As with the MG34, the MG42 was also adopted into other battlefield roles without changes required of the base system - these included mounting on German armored vehicles and service as an Anti-Aircraft (AA) machine gun (its inherently high rate-of-fire was useful here). The "Lafette 42" heavy tripod converted the MG42 for the heavy machine gun role where suppression firepower was needed. This assembly reduced the recoil action to make for a more stable gunnery platform. In the squad level, light machine gun role, a folding bipod was set under the frontal section of the gun while all other functions remained the same. However, the high rate-of-fire reduced accuracy of the weapon when in its bipod guise so short burst fire or single-shot fire was recommended. The MG42 was not featured as a coaxial tank gun (save for the Jagdpanzer IV) like the MG34 was.
A typical gunnery crew could number between two and four or five personnel while a full German heavy gun section numbered about seven members. A single operator was needed at the minimum to actually fire the weapon and carry it into battle but an ammunition handler was used to both transport the required ammunition stocks and manage the belt feeding action. Additionally, help was always appreciated when attempting to clear a stoppage. Other personnel could be brought into play - extra persons carrying extra ammunition, spare barrels, and a tripod. A SMG-armed squad leader led the group and up to three riflemen supplied cover fire. The weapon weighed 25.5lbs and featured a length of 44 inches with a barrel length of 21 inches.
While always intended to supplant the preceding MG34 design, wartime demand and production reach meant that the MG42 actually supplemented the earlier machine gun in the same role. The German war situation meant that both machine guns were often fielded on active fronts side-by-side and both managed production into the final days of the war. Engineers continued to further the MG42 and this produced the short-lived MG45 model but the endeavor as a whole fell to naught as Germany crumbled on all sides.
The Americans attempted a copy of the MG42 as the developmental T24 but the intended .30-06 cartridge was never to play well with the restrictive German design. The MG42 instead influenced the Vietnam War-era M60 GPMG for the Americans which gave a long history. The M53 was a local Yugoslavian reverse-engineered version of the M42 by the Zastava concern using the same German cartridge. These were frontline weapons seeing service into the late 1990s. The Rheinmetall MG3 was a West German post-war model largely based on the original wartime MG42 but chambered for the new 7.62x51mm NATO standard cartridge instead. The MG74 was a local Austrian Army model adopted during the Cold War years. The Spanish CETME Amerli LMG held some obvious resemblances to the German MG42/MG3 and joined several other notable Spanish-originated, German-influenced firearms emerging during the Cold War period.
Content ©MilitaryFactory.com; No Reproduction Permitted.
