0:02 today you'll see why the mg34 was
0:03 developed in complete secrecy and how it
0:05 was far ahead of its time when it
0:07 appeared on the battlefield we've all
0:09 heard of the legendary German machine
0:10 guns of World War II but what really
0:12 made them so effective were the many
0:14 little known details around everything
0:16 from the weapon to ammo CS in this video
0:18 we are looking at the mg34 from a
0:20 slightly different angle to show you why
0:22 it remained in service despite being
0:24 overshadowed by its younger brother the
0:28 mg42 let's begin after World War I the
0:30 German military wanted to develop a new
0:33 modern and Universal machine gun even
0:35 though the versailes treaty strictly
0:37 forbade Germany from developing and
0:38 producing weapons like artillery and
0:41 machine guns behind closed doors they
0:42 were secretly preparing revolutionary
0:45 weapons for the next global conflict one
0:47 of these would become the world's first
0:49 true general-purpose machine gun the
0:50 German military wanted to replace the
0:53 bulky hardto maneuver watercooled
0:55 machine guns of World War I and make one
0:57 adaptable for all roles they wanted
0:59 something to be used by infantry in both
1:00 offensive and Def defensive roles
1:03 mounted on tanks Vehicles aircraft and
1:05 even used as an anti-aircraft weapon it
1:07 needed to be capable of both light and
1:09 heavy machine gun roles or within a
1:11 single weapon the US military for
1:13 example had the m250 caliber heavy
1:16 machine gun the m1919 medium machine gun
1:17 and light machine guns like the Browning
1:20 automatic rifle the Germans on the other
1:21 hand had all of that and more in just
1:24 one weapon and you'll now see how a
1:26 carefully selected team of German
1:28 experts working in complete secrecy
1:29 finalized the design of the new machine
1:32 machine gun in 1934 and 2 years later it
1:34 entered production by the time the world
1:37 became aware of it around 50,000 units
1:39 had already been produced just as War
1:42 erupted and the mg34 became a key
1:44 component of the blitz Creek tactics of
1:47 a highly mobile mechanized Army Combat
1:50 the mg34 saw action for the first time
1:51 in the Spanish Civil War where a few
1:54 early models were sent to German backed
1:56 nationalist forces as part of a secret
1:58 weapons testing program it quickly
2:00 proved to be the most advanced machine
2:02 gun of its time far superior to the
2:04 outdated or even water cooled models
2:06 still in service with other nations it
2:08 was mounted on tanks half tracks and
2:10 aircraft and of course widely used by
2:13 infantry in numerous configurations
2:16 however the mg34 made up only about 13
2:18 of the German machine guns until 1941
2:20 when it was fully standardized
2:22 throughout its service nearly 600,000
2:24 units were built making it the second
2:27 most produced machine gun of the war
2:29 although officially replaced by the mg42
2:32 the mg34 remained in production until
2:34 the very end of the war largely due to
2:36 its use in tanks but more on that in a
2:39 moment the mg34 was the backbone of
2:41 Firepower for German rifle squads as
2:43 most infantry carried car 98k rifles
2:46 that fired the same powerful 8 mm mous
2:48 round the Germans were the first to
2:49 build their squads around the machine
2:51 gun using it as efficiently as possible
2:54 in both offensive and defensive roles a
2:56 standard infantry Squad consisted of 10
2:58 soldiers each with a specific role the
3:00 squad leader coordinated five fire and
3:02 movement and was armed with an MP 40
3:04 submachine gun the machine gunner
3:06 carried and fired the mg34 supported by
3:08 an assistant Gunner who helped with
3:10 reloading Barrel changes and gun setup
3:13 both carried pistols as sidearms the
3:14 rest of the squad consisted of ammo
3:16 bearers and Riflemen responsible for
3:18 protecting the team or advancing under
3:19 the cover of machine gun fire the same
3:22 system was later applied to the mg42 as
3:24 well squads often had a horse or donkey
3:26 with a cart to transport ammunition
3:29 every 250 rounds the barrel had to be
3:30 changed and experienced crews could do
3:32 this in just a few seconds in
3:34 emergencies they could fire up to 400
3:36 rounds with a single barrel before the
3:37 weapon reached a critical point of
3:40 overheating and damage the mg34 had a
3:42 drum style ammunition carrier mounted on
3:45 the left side holding a 50 round belt
3:46 this allowed the Gunner to have the
3:48 weapon ready to fire with the ammunition
3:49 neatly stored in a container that
3:52 protected it from dust and debris the US
3:54 Army for example never had anything like
3:56 this forcing their machine Gunners to
3:58 carry belts of ammunition draped over
4:00 their shoulders another example of
4:01 German engineering Excellence was the
4:03 design of their ammo boxes they had
4:05 handles with leather grips for more
4:06 comfortable carrying and were positioned
4:08 so a soldier could hold two boxes in one
4:10 hand when folded they could be stacked
4:12 on top of one another saving valuable
4:15 space in armored vehicles or bunkers
4:16 thanks to this design a single soldier
4:18 could quickly carry four boxes of 300
4:21 rounds when needed bringing 1,200 rounds
4:23 in one trip these ammo boxes were also
4:25 watertight with additional small
4:26 features for easier carrying and
