Producing Allied Weapons for Germany?
Germany not only use captured weapons, in some cases they also produced foreign weapons, created new weapon systems based on foreign weapons, equipment and components. In this video we look at how the Wehrmacht appropriated various weapons into their production. For this we will look at various weapons and components from the Soviet Union, the United States, Czechoslovakia, and France. This will include the Soviet 120mm Mortar PM38, which the Germans called 12 cm Gr.W. 38 - 378 (r), 76 mm divisional gun M1936 (F-22) - the 7.6 cm F.K. 36 - 296 (r) , divisional gun M1942 (ZiS-3), 76 mm regimental gun M1927 - 7,62 cm-Infanterie-Kanonen-Haubitze 290 (r), the US M1 Bazooka, the LT Vz. 38 (Panzer 38(t)), Panzerselbstfahrlafette 1 für 7.62 cm PaK36(r) also known as Marder II and the Henschel 129. Some might call this "vehicular appropriation".
Special thanks to Uzelott for suggestions on title and cover.
Cover design by vonKickass.
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» SOURCES «
Spielberger, Walter J.: Panzer 35 (t) / 38 (t). Motorbuch Verlag: Stuttgart, Germany, 2013.
Fleischer, Wolfgang: Deutsche Nahkampfmittel. Munition, Granaten und Kampfmittel bis 1945. Motorbuch Verlag: Stuttgart, Germany, 2018.
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BArch, RH 11-I/76: OKH: Merkblatt 25/9 - Anleitung für die Ausbildung an der 7,62 cm-Infanterie-Kanonen-Haubitze 290 (r), HQu OKH, 20. September 1943.
BArch, RH 8/106.
BArch, RH 8/1661: Aktenverzeichnisse (Inhaltsverzeichnisse WaPrüf 6 St. VI und VIb)
Töppel, Roman: Albtraum aus Stahl: T-34 gegen Panther, in: Militär & Geschichte 19 (2020), No. 4. GeraMond Verlag GmbH: München, 2020.
Spielberger, Walter J.; Doyle, Hilary L.: Beute-Kfz und Panzer der Wehrmacht. Vollkettenfahrzeuge. Motorbuch Verlag: Stuttgart, Germany, 2016.
Jentz, Thomas L.; Regenberg, Werner: Panzer Tracts No.19-2. Beute-Panzerkampfwagen. British, American, Russian, and Italian Tanks. Captured from 1940 to 1945. Boyds, MD, 2008.
Michaelis, Conrad: Rüstungsmanagement der Ministerien Todt und Speer. Das Beispiel Panzerentwicklung/Panzerkommission. Aschendorff Verlag: Münster, Germany, 2020.
Jentz, Thomas L.: Panzertruppen 1 - The Complete Guide to the Creation & Combat Employment of Germany’s Tank Force - 1933-1942. Schiffer Military History: Atglen, USA, 1996.
Hunnicutt, R. P.: SHERMAN: A History of the American Medium Tank. Echo Points & Media, Vermont, USA, 2015 (1978).
Higham, Robin (ed.); Kagan, Frederick W. (ed.): The Military History of the Soviet Union. Palgrave: New York, 2002.
Spielberger, Walter J.; Doyle, Hilary L.: Panzer I und II und ihre Abarten. Motorbuch Verlag: Stuttgart, Germany, 2014.
Pegg, Martin: Hs 129 Panzerjäger. Classic Publication: Burgess Hill, UK, 1997.
#AlliedWeaponsForGermany #VehicularAppropriation #Beutewaffen
German army: That goes to museum. Finnish army: Hey museum give me your De Bange 155mm cannons from 1877 so we can use them in 1944.
they had that kind of understandable thinking:"if it worked in the past enough,we will keep using",and also,you have to remember that ww1 weapons were used as well,especially rifles,Mgs and artillery pieces
Wat.... Ducks
@@maximilianolimamoreira5002 I mean, the first flak 88 was designed at the end of the last war.
Once on the recieving end, I suppose that a 15cm shell is nearly as traumatic as a 155mm or a 152mm... almost regardless of what fired it ;)
@@cloud6254 i like Uncle Scrooge,man,he is Scottish,i love the Scottish,genetically I'm related to them,as I'm half Portuguese and Spaanish,had also Italians from the north of Italy,which was occupied by the Celts before the Romans took it.
converting Coka-Cola factories and producing Fanta
You mean pepsi, right?
