The MG42: The Machine Gun So Good It Inspired an Entire Weapon Class

Explore the terrifying power of the MG42, famously known as "Hitler's Buzzsaw." Uncover its history, design, and impact in this deep dive into one of WWII's deadliest weapons.

Simon's Social Media:

Love content? Check out Simon's other YouTube Channels:

[larserikertzgaardringen]

When I served in the Royal Norwegian Army in the 90s, we found an abandoned MG42 tripod in a Nazi bunker at an airfield. The gunsmith restored it and we used it with our MG3 on the range.

[willardswelding]

My brother went through the U.S. Army Special Forces qual course in 1977. As a weapons sergeant back then he had to familiarize with about everthing this side of matchlocks. He once told me that the amazing thing about the MG42 was it’s accuracy at such a high cyclic rate. I figured it would be spray and pray due to vibration from the high rate of fire. He said that for its cyclic rate it was miraculously smooth and accurate.

[toyang]

Some MG3 are actually converted MG42. My brother in law works in the German army and said some MG3s have the 42 crossed out and a number three stamped behind it.

[diehardDanny]

Former swiss army MG51 gunner here. Would have switched that thing for an MG3 or MG42 any day. Weight was 16.5 kg empty and around 18 kg with the 50 round drum magazine. The handguard was made of cast iron instead of stamped metal like the MG42. Carried that damn thing long and far. ROF was around 1000. We had reusable belts, and I think it was the same with the MG42. So the amount of tracers depended on what you'd load into the belt. Depending on the exercise we'd also use no tracers. Once, during a demonstration for some brass and politicians, I had to fire either pure tracers or 1 to 1 tracers which created so much smoke in the air that I could barely see the target after half of the belt. During my most intense exercise, I emptied 7 belts in total (=1400 rounds) in a short period of time. To the end both barrels, which I had changed multiple times, were laying in the grass hissing as they were so hot you couldn't even touch them with the protective glove made of very thick, sturdy leather and we had to bring in a spare barrel from another MG position.

[mxblyxky]

You forgot to comment on the detail that really made the MG42 famous. The impact on bodies. The mutilations caused by the weapon's high rate of fire spread panic throughout all the allied armies. It was enough to hear the peculiar sound of their volleys for the soldiers to lose the desire to leave their shelters. In the American army the situation was such that a program was created to try to neutralize this psychological effect, including spreading the word that the weapon was bad. But of course, the corpses showed everything. That's why this MG42 panic was hidden until the end of the war and afterwards.

[kc]

The fact that a modernized version is still in service today speaks to the effectiveness of the design.

[eikebroxe]

The water cooling of the MG08 (and in fact, ALL of the early water cooles machine guns) ist depicted quite inaccurately here. The water is not regularly changed or actively cycled through a radiator. It's much simpler than that: It just boils. The shroud is filled with water, that takes some of the thermal energy of the gun to heat up, but when it reaches its boiling point, it just boils. Boiling water takes much more energy than heating it. You can easyly observe it yourself: Just put a pot of water on a stove and turn it on. It takes a few minutes for the water to boil, but it takes hours for all the water to evaporate.
For a heavy machine gun operator, it's so much easyer to just boil a few liters of water away and refill it every few thousand rounds than to have to maintain an intricate cooling system, that will inevitably break in any kind of battle.

[marks]

