MG 34 1

MG 34
Maschinengewehr 34

MG 34
Type General-purpose machine gun

Place of origin  Nazi Germany

Service history
In service 1936–1945 (officially, German military) 1936–present (other armies)

Used by  Nazi Germany

[1]
 Kingdom of Hungary
 Republic of China
 People's Republic of China
 North Korea
 North Vietnam
 Israel
 Turkey
 Portugal

Wars Second Sino-Japanese War

World War II
Chinese Civil War
1948 Arab-Israeli war
Korean War
Vietnam War
2013 Lahad Datu standoff

Production history
Designer Heinrich Vollmer

Designed 1934

Manufacturer Numerous, but mostly Mauser

Produced 1934–1945

Specifications
Weight 12.1 kg (26.7 lb)
19.2 kg (42.3 lb) (with tripod)

Length 1,219 mm (48.0 in)

Barrel length 627 mm (24.7 in)

Cartridge 7.92×57mm Mauser

Action Recoil-operated

Rate of fire 800–900 rounds/min

Early versions: 600–1000 rounds/min selectable on pistol grip
MG 34"S": 1,700 rounds/min.
MG 34/41: 1,200 rounds/min.

Muzzle velocity 762 m/s (2,500 ft/s)

MG 34 2

Feed system 50/250-round belts, 50-round drum, or 75-round drum magazine with modification

Sights Iron sights

The Maschinengewehr 34, or MG 34, is a German recoil-operated air-cooled machine gun that was first tested in
1929 and was introduced in 1934, and first issued to units in 1936. It accepts the 7.92×57mm Mauser cartridge.
The versatile MG 34 was arguably the finest machine gun in the world at the time of its adoption and deployment
with the German Army.[] It entered service in great numbers following Hitler's repudiation of the Versailles Treaty in
1936, and was first tested by German troops aiding Franco's Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War. The MG 34
combined four substantial advantages over other machine guns: 1. mobility, being light enough to be carried by a
single soldier; 2. an astonishing rate of fire of up to 800 to 900 rounds per minute; 3. the ability of the gun to sustain
that fire; and 4. an effective range of over 2,000 meters.[] As such, it can generally be considered to be the worlds
first general-purpose machine gun.[2]
The MG 34 was based on a 1930 Rheinmetall design, the MG 30. The Swiss and Austrian militaries had both
licensed and produced the MG 30 from Rheinmetall shortly after patent. The MG 30 design was adapted and
modified by Heinrich Vollmer of Mauser Industries. Vollmer modified the feed mechanism to accept either drum
magazines or belt ammunition. He also increased the rate of fire.[] The MG 34's double crescent trigger dictated
either semiautomatic or fully automatic firing modes.
In the field, the weapon could operate in offensive or defensive applications. The offensive model, with a mobile
soldier, used a drum magazine that could hold either 50 or 75 rounds of ammunition. In a stationary defensive role,
the gun was mounted on a bipod or tripod and fed by an ammunition belt. Belts were carried in boxes of five. Each
belt contained 50 rounds. Belt lengths could be linked for sustained fire. During sustained fire, barrels would have to
be changed at intervals due to the heat generated by the rapid rate of fire. If the barrels were not changed out
properly, the weapon would misfire. Changing barrels was a rapid process for the trained operator and involved
disengaging a latch and swinging the receiver to the right for the insertion of a new barrel. Accordingly, stationary
defensive positions required more than one operator.[]
The MG 34 was the mainstay of German Army support weapons[3] from the time of its first issue in 1935 until 1942,
when it was supplanted by the next generation Maschinengewehr 42 or MG 42. Although the 34 was very reliable
and dominant on the battlefield, its dissemination throughout the German forces was hampered due to its precision
engineering, which resulted in high production costs and a relatively slower rate of production.[] For its successor,
the MG 42, the Germans instead used mass production techniques similar to those that created the MP 40
submachine gun.[3] However, the Germans nevertheless continued widespread production of MG 34s until the end of
the war.[4]

MG34 in Europe
The MG 34 was used as the primary infantry machine gun during the
1930s, and remained as the primary tank and aircraft defensive
weapon. It was to be replaced in infantry service by the related MG42,
but there were never enough quantities of the new design to go around,
and MG 34s soldiered on in all roles until the end of World War II.
The MG 34 was intended to replace the MG13 and other older machine
guns, but these were still being used in World War II as demand was
never met.
German soldiers with an MG 34 in France, 1944.
MG 34 3