@@pinkberet8012 wat
@@pinkberet8012 the germans are the ones who made fanta
They ran out of coke syrup so coca colas German branch invented Fanta during the war
@@pinkberet8012 heresy
The real masters of integrating captured kit into their own forces has to be the Fins. Rifles were easy, the Soviet mosin and the older Finnish mosin used the same cartridge. As did the large numbers of captured SVT-38s, SVT-40s and the DP-28 all sharing the bullets the Fins were already making. Tanks were harder. Finland started with 30 Vickers 6 ton tanks but captured large numbers of T26s, a few BT series tanks and some larger KV-1s. Add Stug IIIs and panzer IVs the Germans sent over all of which needed ammo and spares but they did pull it off to the point of having a single tank division in 1942 Not even mentioning howitzers and AT guns also captured and intergrated
Totally agree with this post, though I have to point out that the Finnish Mosin and the Russian Mosin not only used the same cartridge, it was more or less the same weapon. The finnish defense used russian coastal artillery, naval ships, etc. Basically, their experience with capturing and making use of weapons started way before the WW2
@@henrik3291 my Finnish M28 is actually chambered for 7.62x53r and it has a .308 bore diameter, the Finns reamed the chambers of most of their rifles for 7.62x54r so they could use captured ammunition but the .312 bullets in russian ammo would cause the rifling in the barrel to wear more quickly.
T-26 is basically a soviet Vickers with some bells and whistles.
Try to win a war in the Balkans by not capturing any equipment challenge
Henrik Finland was a Duchy of the Russian empire before the revolution. They got left with all the imperial Russian kit
My father was a Panzer Commander on the Russian Front in 1945. He commanded a Panzer 38 (t) as he referred to it, never as a Hetzer. In training he learned to shoot on a British Lee-Enfield rifle captured at Dunkirk and in the Panzer he carried an Italian Barretta Machine Pistol. If it works, use it, was part of the success of the German Army.
Soviet Army also used captured weapons like P4 and P5 tanks, Stugs. I think that reason why western allies were not using captured stuff in big numbers is cos powerful american industry produced enough equipment of any kind to fully supply their units. And other participants had no such luxury.
@@romanbuinyi they also had panzer IIIs, although alot of those were converted into SU-76i assault guns
@@romanbuinyi the soviets produced more stuff, its a combination of powerful US industry and small (relative to their industry) army.
@@matthiuskoenig3378 US industry produced many ships for war with Japan, and they are much more costly than tanks or planes. I heard that battleship cost was similar to cost of equipping 3 tank divisions, or something like that.
In the end all it did was create a nightmare for the supply and ordinance people. So many vehicles and weapons that had to be abandoned/destroyed for lack of spare parts, ammunition, etc. Short term fixes, Long term problems.
Just gotta say the translations of manuals and of reports by this channel has helped bridge the ideas of historical opinion with fact. Truly an awesome channel for history lovers!
I have read that during the war in north Africa both sides extensively used captured equipment, especially trucks and artillery. Alan Moorehead, an Australian correspondent used a captured Volkswagen for a time and wrote about how good it was. Wasn't one of the more famous Allied copies of German equipment the humble Jerry Can?
I had heard it said that the German Forces purchased more Ford trucks than Opel Blitz trucks. Also that Henry Ford asked that his plants not be bombed, since he would need them after the war.
Ah, the Marder "series"...based on a dozen different chassis with a variety of different guns. These things caused me so many headaches. xD
Only two different guns used in the Marder series. 7,5 cm Pak 40 and 76,2mm Pak 36(r). The Germans did use other 76.2mm guns but not in these vehicles. They did use the Russian BR-350A APBC round for awhile but manufactured a version of the PzGr 39 rot AP shell for the captured gun.
@@501Mobius There was an artillery version too, of the Marder I, which was carrying a 15cm artillery piece, thus why I wrote "variety".
@@HistoryGameV Marders were tank destroyers. You are probably thinking about the sIG 33 or Grill.
Yeah, no wonder, every time you see one in games of movies, it's always different.
@@501Mobius It's easy to get confused. I know at least 2-sources (The Axis&Allies Miniatures game, and Soldiers: Heroes of WWII [I think it was?] on Pc) that depict Marder II as an SPG-artillery.
I have to say. I have watched several “documentaries” that you have done through KZhead and honestly, they have all been very good. Thank you for taking the time to do such THOROUGH research. I have enjoyed all of the videos you’ve completed and hope to be able to enjoy more.
Don't forget that most(!) of the Whermacht's trucks were produced by _American companies in Germany_ in particular the Ford Factory in Cologne and the General Motor plants in Rüsselsheim and Brandenburg. While not as sexy as combat gear, this was absolutely essential for the Germany war machine.
