The StG 44 emerged in 1943 as Germany’s answer to the mismatch between long-range battle rifles and short-reach submachine guns, marrying the power of a rifle cartridge with the controllability of an SMG in a handy package.Built on Hugo Schmeisser’s earlier Maschinenkarabiner 42(H), it sported a stamped-steel receiver, gas-operated action and selective-fire trigger. Hitler famously christened it “Sturmgewehr,” giving birth to the very term “assault rifle.” Chambered in the new 7.92×33 Kurz round, it traded some range and punch of the standard Mauser rifle cartridge for lighter recoil and a realistic 400 m effective envelope.On the Eastern Front its high rate of automatic fire and intermediate cartridge proved deadly in close-quarters and town fighting, where troops rarely needed more reach than a few hundred metres. Soldiers praised its volume of fire and compact form, while engineers refined minor parts—muzzle nut, front sight, buttstock—over the production run.Although only some 425,000 were built before war’s end, the StG 44’s blend of firepower, ergonomics and manufacturing ease left a lasting mark. Two years later the Soviets unveiled the AK-47, which borrowed its core concept, and today virtually every military rifle follows the assault-rifle formula first proven by the StG 44.

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STG-44