the belt fed ammunition type. This form of the MG34 could also fill the anti-aircraft role as easily as it could engage troops and light vehicles. This flexibility allowed the MG34 to become, in essence, the world's first general purpose machine gun.

Ammunition feeds for the MG34 came in a 50-round belt or a 75-round drum (pictured). The 50-round belt could be linked with other 50-round belts to give the system a full 250-rounds to fire from with at which point it was recommended that the user change out the barrel for fear of overheating. The use of the 75-round drum increased the cyclic rate of fire some as the ammunition was kept close to the feed system. This made the MG34 setup with the drum system optimal when used in the anti-aircraft role.

Owing to great design an engineering practices encountered during the early years of the war, the MG34 was later replaced in number by the MG42 machine gun. The MG42 was a manufacturing-friendly alternative to the costly production of the MG34. The MG34 system also suffered from chronic failures (such as jamming) when the internal components became dirty or wet in the most basic of battlefield conditions. Though the newer and faster-to-produce MG42 system was in full use by 1942, the MG34 still maintained a presence on the battlefield in large numbers and would continue to do so throughout the years of the war.

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Last Updated: 1/15/2009