The Serious Strategy Gamer What is essential is the fact that Henry Ford sold the licence to Stalin to build Ford trucks in Soviet Union. It was VERY important for Soviet industrialization and war effort. The world would be better place if western technology had not been sold to Stalin. For examples the copies of Ford flat head V8 engines (in larger trucks) were in use 50 years after the war!
S haku The world would be a better place if we realised the evils of socialism in the same way we realise the evils of fascism, but c'est la vie
@@shaku2182 ahh yeah true. Eastern Europeans being killed just for being Eastern Europeans is a utopia
Your videos are always fantastic, but my favorite part has to be the subtle humor that shows up in the informational icons. The 40K chainsword this time around 9:36 was epic and hilarious!
As a Nurse... I don't know why the heck that I watch this kind of videos... but hey... as long there's a new thing to learn... why not... Great video... keep up the good work...
thanks, I also have something on the medical elements as well, an interview series with a Navy Corpsman ("Combat Medic for the Marines") kzhead.info/sun/mNpmlMyQf2qghas/bejne.html
@@MilitaryHistoryVisualized Thank you... I'll watch it later...
I’ve herd about the necessity to convert the Soviet rail gauge to the European gauge. During the war in the east, how much was converted? And was it helpful in 1942 onwards?
@David Parry Well it's just that using a wider gauge makes sense, a wider gauge allows for higher speeds and gives a smoother ride and so the more modern a rail system the wider a guage they've tended to adopt.
@David Parry You don't have to convert rails if there are no rails *laughs in partizan*
@@hedgehog3180 and russia just so happens to have modernized later. that being said gauge size is primarely determined by land availability. if you are mountainous like japan and nave to cut mountains for rails... you are going narrow gauge. in russia where space is aplenty, a wider gague helps increase capacity.
I would like to see some more information on this but maybe it was already covered in the logistics video?
@@hedgehog3180 Theres a difference between Loading Gauge (the envelope the train is able to occupy) and Track Gauge (the distance between the tracks), loading gauge has indeed drifted larger however the same isnt true of Track Gauge, its actually tended towards the smaller Standard Gauge from the larger Broad Gauge. The main reason for this is that while having a broader track gauge is good for speed and stability in a straight line its worse at turning corners requiring longer gentler bends to perform the same turn and so it ends up requiring more land and being harder to thread between obstacles.
Thank you very much for the vid!!
I thought you were going to talk about Henry Ford suing the US Airforce for blowing up his tank factory in Berlin.
The plant was (and is) in Cologne, but Yeah
@@MrDeutschGerman Good catch. I thought there was something about Berlin, but I'm probably confusing it with something else.
The same could have been done by General Motors regarding the destruction of its Opel factories (building the Opel Blitz light trucks heavily used during WW2).
@@michelbeauloye4269 I thought Opel was also Ford Blue
This is a myth, and on top of that the air force didn't even exist in WW2.
I have to congratulate you. For a brief overview, it was excellently summarized the subject.
Let me help with this naming system in Czech , the number LT vz. 38 mean Lehký tank (Light tank) vzor, (Mark) 38, this is the year of certification to army. This naming system is in use in Czech Army in this time too.
War thunder players rejoice, we’ve been acknowledged by serious historical videos!
We are changing history!
Also HOI4
Y’all have been acknowledged on like every fucking video about anything to do with military, every fucking add is war thunder 😂 love the game tho
Is that War Thunder Jingles one of them new-fangled collectable card games?
So the multiverse sherman versions are true?
Some weapon from other country: exists Germans: Hippity hoppity your weapon is now my property
its free real estate,bro.
overused cringe and unfunny joke
@@me67galaxylife Still, im not profesional comedian, wrote here first idea i thought. But you are right, kinda old joke :D
Some countries: exist Germany: hippity hoppity youre now ny property
@@andrewthefoxxcz3310 I see fellow Czech
FYI The Messerschmitt Me 323 Gigant and the Gotha Go 244 also used the Gnome et Rhône engines.
I think that they took a couple of horses to use too. (No modifications necessary)
Not to mention the bicycles.
Thank you for making this video.
as someone who is just as much into production side as into use side this video is a total win for me, i hope you do more videos like this maybe even one on german employment of captured allied armor in WW1
Wow, very impressive analyses! Good work!
I suspect this very pragmatic adoption of foreign weaponry into their own ranks is a lesson learned from The Great War (reviews say it wasn't that great) Back when equipment attrition proved to be a serious issue, and manufacturing capability could never catch up to the demands of the front lines. Forcing them to use old and obsolete equipment dragged out of the arsenals, and whatever else they could get. Pretty much every nation involved in the affair suffered that in WW1. And that's why channels like C&Rsenal have no shortage of WW1 firearms to review. *And that's just the firearms!* This is an intelligent move, bolstering their own equipment and preemptively meeting the ever increasing demands of a prolonged war, not to mention on occasion filling gaps in their own military doctrines at the same time. While it could and probably did make logistics a total nightmare... having something to shoot is always better than having a stick to wave at the enemy. To me, this seems like a way of applying things they learned the last time.
