Very intresting point. I disagree that small arms don't win battles, I think that if all other things being equal the side with a higher ROF will win and if one side has more men the odds will be evened. I agree that the attrition would increase for the Russian and decrease for the Germans, but I'm not sure if it would be enough to have any significant effect on the outcome of the war. Maybe if you could come up with some numbers that would help to clarfiy that? As to the Civil War example if every Johnnie Reb had an AK the South would have won. It would literally be like firing an MG into a crowd that can only fire back only 3 times a minute resulting with horrendous casualties for the North and almost none for the South. That kind of attrition would be enough to win a war. BTW by Stg42 I meant Stg44.