It was designed primarily by Heinrich Vollmer from the Mauser Werke, based on the recently introduced
Rheinmetall-designed Solothurn 1930 (MG30) that was starting to enter service in Switzerland. Changes to the
operating mechanism improved the rate of fire to between 800 and 900 rpm.
The new gun was accepted for service almost immediately and was generally liked by the troops, and it was used to
great effect by German soldiers assisting Nationalist Spain in the Spanish Civil War. At the time it was introduced, it
had a number of advanced features and the general-purpose machine gun concept that it aspired to was an influential
one. However, the MG 34 was also expensive, both in terms of construction and the raw materials needed (49 kg
(108.0 lb) of steel),[citation needed] and its manufacture was too time-consuming to be built in the numbers required for
the ever-expanding German armed forces. It was the standard machine gun of the Kriegsmarine (German navy).

MG34 in East Asia

Imported units of MG 34s,[5] as well as indigenous copies of the weapon were adopted by Chinese Nationalist
forces[6] during both World War II and the Chinese Civil War. Some models captured from the Germans by the
Soviets or French were supplied to the People's Liberation Army/People's Volunteer Army, Korean People's Army,
PAVN and the Viet Cong over the Cold War.
Today a MG34 can be found in the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution which was captured from
the Chinese Nationalist Army during the Chinese Civil War.

Characteristics
The MG 34 could use both magazine-fed and belt-fed 7.92 mm ammunition. Belts were supplied in a fixed length of
50 rounds, but could be linked up to make longer belts for sustained firing. A 250 round belt was also issued to
machine guns installed in fixed emplacements such as bunkers. Ammunition boxes contained 250 rounds in five
belts that were linked to make one continuous 100 round belt and one 150 round belt. The assault drums held a
50-round belt, or a 75-round "double drum" magazine could be used by replacing the top cover with one made
specially for that purpose. A gun configured to use the 75-round magazine could not be returned to belt-feed mode
without changing the top cover again. All magazine-feed MG 34s had been withdrawn from infantry use by 1941,
with some remaining in use on armoured personnel carriers.
Like most machine guns, the MG 34's barrel is designed to be easily
replaced to avoid overheating during sustained fire. During a barrel
change, the operator would disengage a latch which held the receiver
to the barrel sleeve. The entire receiver then pivoted off to the right,
allowing the operator to pull the barrel out the back of the sleeve. A
new barrel would then be put in the back of the sleeve, and the receiver
MG 34 on display in a museum
rotated back in line with the barrel sleeve and latched. The entire
process took just a few seconds when performed by a well-trained
operator, causing minimal downtime in battle.[7]
MG 34 4

A unique feature of the MG 34 was its double-crescent trigger, which

provided select fire capability without the need for a fire mode selector
switch. Pressing the upper segment of the trigger produced
semi-automatic fire, while holding the lower segment of the trigger
produced fully automatic fire.[8] Though considered innovative at the
time, the feature was eliminated due to its complexity on the MG 34's
successor, the MG42.

In the light-machine gun role, it was used with a bipod and weighed
A dual MG 34 anti-aircraft mount. only 12.1 kg (26.7 lb). In the medium-machine gun role, it could be
mounted on one of two tripods, a smaller one weighing 6.75 kg
(14.9 lb), the larger 23.6 kg (52.0 lb). The larger tripod, the MG 34 Laffette, included a number of features, such as a
telescopic sight and special sighting equipment for indirect fire. The legs could be extended to allow it to be used in
the anti-aircraft role, and when lowered, it could be placed to allow the gun to be fired "remotely" while it swept an
arc in front of the mounting with fire, or aimed through a periscope attached to the tripod.

Another unique feature of German World War II machine guns (and which continued to be used by the German
Bundeswehr after the war) was the Tiefenfeuerautomat. If selected, this feature walked the fire in wave like motions
up and down the range in a predefined area. E.g., being unsure whether the real distance was 2000 meters or 2300
meters, the gunner could make the mount do an automatic sweep between the elevations for 1900 to 2400 meters and
back. This sweeping of a given range (Tiefenfeuer) continued as long as the gun fired.