Germans were quite scavengers back then as well. Captured rifles, especially Mosins were being issued, and were even sometimes modified to use German Bayonets, and also had ammunition produced domestically. Also Germany acquired quite a fleet of Beutepanzers, despite unwillingness to build their own.
@@blackore64 Indeed. I admit I am no historian, so a lot of the details about a lot regarding The Great War (and its sequel) I don't even know. But, anyway. So indeed it is a preemptive continuation of the lessons learned beforehand. It is interesting to think about just how much equipment they had captured even back then, yeah. It's a fairly obvious solution when there's a constant threat of equipment shortage looming over them. (Well, solution may be the wrong word to use, since it only helped the equipment issue and not solved it... But I am sure you get what I mean)
Germany probably captured vastly more intact enemy equipment than any other combatant together with ammunition stocks and the production plants. Beside it's own military it also had to supply arms to all it's European allies. Even then it never had enough. It's just makes sense to use what you have. Even destroyed equipment can be recycled. Production of aluminum/aluminium from bauxite requires vast amounts of electricity using huge amounts of coal. Melting down USAAF/RAF bomber requires only a fraction of the coal.
@@blackore64 Erwin Rommel had a personal task Force entirely made out of captured enemy Tanks and Vehicles. Mark Felton made an exelent Video about that Unit
Hi Power and PPSh were good rigs, they knew it
I remember reading that towards the end of the war, Volksturm units were given rifles "from every country Germany had fought with or against". In some situations there would be plentiful ammunition in a certain caliber, but only a few rifles that could fire it. Other times, there were plentiful rifles, but little ammunition of their caliber, resulting in men being given a rifle with only five rounds of ammunition. The use of the 120mm mortar increased as the war progressed. Large scale warfare, especially on the Eastern front, required large quantities of military equipment, which German industry production had difficulty keeping up with. With new divisions constantly being created, and shattered old ones being rebuilt, there was always a shortage of weapons. 120mm mortars were cheaper to build in larger numbers, and easier to use, than standard artillery guns. Extra 120mm mortars were also a cheap way to increase the firepower of German units. The late war Volksgrenadier divisions were much smaller than early war infantry divisions due to manpower shortages. To make up in firepower what they lacked in manpower, they were given a higher percentage of submachine guns, mortars, etc.
Great video as usual..... Carry on Camerade👍😁
When you can’t make enough of what you need, you press what is captured into service.
09:08 top right....i see what you did there, the emperor is pleased!
Another very nice Video , Thank you . 35 years ago I held a well made 9mm Radom Pistol that came thru the Gunshop . It did have an Eagle Stamped on it that was very clear . There were Serial Numbers in a few places .
This topic has always fascinated me
like jingles does a landing lmao! Never change.
Great overview. Lots of small arms that were produced in occupied factories to foreign designs. Of course, getting into those would take a whole video or two.
Two of the most prized pistols used by the Germans were the Browning Hi Power produced in the original FN factory in Herstal, Belgian and Norwegian licensed copies of the US Army M1911. Both were considered superior to the Walthers P38.
"complicated.de" LOL. Fascinating stuff, I guess Germans love to play with other people stuff. ;-) I read that: The Lt 38 was sold to other countries in 1938 before the occupation, and ironically before Czechoslovakia's order for it was produced. Just as the first CZ's first LT 38 rolled out of factory, the Munich Dictate happened. Gnome-Rhone engine (I think said Nome-Rown, no G) was also used on Go 242 and Me 232. The "Hedgehog" tank barricade was directly adapted, and the name was know by everyone as "Czech hedgehogs". Parts of the Czech fortifications ended up on the Atlantic wall. There are a few more..., including IBM. Anyway, another case in revers: A company in Brno invented a machine gun that the UK company Enfield licensed to make the UK standard LMG, known by all as the Bren, a portmanteau of Brno and Enfield.
2:55 Czechoslovakia was split to 2 states (like today): czech was Protektorat Böhmen und Mähren and slovakia was Slovakia (german satelite)
Ha ha "booty" waffen *sigh* Verdammt Karl.
Beevis & Butthead in the Wehrmacht.
kzhead.info/sun/iMmwp7uZhZiPfI0/bejne.html
Clever McGenericName - Who dare's "Verdammt" me!??!
