Hitler’s Zipper: The MG 42 Machine Gun

[Mike H.]

Hello all, here is today's article posted on TheArmoryLife.com. It is titled “Hitler’s Zipper: The MG 42 Machine Gun” and can be found at https://www.thearmorylife.com/mg-42-machine-gun-hitlers-zipper/.

 

[CCJ]

Yes, aptly named "Hitler's buzzsaw". I had the pleasure of watching one of these in action at the range when the machine gun club was having there annual shoot. Unique sound, accurate, and a shocking realization that you do not want to be down range of one of these.

 

[Belt Fed]

I shot one time and it blew up in my face. lol i also own an MG34.

 

[Oldnewenglandhunter]

20 Rounds per second. That's not what you want to walk up on.

 

[kbmcml]

My Dad was a 19 year old British Infantry Corporal when he hit the Normandy Beaches on D-Day. He survived that and continued through the rest of 1944 and the start of 1945. Then, on February 13th 1945, he was leading a platoon on a cold winter night across an open field in the Ardennes forest. With a full moon out he was reluctant to cross the field but was assured that it had been cleared and was safe. As they reached the middle of the field a German MG42 opened up on them. To these common British soldiers that machine gun, with its distinctive sound, was known simply as a "Spandau" after the German arsenal there, and it hit them with devastating results in that every one in the platoon, with the sole exception of my father, was dead. He was badly wounded though and managed to crawl off the field and luckily right into a British first aid squad. His left arm was shattered and he told me he only survived because unusually for a corporal, he was also a Bren gunner and the packs of .303 ammunition he carried protected his upper body. He was dressed in the field - and told he would lose the arm - and was shipped back to England. Many surgeries later, thanks to bone removed from his lower leg plus a stainless steel rod, followed by two years of therapy and he was demobbed from the Army. From then on he lived a normal life, even if he did set off every airport metal detector he ever passed through!

 

[James45]

Thirty-five years ago, my USMC infantry platoon was in South American training with Chilean Marines. They had the MG-3 machine gun, a near clone of the MG-42. I remember it fired much faster than our M-60s. The Chileans spoke highly about their gun’s reliability, plus the ease of performing quick barrel changes.