The MG 42 was a recoil-operated, air-cooled German general-purpose machine gun produced by Grossfuss AG, Mauser Werke and other manufacturers, and it entered German army service in 1942 during the Second World War. The weapon fired at an exceptionally high cyclic rate of roughly 1,200 rounds per minute, close to double the rate of comparable Allied machine guns, a sound distinctive enough that Allied troops nicknamed it Hitler's Buzzsaw. It was also engineered specifically for rapid, low-cost mass production, requiring only about 75 man-hours to build compared with 150 for the earlier MG 34, a design choice that let Germany field the weapon in far greater numbers as the war progressed. The MG 42's stamped-steel construction and rapid barrel-change system influenced postwar machine gun designs across multiple countries, and a direct mechanical descendant, the German MG3, remains in service in the twenty-first century.
Facts
Classification
Service Status Weapon ClassGeneral-purpose machine gun 2 Introduced Year Weapon Class
Weapon Class (category) Connections
Associated With
World War II, Wars The MG 42 general purpose machine gun, prized for its high rate of fire, armed German infantry throughout World War II
Operated By
Source Wikipedia: MG 42
Source Wikipedia: MG 42
Used In
Source Wikipedia: MG 42
Source Wikipedia: MG 42
Source Wikipedia: MG 42
In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Wikidata: MG 42
Wikidata Q153596, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)View the Source 2. Wikipedia: MG 42
WikipediaLead section, opening sentence
The MG 42 is a German recoil-operated air-cooled general-purpose machine gun used extensively by the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS during the second half of World War II.
Lead section, paragraph 1, second sentence
Entering production in 1942, it was intended to supplement and replace the earlier MG 34, which was more expensive and took much longer to produce, but both weapons were produced until the end of World War II.
caliber
Designed to use the standard German fully-powered 7.92×57mm Mauser rifle round and to be cheaper and easier to manufacture, the MG 42 proved to be highly reliable and easy to operate
Service-status attribute (mg-42)
The MG 42's stamped-steel construction and rapid barrel-change system influenced postwar machine gun designs across multiple countries, and a direct mechanical descendant, the German MG3, remains in service in the twenty-first century.
- Used In: World War II, infobox wars field: 'World War II'
- Used In: First Congo War, infobox wars field: 'First Congo War'
- Used In: Syrian Civil War, infobox wars field: 'Syrian Civil War}}'
Operated By: Wehrmacht, Wikipedia article text
The MG 42 (shortened from German: Maschinengewehr 42, or "machine gun 42") is a German recoil-operated air-cooled general-purpose machine gun used extensively by the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS during the second half of World War II.
Operated By: Waffen-SS, Wikipedia article text
The MG 42 (shortened from German: Maschinengewehr 42, or "machine gun 42") is a German recoil-operated air-cooled general-purpose machine gun used extensively by the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS during the second half of World War II.
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