@@douglasstrother6584 uhuhuhuh
@@kennymccormick8906 ;)
if i recall correctly the static division where generaly issued by captured. and during wo1 they setup a conversiun factory for mosin nagants to fit the ammonition of the gewher rifle.
a better translation of "Ratsch-Bumm" is screetch/scratch-boom the ratsch is describing the screech of the projectile when passing or ricocheting your position, the boom the discharge sound of the gun, wich followed the projectile, due to the projectile being a bit faster than sonic speed
Imitation is the best form of flattery. British produce the Sten gun a cheaper simpler copy of the MP40, by the end of the war the Germans are manufacturing 10,000 of their own Sten under the name of MP 3008 (only difference being magazine is vertical like on the original MP40, the British had changed it on the Sten to horizontal so you could use the weapon lying down)
I think the mag went in sideways because they were afraid of it falling out, not a chance of that with the BREN.
@@johnneill990 The mag was sideways so soldiers could go prone easier. Not because "they thought it would fall out".. 🙄
The Germans manufactured a copy of the British Sten Gun mk2 with a vertical magazine. It was called the MP3008
The early Marder II - with it's ten different designations - were all made from Flammpanzer IIs, which had been withdrawn from service and were converted. When the stock of surviving Flammpazer II chassis had been converted, there were no more produced of this version.
Great job! Can you make a video about Baukommando Becker?
They did the bunkers?
@@honkytonk4465 No, Alfred Becker was a master of rebuilding of captured vehicles.
Also the Germans made use and continued production on the Kongsberg 1911 in Norway, though not many were made, they also had the browning hi power from Poland and Belgium
Wow echt intressant.
It would be interesting to see a video like this one, but concentrated on the use of foreign equipment by the Afrika Korps. The Afrika Korps were on the end of the most tenuous supply line in the Wehrmacht’s history, almost entirely reliant on Italian shipping. They were forced to make use of a lot of captured British equipment, as their own supplies kept getting sent to the bottom of the Mediterranean by British warships, submarines and aircraft.
12:38 Id argue the point should be changed to "Germans had no general objections using foreign weapons".
Another example would be the MP-3008. It was basically a British Sten Gun Mk. 2 but the magazine was loading in vertically instead of horizontally and it German bullets
hello, great content. Do you have a video of why didnt Germany let their allies license produce some of their equipment?
Be interested to see the allies use of the captured/foreign equipment. I've watched quite a few Russin/German war movies and they often show lend-lease and captured weapons being used by Soviet Troops, they seemed especially fond of the MPs and MGs.
Do you have any detail sources of the Static Divisions? These divisions has regiments that call Fortress Grenadier and Grenadier (not Panzergrenadier), I don't know how trained and equipment of these units.
My understanding is that the Germans used so many captured Mosin and SVT rifles that 7.62x54r ammo was made in German or German occupied factories for them. True?
would not surprise me given how they also produced weapons like an even more simplified sten gun
G43
And ViS pistols from Poland, which were themselves a highly modified copy of a Browning High-Power in 9mm.
During first world war they actually did because of Quantity of Mosins they captured in Tannenberg.
@@cropathfinder the advantage with the sten gun was that it already used the same 9mm round as german pistols/submachineguns
😹those little icons! The broken gears one is funny for example. Or how descriptive they are.
Explaining the weapon tools.
One miltary item not mentioned that was used and produced locally by almost of of the belligerents in WWII was the Ford flathead V8 engine used in numerous stationary and mobile applications such as powering electrical generators, pumps and other equipment etc and powering all kinds of trucks, light artillery tractors, armored cars, staff cars and even boats. On the Allied side the Ford V8 engine was used and locally produced by the U.S, Canadians, Australians, British, French and Soviets and on the Axis side by both Germany and Japan.
Ah... A 40k reference... A man of even more culture than I tought, cheers sir!
11:23 Yes, the Mighty Jingles' landings are that famous.
How about a video on soviet (or allied) use of captured german gear?
BTW where is the heavy metal outro? It's been a while since I last heard one.
next one has it, if I remember correctly.
@@MilitaryHistoryVisualized Jesus you sure replies fast. Anyways I've been a follower since like 2016 and I appreciated all of your fantastic work.
Probably a lot more that haven't been mentioned. Like the Sten gun that was copied/modified?
Same with the Browning Hi-Power. The factories were in occupied territory and the tooling was still there
they managed to simplify the sten gun so that anyone with a garage and a tool kit could make them for the army. But yeah there are so many systems that you can't just fit any number on them in a very short video like this
@Astir01 The Sten was copied, but only as an emergency measure in 1945 (names: Gerät Neumünster/MP3008/Volksmaschinenpistole)
@Astir01 not true look up weapons like the MP3008, they did enter mass production just for the 3008 some 10 000 were made and more would have had the war not ended as a million were scheduled to be produced in the first run. Forgotten weapons has a great video if you are too lazy to research.