4:28 mounting on a tripod the Germans thought
4:30 about every small detail like no other
4:32 Army in the war they even had a winter
4:34 adaptation for the bipod preventing it
4:36 from slipping on snow and ice especially
4:38 for use on the Eastern Front the mount
4:41 for the mg34 which was later also used
4:44 for the mg42 was just as ingenious as
4:46 the gun itself at first glance it might
4:48 not seem like anything special the
4:49 Allies also had tripods for their
4:52 machine guns however this Mount was a
4:53 major reason why German machine guns
4:55 gained their deadly reputation
4:57 transforming the mg34 into a heavy
5:00 machine gun this was the lefet mount a
5:02 complex and highly Advanced tripod
5:04 instead of a simple solid tripod like
5:06 the Allies used which had to be firmly
5:08 secured into the ground the lefet mount
5:10 had a spring-loaded recoil mechanism
5:12 making it far more accurate especially
5:15 at long ranges a second key feature was
5:17 the trigger system the Gunner operated
5:19 the mg34 using a separate trigger built
5:21 into the tripod which was connected to
5:23 the gun's own trigger this allowed the
5:24 gun and Gunner to stay lower to the
5:27 ground and better protected making it
5:28 difficult for Allied troops to locate
5:30 the source of the fire in fact the
5:32 Gunner could even fire the weapon
5:34 without being near it the mount had a
5:35 special system allowing the Gunner to
5:37 set a firing area in a specific
5:39 Direction and elevation once set the
5:41 Gunner could tie a string to the trigger
5:43 move to a safe position and fire the
5:45 weapon remotely the machine gun would
5:47 automatically sweep across the
5:49 designated Field of Fire covering a
5:51 selected area while keeping the crew
5:53 safe from Return fire in addition to
5:54 this the mount could be fitted with an
5:57 optical sight making it effective up to
5:59 2,000 M acting as a light artillery
6:02 piece piece the mg34 also had a mount
6:04 for a spiderweb site for engaging
6:06 low-flying aircraft despite weighing
6:08 around 40 and being highly complex the
6:10 lefet mount was incredibly effective
6:13 giving the mg34 and later the mg42 a
6:17 major Battlefield Advantage tanks the
6:19 mg34 was the only machine gun the
6:21 Germans used in their tanks throughout
6:23 the entire War as a coaxial and a bow
6:25 gun it could be used without a stock
6:27 unlike the mg42 which had its recoil
6:30 spring inside it the m G 34's Quick
6:32 Change barrel system also made it ideal
6:35 for tanks while the mg42's barrel change
6:37 system was faster and more efficient for
6:39 infantry use where the barrel was
6:40 removed from the side it couldn't be
6:42 used inside tanks without major
6:44 modifications to the gun or turret the
6:47 mg 34's barrrel was removed from the
6:49 rear making it far more suitable for
6:52 armored vehicles the mg34 had a unique
6:54 fire selector system which was actually
6:56 a dual trigger mechanism pulling the
6:57 upper portion of the trigger fired
6:59 single shots while pulling the lower
7:02 portion engaged fully automatic fire
7:04 early versions even had an adjustable
7:05 rate of fire with a device allowing the
7:08 Gunner to switch between 600 and 900
7:10 rounds per minute however this feature
7:12 was quickly removed as it was too
7:14 complicated and impractical in combat so
7:17 if the mg34 was so good why was it
7:19 replaced by the mg42 at least for
7:22 infantry use there were two main reasons
7:24 the first was production difficulty the
7:27 mg34 was not designed for wartime mass
7:29 production it required high quality
7:31 material materials and extreme Precision
7:32 Machining which was difficult to
7:35 maintain once the war was at its peak it
7:38 is said that 1 mg34 took 150 man hours
7:41 to produce while the mg42 took only half
7:43 of that the second problem was its tight
7:45 Machining tolerances while this made it
7:47 an exceptionally well-made weapon it
7:50 also made it more sensitive to dust dirt
7:52 and extreme temperatures it had serious
7:54 reliability issues on the Eastern front
7:56 and in North Africa where operators had
7:57 to be extremely diligent with
7:59 maintenance to keep the gun running the
8:02 mg42 on the other hand was cheaper and
8:04 faster to produce made from stamped
8:06 steel instead of milled Parts it was
8:08 also far more reliable in the field with
8:10 less maintenance on top of that it had
8:12 an even higher rate of fire and a
8:14 simpler faster barrel change system
8:16 making it easier to use in combat
8:19 however the mg34 continued to be
8:21 produced throughout the war as mentioned
8:23 earlier it was still used on armored
8:25 vehicles and tanks some factories were
8:28 also not easily convertible to mg42
8:30 production so they kept making 34s to
8:32 avoid disruption and to produce spare
8:34 parts for the hundreds of thousands of
8:36 units already in service despite being
8:38 overshadowed by its younger brother the
8:41 mg34 remained in service long after
8:43 World War II many countries continued
8:45 using or modifying captured stockpiles
8:47 and it saw combat again in later
8:49 conflicts when it was introduced the
8:52 mg34 completely revolutionized machine
8:54 gun design it became the first true
8:56 general purpose machine gun and set the
8:58 standard for modern weapons that nearly
9:01 a century later still follow the same concept
