Jump to content

MG Teams - Number of Men


Recommended Posts

I recently saw a picture (Dragon models) of a MG42 Heavy Machine Gun team. There were 4 soldiers. One seemed to have a stereoscopic sight, one had binocs, and one was shooting (eye to a rubber padded scope attached to the gun) and the fourth member was laying down feeding the ammo.

Does anyone know anything about the sighting of these guns. Further, I thought that there were 6 men in the team, not 4. This was a heavy machine gun with a tripod mount.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Germans had dedicated HMG teams in their hvy-weapons coys. Couldn't find out online how many men such an HMG-team had according to the table of organization, but that counted almost nil in reality, especially with German units and their chronic shortage of manpower.

The difference between a 'light' MG42 and a 'heavy' one is in the pod. The light one has a simple bipod attached to the barrel-casing. It was the main weapon of a rifle squad and operated by two men, one firing, the other feeding ammo and observing the battlefield.

The heavy MG42 rests on a 4-legged pod that has a scope attached for aiming and offers convenient means for adjusting elevation above ground etc. Employed statically, two men were more than enough to operate it. I was a MG74 (an improved MG42) gunner and we always had two men operate the weapon, no matter if heavy or light. If we shifted position I carried the gun itself (now 'light' again witht he bipod re-attached) and my #2 carried the 'heavy'-pod rucksack style. No prob to move for miles like this, but we needed the help of the other 6 squaddies if we wanted to take the full allotment of ammo along.

Conclusion: the extra 4 men in the heavy MG-team are there for movement, but got little to do when the gun fires - except firing their own weapons. I think it is a minor flaw in game design that those 4 men's handguns aren't added to the squads' firepower. They had rifles or SMGs just like rifle-squad teammembers. Worst is, that noone in those 6-men teams defends himself when the MG jams. What are the extra 4 guys doing? Cheerleading the MG-gunner trying to unjam his gun?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On sighting of the HMG42:

The gun is not triggered by its usual trigger (as when employed as an LMG) but by a trigger on the pod that kinda looks like a brake on a push-bike.

The gunner has his eye against the optical-sight attached to the left of the pod. The sight on the gun itself is not used, except in absence of the scope. There are levers for adjusting horizontal and vertical aim. The distance to the target is adjusted on the sight, therefore one aims center target. Once vertical and horizontal adjusting is done, one fixes the levers (and thereby the gun) and squeezes out a garb. If the recoil throws the gun off-aim or the garb didn't hit, the process of aiming starts again. Otherwise, the levers remain fixed and more shots are fired.

[ December 25, 2002, 06:21 PM: Message edited by: reinald@berlin.com ]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oops, got to correct one of my posts above: The WWII-era pod for the heavy-MG42 had 3 legs not 4 as has the modern variant.

1st pic: Original German MG42:

mg42.jpg

The MG rests on the heavy-pod but still has the bipod attached to the barrel-casing, which is standard procedure. The gun can be taken off the big pod with one snap and be employed as an LMG to counter unexpected threats from outside the HMGs firing arc.

2nd pic: A Greek MG42 on the modern pod that is also used for the MG74

mg42_2.jpg

It is clearly visible that the pod rests on three legs. Two extra legs are also visible that are used to employ the gun with less elevation above ground which is more common than the setup potrayed in the pic.

[ December 27, 2002, 06:14 PM: Message edited by: reinald@berlin.com ]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...