@@Oman666444555 They also captured a factory making Colt 1911s under license.
I was wondering if you had the information regarding whether the 122 mm Soviet howitzer and the 122mm cannon should be produced or not. I understood that Germany set up ammunition production for the guns they captured.
What´s about the PaK 97/38?
AFAIK, the Bazooka and Panzerschreck used very different ignition methods. I think the allied created sparks via battery, whereas the Germans added essentially a generator to the weapon similar to the electric pump you see bugs bunny using to blow up stuff.
@9:25 did you use a 40k chain sword image and call Heresy? Funny if intentional.
yes!
There was a top-secret Luftwaffe squadron called Kampfgeschwader 200, (KG-200), I first read about it in a novel of the same name. It used captured Allied aircraft like the B-17, B-24, B-25, B-26, Lancaster, etc. This could be the subject of your next video.
can you do a video about chemical weapons and why germany and or the allies did not use them on the front lines during ww2 even though they had them stockpiled? i feel that would be a good video i have always thought about it
Whiskey hmm... is it really much more complicated than „nobody wanted another gas war“? Because it was widely available to everybody and would not offer any comparative advantage?
@@seno5530 yes i understand that but i like the numbers and figures he puts out it would be interesting to know why they had them and never used them and the logistics behind how they would if they were going to use them
One has to wonder about supplying ammunition from captured weapons. Have to make more, when captured supplies run out. Must have been a logistics nightmare the right supplies to the right units....
Is it true that the Opel Blitz truck also shared a lot of parts with the Chevrolet/GMC trucks? I heard this from someone once, after all Opel is a GM company.
It’s interesting how one diameter of weapon seems to become fashionable for a period of time.
France has capitulated! We received 50% of their stockpile.
We?
@@manubishe That's the message you get in the game Hearts of Iron IV when you capitulate a country.
@@HistoryGameV It's not very accurate though.
Even with added French, Czech, ... etc. production and captured equipment, Germany was still out-produced by Soviet Union. That goes even for period around end of 1942, when German conquest was on high tide, Land-Lease was still relatively small and bombing of Germany did not bite hard yet.
Aye thanks
Oh hell yeah.
I'd like to know about ammunition production for the vast stocks of captured rifles. Did the Germans rely on captured stocks or produce their own?
Another good example is the Polish pistol VIS wz. 35 / Radom. After the occupation of Poland, the production was continued by the Germans. This pistol then became the most used foreign model by the Wehrmacht. A significant part of the production was also bypassed to the local resistance. Just by the way.
2:26 Screaming: *"Lt. Vz. 38!"
Well, Germans at least had domestic industry. Meanwhile almost all of the Finnish equipment was foreign-made. (Aside from soldier's uniforms). Main rifle? Yup, Mosins captured, bought, refurbished (not a single Mosin receiver was made in Finland). LMG? Our own sucks, lets use the Captured Russian ones. MG? Russian maxims. SMG? Only successful Finnish weapon, was being replaced by a domestic copy of PPS-43 by the time war ended. Artillery? Please give us anything that has ammo. Tanks? Anything that can be hauled back (though Germany thankfully lent a hand after signing a short-lived suicide pact).
Planes? *PLANES ARE PLANES!* (They used American, British, German, French, Dutch, Italian, Soviet, and some domestic planes)
Meanwhile in WT.... Swedish tree using ANYTHING from Sweden, Denmark and Finland as ONE tree under Sweden flag......
Wait, so the Finn's never produced a single mosin?? So they just modified it since russian civil war ?
@@nilihcrevo9820 Well, barrels and other parts were made in Finland, and parts of damaged guns were assembled into new ones, but yes, all the receivers were either Russian made, or foreign-made for the Russians. This was made possible by Finland being literally the only country outside of Soviet Russia to adopt Mosin as standard rifle, so they were the only buyer for when other countries cleared their Mosin Stockpiles.
What about the KP 31 that was a good SMG
120mm mortars are no joke. If the Soviet ones are anything similar to what we use now (to be honest they probably are not much has changed) they have a kill radius of 75m. A 4 gun fire for effect with he is quite awe striking I could see why the Germans would want to produce them
Kill radius like those are greatly exaggerated for safety reason. You would be extremely lucky to wound from half of that. But it is still likely technically possible to die at 75 meters
@@stankgangsta4105, 75m..... Guess someone is really unlucky to get a piece of shrapnel in a vital from that far...... But i guess 50m may be a valid range of danger for a 12cm HE warhead
That's why the Germans called it The Monster.
