AK47 Article on PM web-site

[tweek]

check it out: The AK-47: Questions About the Most Important Weapon Ever

Pretty good read.

 

[suhsjake]

NPR did an interview with him. Top of the page is a 39min interview.
The AK-47: 'The Gun' That Changed The Battlefield : NPR

 

[Texas1911]

Kinda a short sighted title ... considering he admits that the Soviets reacted to the StG44 and created the AK47. In fact, the AK47 is nearly exactly a replica in mindset. If anything I would argue that the StG44 was the weapon that revolutionized combat arms. Nearly every gun we have in our arsenal can be traced back to German arms in some shape or fashion. They revolutionized the field in squad level automatics, especially in LMGs.

 

[tweek]

Yeah - but the Germans lost. We and the Democrats, I mean Russians got to write history.

 

[M. Sage]

They did revolutionize the GPMG concept, the problem was in their implementation. In US doctrine, it was (and still is) that the MG is there to support the riflemen. In fact, if you want to get down to it, everything in our military is basically an asset to support the rifleman...

German doctrine was screwed up. The riflemen were there to support the MG. A squad was basically a gunner and a bunch of AGs.

As far as the AK, there isn't really anything revolutionary about it. Kalashnikov borrowed everything on the rifle from somewhere else (mostly the STG-44 layout with internals a-la Garand). The thing that makes it so important is how easy it is to produce and (related) how cheap and plentiful it is.

 

[Texas1911]

They did revolutionize the GPMG concept, the problem was in their implementation. In US doctrine, it was (and still is) that the MG is there to support the riflemen. In fact, if you want to get down to it, everything in our military is basically an asset to support the rifleman...

German doctrine was screwed up. The riflemen were there to support the MG. A squad was basically a gunner and a bunch of AGs.

When you got a quickly deployable LMG capable of suppressing anything not behind 1/2" steel, it's easy to see how you could derive that ideology. In terms of infantry combat, the rifleman is sub-par to the machine gun emplacement as WWI proved. Problem was that the days of WWI had ended. The ability to call in light mortars and other indirect, or armored support, pretty much made the machine gun emplacement a liquid asset on the field.

Had the Germans fielded the StG43 in 1943 it would have presented a very interesting shift in their abilities, and more than likely a change in doctrine. I think this is the basis for the AK47 being prominent in the article.

 

[M. Sage]

When you got a quickly deployable LMG capable of suppressing anything not behind 1/2" steel, it's easy to see how you could derive that ideology. In terms of infantry combat, the rifleman is sub-par to the machine gun emplacement as WWI proved. Problem was that the days of WWI had ended. The ability to call in light mortars and other indirect, or armored support, pretty much made the machine gun emplacement a liquid asset on the field.

Had the Germans fielded the StG43 in 1943 it would have presented a very interesting shift in their abilities, and more than likely a change in doctrine. I think this is the basis for the AK47 being prominent in the article.

Yep.

Problem is that Soviet doctrine sucked, too. Bunch of half-trained guys running at you with AKs blazing on full-auto is intimidating and all, but if you've got fire discipline on your side, they're going to be meat on the table... Their infantry doctrine isn't much more than a throwback to the WWII doctrine developed around the subgun, which was a quantum leap for the Soviets. Their rifle doctrine was stuck in the 1700s...

 

[Texas1911]

Problem is that Soviet doctrine sucked, too. Bunch of half-trained guys running at you with AKs blazing on full-auto is intimidating and all, but if you've got fire discipline on your side, they're going to be meat on the table... Their infantry doctrine isn't much more than a throwback to the WWII doctrine developed around the subgun, which was a quantum leap for the Soviets. Their rifle doctrine was stuck in the 1700s...

Half-trained would be giving them a compliment. The term "Team Meatshield" comes to mind. Basically if you threw enough people at the Germans they'd run out of ammo or get scared and run.

Russian tactics consist primarily of ... wait for winter, then counterattack. Has been that way since the dawn of time. Napoleon learned the lesson and the Germans duplicated it. Irony of it is that Hitler idolized Napoleon, and actually researched his methodology. It's funny that he'd make the same mistake.

The PPSH was the best gun the Soviet's fielded until the breakout of Stalingrad. In the field it was an inaccurate pile of junk.