The MG34 (German: Maschinengewehr 34) is a German 7.92mm light machine gun from the Second World War. The first prototypes of this weapon were made in 1934, and serial production began in 1934 and continued until 1945. The initial velocity of the missile was up to 755 m / s, and the theoretical rate of fire - 900 rounds per minute. Scooters firing range from a gun mounted on a tripod was up to 1,800 meters. The weight of the weapon without a base or tripod is 11.5 kilograms.
The MG34 was developed by the Mauser company as a new, universal, light machine gun of the German army, intended to replace the MG 08 and the LMG 08/15 from the World War I times. The work on the weapon progressed very quickly and already in 1934, i.e. a few months after its commencement, it was completed. As a result, however, a highly innovative weapon was created that could be fed with ammunition from both a drum magazine and an ammunition belt, could be mounted on a tripod (acting as a heavy machine gun), and be used based on a bipod. What's more - the MG34 could fire both single and continuous fire. In terms of performance, reliability and ballistic properties, it was one of the best weapons in its class in the world, but it was also time-consuming to manufacture and required careful handling. Hence, the MG42 rifle was developed, which was largely based on the MG34, but was simpler to use and manufacture, and cheaper. The MG34 machine gun was the staple rifle of the German army from the beginning of World War II, and despite being put into production in 1943, the MG42 was still manufactured and used as a secondary weapon on German armored vehicles and tanks.
Based on the experience of World War I, the German army paid a lot of attention to the development of both light and heavy infantry machine weapons in the interwar period. The result of these efforts was the introduction into service in 1934 of the very successful MG34 machine gun, which replaced the less handy and much heavier MG08 or leMG 08/15 rifles. During World War II, another, equally successful, but cheaper to produce design was introduced - the MG42. Both of these rifles were de facto the basic machine weapons of the German infantry and armored grenadiers during World War II. Their very high rate of fire and high ballistic parameters meant that they were perceived as the basic support weapon at the level of a platoon or company, and often even a team. Interestingly, thanks to the relatively low weight, they could be successfully used both in offensive and in defense. Very often, in the course of combat operations, the soldier responsible for servicing the MG34 or MG42 was assigned from 2 to 3 ammunition to ensure that the rest of the team was firing machine guns uninterruptedly.