I just watched an American news film produced for their cinemas that showed American troops adapting German 155m. amunition for their own use. Apparently large stocks were captured in France, and before the supply situation was sorted out by the capture of Antwerp, they used these stocks. It was a Periscope Film on U Tube.
Germans used and often preferred the Italian Beretta M38/A over the MP-36. Mainly because the SMG and the way it's bolt was design had little to no feeling of recoil at all. Pair that with a slightly faster fire rate and rather compact design as well as compatible ammunition (9x19mm Parabellum) and it was an easy choice. Of course after 1939 the Beretta unfortunately suffered the almost completely inevitable fate of corners being cut in the Factories, which led to decreases performance.
The Germans were also rather fond of captured small arms, too. They liked the PPSh and SVT-40 very much, the M1 Carbine was very popular, too, particularly for its compactness, weight, and firepower in such a small package. They also produced many foreign pistols from captured factories to supplant the deficit, such as FN Hi-Powers, Vz. 35s, and so on.
1944 Germany started to make copies of the sten machine gun.. Britain made about 4 million, many in a factory near me. Aintree, Liverpool. Plus the Enfield rifles..
Wasn't Gewehr 43 also heavily influenced by SVT 40?
Hi MHV! You could include the de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pistolet_Vis_wz._35 on the list. Having been regarded as one of the best military pistols of the time, the Germans gladly incorporated the gun into their arselnal and, among others, gave it to their paratroopers. Production first continued in Radom, but was then shifted to Austria - a combination of two scenarios you described. The pistol was renamed to 'P 35(p)', with the 'P' indicating the Polish origin, following the same naming convention as the other captured weapons ('r' = russian, 't' = czech etc.)
I know that for the Volkstrum the Germans made a version of the British Sten submachine gun. They also continued production of the Polish WB 35 9mm pistol going as far as to move production to Austria near the end of the war. Also the Germans would repair downed American aircraft and use them in some capacity
Me-323 also made use of Gnome-Rhône engines.
Last time I was this early, *insert smart/funny comment* I am german, so it is of no laughing matter!
How about: Last time I was early here in Germany, on second thought never mind.
Hey nappal! o7
Or so the Germans would have us believe
Germans do have a sense of humour -it's just that, unlike the British, they do the laughing 'after' the work is done! :)
Question did the Germans continue to make the Czech version of the Bren Gun during the occupation ? I think I saw in a previous video I’ve seen the SS used them ?
German troops we also issued large numbers of SVT-40 semi-auto rifles. (Loved by Germans but hated by the Russians) but eventually the Wehrmacht munitions factories had to start manufacturing ammunition for them (7.62mm x 54mm(R)) as stocks of captured ammo began to run thin.
LT Vz. 38 stands for: LT -> Lehký Tank (Light Tank) Vz. -> Vzor (Model/Type) 38
Yeah. One of the things the Germans did was use trucks from all over the place. The problem with that was it caused a horrendous spare parts problem. Also, a lot of those trucks were in fact just civilian trucks that did not hold up well under military operations. I don't remember what it was but apparently they had a very high attrition rate, mostly from normal use to which combat losses were added. .
You mention that the Marder II (the (r) version anyway) was ordered in December 1941. Was it being investigated earlier than that? Was the decision to produce it explicitly connected to German setbacks at that time, with the Eastern Front now being extended?
I read, and I don't recall where, that there were a few parts in the V-2 were from an Allied nation. I don't know how reliable the source was.
The Germans used and produced lots of Hi-Power handguns from the FN plant in Belgium. Closer to the end of the war they copied (with a few mods) the STEN gun. The G43 was largely copied from the SVT40. On a side note it’s weird to think about a Ppsh41 toting German coming across an MP40-armed Rusky, but it probably happened.
Reminded me of the time I visited the US 45th Infantry Division - they had 2 Soviet 85-mm antitank gun D-48 that the Germans rebored the gun to use German ammunition.
I'm not sure what American plane came it came from , B-17 maybe, but I thought I read somewhere that the germans began using copies of the turbo/superchargers taken from downed or captured US aircraft and modified to use on some of their own planes.
Got a question,what about the Allies using weapons produced by Germany?we have heard of those very few occasions where Panthers where used but what about the STG44?I've tried finding evaluations on it by the US but basically they said it was poorly made etc etc,but why is it we see allied troops using them?would have been interesting if they equipped a platoon with STG44s
Fluesterwitz hmmm very interesting indeed
They weren't impressed by it (mostly the Americans), being derided as a "soft" POS...