During a visit to an Air Force hospital, I got to meet a gentleman who like me was waiting an inordinate time in a crowded waiting room. He was wearing an Army Ordnance Corp emblem on his hat. When I noted the emblem, he said I was the first person who knew what it was since he'd retired over 30 years before. I told him that I was retired from AF Combat Arms or Small Arms as it was originally called when entered the career field. Most newer AF people thought my old Red Hat with SAMTU (Small Arms Training and Maintenance Unit) was also stood for something else. We started talking guns (both our specialties). Turns out he had spent some time at Aberdeen Proving Grounds (Maryland) in the weapons testing programs as a young NCO. Somehow in our discussions of machine guns, the M60 came up. My question was why the Army didn't use a variant of the MG-42 instead of the mediocre M60 design with all it's weird little flaws (and it had several glaring flaws). He said because the powers in charge wanted an American gun with an American design built in an American factory. But they stole bits and pieces of other designs (including the top cover and feed tray from the MG-42). He said one of the excuses (by a certain Senior Ordnance boss) was the MG-42 didn't work in 30-06 (badly reworked using captured German MG-42s in 8mm (7.92x57mm)). Plus, the 30-06 (7.62x63mm) was an overpowered round for the gun which caused issues with the gas system. So why spend the money to redesign and test it for failure in 7.62x51mm NATO (a round more friendly to the MG-42 design). He said that pathetic excuse even got some head shaking from Ordnance people. Some strange politics at the Senior level. Most of the Officers (not senior) and most of the NCO's thought the MG-42 was a great machine gun with proven combat characteristics, already designed for mass production, and would be readily purchased by the other service branches and many allies as they also respected the gun. But the powers in charge said "No" and that was history.

[bigguy]

Because of how indistinguishable the fire rate sounded, Germans often deployed a two gun bait and switch. There would be one gun using tracer rounds. They would fire high and give the illusion that there was a gap the attackers could move in safely. Meanwhile there was a second gun ready to fire at the proper firing arc with the tracer rounds pulled out of the belt. Troops would crawl into the second gun's fire.

[BulletSponge]

FG-42 was not a WWI weapon as stated in the video (15:46) . It was developed in WWII for use by Fallschirmjäger units.

[ProEmpty]

As a former austrian soldier, I was also trained on the MG3. Really nice handling but it only shot with about 600 rounds per minute. But our instructor told us that it was very easy to change the rate of fire to over a thousand and that the MG could easily handle it. It was manly capped to preserve ammunition 😅

[chriswerth]

As a conscript of the Bundeswehr, in the year 2k, I have used the MG3.
That thing is awesum!

[piero]

I served as an armourer in the Italian army for my national service in 1982. My company of combat engineers used the Beretta MG42/59 a variant of the MG 42. Our mg's rate-of-fire was reduced to 600 rpm from the original 1, 200 rpm by way of increasing the bolt's weight and thereby slowing it down. This was done as a peace-time expedient towards saving barrel burnout and therefore lowering military expenditures. Returning the machine to it's OEM functionality would simply be swapping out the heavier bolt with the original one. So yes, you can slow it's rate of fire.

[MrSmokinDragon]

During my time serving as a conscript in the Danish Army (light recon unit), my personal weapon was an M/62, or its international name MG3. Was quite envious of all my section-mates that used light assault rifles when having to march, but omg that buzzsaw sound was heavenly...

[prophetsspaceengineering]

The MG 08 was so widespread on the frontlines that the more specific designation 08/15 made it into the everyday German vocabulary. It has become a common phrase to describe mundane, often mass-manufactured objects. Especially in workshops and such people often call basic articles 0815.
Most people are no longer aware of the military origin but the phrase is still part of modern German vocabulary.

[earlthepearl]

Simon…the primary reason the MG34 was kept in production until the end of the war, even after being replaced by the MG42, was because it could be adapted to feed from other side and the MG42 fed from the left side only. LH feed only was not practical in tanks and other armored vehicles where extra space does not exist and LH feed got in the way. So production of the MG34 continued on to equip German AFV’s with any surplus production going to the army.

[martinstallard]

1:35 historical background
6:54 design
10:28 how it was used
14:59 legacy

[SmashBrosAssemble]

The gun every soldier on D-Day had ingrained in their nightmares

[johntrimpe]

it's also been said by troops on the receiving end to sound like a long length of cloth tearing because the rate of auto fire was so ridiculously high.

[NinjaRunningWild]

In Brutal Doom - Hell on Earth campaign, the super secret Wolfenstein level has one of these _really_ hidden in it. You have to jump from a series of rafters to shoot a switch & then run to where it is. If you’re too slow, it closes & locks forever.

It's ridiculously powerful. So powerful that even cheat codes don't allow you to get it or give you ammo for it. You get a fixed 600 rounds for it & when they're gone, they're gone. You can only get ammo from backpacks & that's only a few rounds. But it shreds whatever it hits. Pretty amazing.