Variants

MG 34/41(MG 34S)
The MG 34/41 was requested as the first war experiences in the
beginning of World War II proved that a higher fire rate generates
more dispersion of the bullets. The MG 34/41 could cope with a fire
rate of 1200 rpm. The weight of the MG 34/41 was 14 kg, slightly
more than the original MG 34 version. A limited number of MG 34/41
were produced. The MG 34/41 was beaten in trials by the MG 39/41,
later designated MG 42.
Soldiers of the German Großdeutschland
regiment man a heavy MG 34 on a stationary
MG 34 Panzerlauf tripod mount.

Most German tanks used during World War II used the MG 34

Panzerlauf for secondary armament. The MG 42 was ill-suited for
internal/coaxial mounting due to the method of barrel change. The
main difference of the MG 34 Panzerlauf and the regular MG 34 was
the heavier almost solid armored barrel shroud, almost completely
lacking the ventilation holes of the basic MG 34. When mounted inside
a tank, the MG 34 also lacked a butt-stock. A kit for quick conversion
to ground use was carried inside the tank containing a butt-stock and a
combined bi-pod and front sight assembly.

MG 34
MG 34 5

MG 81
The MG 34 was also used as the basis of a new aircraft-mounted machine gun, the MG 81 machine gun. For this
role, the breech was slightly modified to allow feeds from either side, and in one version, two guns were bolted
together on a single trigger to form a weapon known as the MG 81Z (for zwilling, German for "twin" as in
twin-mounted). Production of the MG 34 was never enough to satisfy any of its users, and while the MG81 was a
huge improvement over the earlier MG 30-based MG 15 and MG 17 guns, these guns were used until the end of the
war. As the Luftwaffe lost the battle for air superiority and declined in priority in the German war effort, MG 15s and
MG 81s, which were designed as flexibly mounted aircraft machine guns, were modified and adapted for ground use
by infantry, with varying degrees of success.

References
[3] Haskew 2012. pp. 146.
[4] Haskew 2012. pp. 85.
[7] Info on the MG 34 from worldguns.ru (http:/ / world. guns. ru/ machine/ mg32-e. htm)
[8] armusa.com information page on the MG 34 (http:/ / armusa. com/ MG34. htm)

External links
• Guns.ru page with photos and information (http://world.guns.ru/machine/mg32-e.htm)
• 1943 U.S. Intelligence Report (http://www.lonesentry.com/manuals/german-infantry-weapons/
mg34-machine-gun.html)
• US Army training video about the MG34 from YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rutp07nRyRY)
• The Pacific War 5: Chinese Infantry Weapons (http://forums.filefront.com/fh2-suggestions/
389567-pacific-war-5-chinese-infantry-weapons.html)
Article Sources and Contributors 6

Article Sources and Contributors

MG 34  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=552473592  Contributors: A Werewolf, Ahunt, Aldis90, AllStarZ, Anthony Hogg, Asams10, Attilios, AvicAWB, Balcer, Big John
358, Bobblewik, BonesBrigade, Brianhe, CALLOFDUTY1942, Chris the speller, Coffeekid, Cynical, DJ Tricky86, DOHC Holiday, DanMP5, DeansFA, Denniss, Deon Steyn, Diagraph01,
DocWatson42, El C, Emvee, Erudy, Ettrig, FlieGerFaUstMe262, FriedrickMILBarbarossa, GERCHI, Gene Nygaard, Geoff B, Gewhere, GraemeLeggett, GregorB, Greyengine5, Guidod, Gunnai,
GunpicsBAS, Gwm, Haham hanuka, HarkenofAutumn, Hmains, Hohum, Hornsignal, Hydrargyrum, Irondome, JPG-GR, James086, JohnOwens, Joshbaumgartner, Juzeris, KTo288, Kbog, Keith
H99, Kglavin, King nothing, Knight45, Koalorka, Kobalt08, Kukini, Kurt Leyman, L1A1 FAL, LWF, La goutte de pluie, Leibniz, Lt. Col. Cole, Magnet For Knowledge, Magus732, Manxruler,
Maury Markowitz, Mboverload, Mentifisto, Morphinea, Mzajac, NAKFANS, Nemo5576, Nukes4Tots, Oberiko, Pavel Vozenilek, Pharaoh of the Wizards, Quadell, R'n'B, ROG5728,
Rayce.leoffler, Richard Blacksmith, Riddley, RipTAS 96, Rofgf, SB Pete, Schmackity, Sdafhgh, Sean Whitton, Shame On You, Shotgunlee, Shreditor, Smoothie1, Snagari, Staygyro,
Surv1v4l1st, Sus scrofa, Theda, Themantogoto, Thernlund, Tlim7882, Triesault, Tronno, Twinxor, Vive la resistance, Vroman, WO2, Web Sweeper, Welsh, Wik, Wikiuser100, Winged Brick,
Winky Bill, Winterheart, Woohookitty, ZBrisk, ZH Evers, Zacatecnik, 135 anonymous edits

Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors

File:Digital Museum MG 34 Right.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Digital_Museum_MG_34_Right.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Avron, Chris58,
Fisch21, Lokal Profil
File:Flag of German Reich (1935–1945).svg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Flag_of_German_Reich_(1935–1945).svg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Fornax
File:Flag of Hungary 1940.svg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Flag_of_Hungary_1940.svg  License: unknown  Contributors: User:Zscout370, colour correction:
User:R-41
File:Flag of the Republic of China.svg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Flag_of_the_Republic_of_China.svg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: 555, Abner1069,
Bestalex, Bigmorr, Denelson83, Ed veg, Gzdavidwong, Herbythyme, Isletakee, Kakoui, Kallerna, Kibinsky, Mattes, Mizunoryu, Neq00, Nickpo, Nightstallion, Odder, Pymouss, R.O.C, Reisio,
Reuvenk, Rkt2312, Rocket000, Runningfridgesrule, Samwingkit, Sasha Krotov, Shizhao, SiBr4, Tabasco, Theo10011, Vzb83, Wrightbus, ZooFari, Zscout370, 75 anonymous edits
File:Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Flag_of_the_People's_Republic_of_China.svg  License: Public Domain  Contributors:
Drawn by User:SKopp, redrawn by User:Denelson83 and User:Zscout370 Recode by cs:User:-xfi- (code), User:Shizhao (colors)
File:Flag of North Korea.svg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Flag_of_North_Korea.svg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Zscout370
File:Flag of North Vietnam.svg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Flag_of_North_Vietnam.svg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Anime Addict AA, Antemister,
Cycn, Denniss, Fry1989, Gabbe, Homo lupus, Madden, Mattes, Nilfanion, Officer781, Qgnt, R-41, Smial, Zscout370, Владимир турчанинов, 1 anonymous edits
File:Flag of Israel.svg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Flag_of_Israel.svg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: “The Provisional Council of State Proclamation of the
Flag of the State of Israel” of 25 Tishrei 5709 (28 October 1948) provides the official specification for the design of the Israeli flag. The color of the Magen David and the stripes of the Israeli flag
is not precisely specified by the above legislation. The color depicted in the current version of the image is typical of flags used in Israel today, although individual flags can and do vary. The flag
legislation officially specifies dimensions of 220 cm × 160 cm. However, the sizes of actual flags vary (although the aspect ratio is usually retained).
File:Flag of Turkey.svg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Flag_of_Turkey.svg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: David Benbennick (original author)
File:Flag of Portugal.svg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Flag_of_Portugal.svg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Columbano Bordalo Pinheiro (1910; generic
design); Vítor Luís Rodrigues; António Martins-Tuválkin (2004; this specific vector set: see sources)
File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-721-0386-15, Frankreich, Soldaten mit MG 34.jpg  Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_101I-721-0386-15,_Frankreich,_Soldaten_mit_MG_34.jpg  License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Germany
 Contributors: Teofilo, 1 anonymous edits
Image:Mg_34.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Mg_34.jpg  License: GNU Free Documentation License  Contributors: Franco Atirador
Image:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-028-1632-13, Frankreich, Küstenschutz mit Flak-MG.jpg  Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_101I-028-1632-13,_Frankreich,_Küstenschutz_mit_Flak-MG.jpg  License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0
Germany  Contributors: Denniss, Manxruler, Martin H.
Image:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-B00456, Übung des Regiments Großdeutschland, am MG 34.jpg  Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-B00456,_Übung_des_Regiments_Großdeutschland,_am_MG_34.jpg  License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike
3.0 Germany  Contributors: Avron, KEN, Rcbutcher, Zac Allan
Image:MG34.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:MG34.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Original uploader was Kglavin at en.wikipedia

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