The STG44 would have met a number of conceptual, doctrinal, and logistical problems before it were adopted even in a limited role by anyone else. Especially the Americans of the period. First, the US military was still gripped (and was at least in some level until even after the adoption of the M16!) in the 'cult of the marksman.' A fetishization of the individual soldiers potential ability to shoot at long ranges with full power rifles, in short. This is all sorts of wrong by that standard. And many of the soldiers themselves would have had that bias imparted on them; good god, we're just now getting the "bigger pistol bullet is better" out of the public mind. They would also have had to learn how to use it to its full effect to find out why it was revolutionary, and this would likely be rather different than their current training. And finally, they would not have been able to find or produce the magazines, specialty ammo, etc, in time. Moreover it was a relatively less used weapon on the western front, so that limits things even more. However there's a bigger logistical issue: the STG44 is built to have a very limited lifespan. For the Germans at this point, whatever; 20k rounds before a reasonable likelihood of catastrophic failure is more than good enough (and way more than the lifespan of the soldiers we'll hand them to late war), we can pump them out at that, don't waste time to fix the problem. For any allied nation by the time they encountered these that would be _completely_ unacceptable. They're already in the home stretch, and these guns clearly have safety problems when they treat them normally. I believe the US probably just observed/ read the British evaluations of the STG44.
EGBrandan thanks mate, excellent answer.makes things more understandable.the whole full power cartridge was a interesting in the NATO trails with yanks along the lines of yeah we will adopt your rifle if it takes our cartridge....oh wait we we have our own rifles to, so to bad, so sad.
@@robertsperti5926 Yeah, it's telling. Ever read "Random Shots"? I highly recommend. At least the US got fucked over with the M14 quickly enough to actually change over to the M16. So they did screw themselves over too. Funny thing is the US was working on Small Caliber High Velocity cartridges from like pre-war, in development labs. They just weren't entirely practical until later and never really were able to overcome that cult of the marksman. The development teams were well ahead on this stuff. Hell, look at .276 Pederson and his rifle in the interwar. It's a more medium caliber high velocity full power cartridge, and that didn't even really go anywhere. The US military coming in and fucking up other countries smallarms development is so constant postwar. And to be fair, its not like the rest of NATO truly standardized anyway; the ammo is often slightly different and some other stuff not truly interchangeable. And if things had standardized (frankly, I doubt it would have; which European cartridge would have won out for the FAL?), would the western world instead have been stuck with an early generation assault rifle and intermediate cartridge like the Soviets ended up being? Something too heavy and without SCHV (small caliber high velocity) performance and advantages more like 8mm kurz or 7.62x39? Maybe it's better that the west standardized on a full power rifle cartridge and a first gen SCHV cartridge in the longer run, leading to an adoption of 5.56 rifles much earlier. And how long would it have taken them to fight it out between the various NATO countries? On the other hand, now we've been stuck with a slightly suboptimal first gen SCHV cartridge for so long that we've updated it and the rifle (2nd gen assault rifle I think) and all the systems attached to it so much that we can't go anymore without a ground up system redesign, which it isn't worth doing to get the last little bit of performance out of. Whereas the Soviets got to piggyback and design a truly modern SCHV intermediate cartridge that would be better than 5.56 if anyone who still used it had the money to update it to use the same advancements that modern 5.56 has gotten. But still shoved it in a derivative of their first-gen assault rifle that kind of makes it a little bit pointless. Ideally, with knowledge of the future, the US would have slapped box mags on their garands (there were decent, cheap conversions done in testing labs that didn't have any of the M14's problems! Even .308 ones!!) and just used them until an early but slightly modified version of the 5.56 and AR-15 came out.
Meanwhile in Nizhniy Tagil: -Hey, Ivan, I've heard Germans have good tanks! -Move away, a new T-34 is going to the front -...and I thought maybe... -A new T-34 -..maybe we could study it and make some improvements... -A new T-34 -...to our own panzers. Whudda you say? -A new T-34...Why are you wasting time talking while there are still T-34s to build, you slacker?!
Underrated comment, this one
Why would they call the German tanks 'tanks' while calling their own 'panzers' though?
Interesting video on capturing weapons but since the video title says "producing" that is what I kinda expected and since I got to 7:00 and you hadnt even breached the topic .........
maybe watch the video again and pay attention, producing starts way earlier, since the Panzer 38(t) was mostly produced after the German occupation.
@@MilitaryHistoryVisualized You really dont like feedback do you . I will quit offering it , my mistake .
A direct copy of a foreign weapon used by German Army was the British Sten Gun Mk2. Such as the MP 3008 and Gerat Potsdam, which was produced by Mauser in 1945, they even used British manufacturing stamps!!
I was hoping for at least a mention of the Vis pistol...