You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
MP44 vs. STG 44???
- Thread starter P99AS9
- Start date
By that time, this was simply a matter of nomenclature; the series had begun in 1942, with the MKb42 (maschinen-karabine 42), with samples produced by Haenel, Walther, and Erma. Testing showed that the Haenel version was the most promising, so development continued along that line. When Hitler caught wind of this, he ordered the project stopped, because if bolt-action rifles, SMGs, and machine-guns were good enough for him during WW1, he felt they should have been good enough for soldiers during WW2. The designers knew they were onto something good, though, so they kept it going, and renamed the rifle the MP43 (maschinen-pistole 43), to make it look like a new submachine gun. Bugs were worked out of the production system over the next year, with the final development of the MP44. By this time, Hitler was getting requests for "more of the new rifles, please, and yesterday", so he wanted to see the new design, which turned out to be the design he had ordered scrapped more than a year previously. Uncharacteristically for a guy that enjoyed having his enemies strung up with piano wire, he gave his blessing to the new rifle, but said that it needed a new name; it wasn't a submachine gun, and it wasn't a rifle, so he called it the "storming rifle" or "assault rifle" (sturmgewehr). For all practical purposes, the STG44 and MP44 are identical, but you see differences between the manufacturers (there were 6 or 7 discrete "manufacturers", but many of them also received parts from local sub-contractors, and by that time, they couldn't afford to be picky).
The name MP44 (maschinenpistole 44) was chosen to try to conceal that the StG44 was developed contrary to Hitler's orders that he have all control over new weapons development programs. It was called the MP44 to try to confuse people and make them think it was simply an upgrade to the existing MP submachinegun weapons in use (MP38 and MP40).
HorseSoldier
New member
What's already been said -- just nomenclature, not substantive differences. They made some minor mods and changes to the design along the way, but they don't necessarily track with the name changes.
Mike Irwin
Staff
If one wants to get perfectly technical about it, it's more proper to say MP43 and Stgw 44.