Chapter 145: Finding Self-Defense Weapons (Part 1)

In 1941, when the Barbarossa invasion was just launched, it was actually a very embarrassing period for the Soviet light weapons.

During this year, the PPSh PPSH-41 submachine gun, which had just been finalized and put into production, was still in the trial production stage. The scarce production of less than 100 pieces was only used to test whether the sample guns met the design indicators. It was still far from the mass production level for large-scale equipment of front-line troops. It was not an exaggeration to call it a blank check in 1941.

As the predecessor of the PPSh submachine gun, the Popod PPD-40 submachine gun, this submachine gun with decent performance did not attract enough attention before the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War, and the production was scarce due to the high cost of the manufacturing process.

The production of just over 5,000 pieces in 1941 was simply a drop in the bucket for the huge Red Army troops of millions on the entire front-line battlefield.

This also includes a large number of priority supply orders for the Soviet Ministry of Internal Affairs and senior guard forces. After layers of reduction, the remaining number of this type of submachine gun that can be allocated to the front-line troops is naturally imaginable, and it is simply unable to meet the actual needs of the front-line troops to fight against the large number of MP38/40 submachine guns equipped by the German army.

As a time traveler in the future, Malashenko is very clear about the importance of fully automatic weapons in modern warfare.

The fully automatic water spraying with the trigger held is much better than the bolt-action rifle that emphasizes accuracy, range and single-shot power.

During the Pacific War, the Japanese army, which always emphasized accurate shooting and "every bullet must destroy the enemy", relied on its excellent individual combat quality in the early stage of the war and the extremely accurate Type 38 rifle. It can be said to be a model army for accurate shooting of riflemen in the world at that time. The early Japanese army's achievements in accurate rifle shooting can be said to be unparalleled and have always been proud of it.

However, this infantry army, which was extremely good at shooting and attached great importance to individual precision shooting, was beaten and fled in panic and complained in the Pacific island battle by the US military, which only wanted full-automatic firepower and threw water shooting and ignored the hit rate of single-shot shooting.

The Type 38 rifle, which was extremely excellent in shooting accuracy, was not even as good as a fire stick when facing the Thompson submachine gun, Garand semi-automatic rifle, M1A1 carbine and other firearms with full-automatic and semi-automatic firepower and continuous shooting in the hands of the US military.

The Japanese army, which was suppressed by the firepower and could not even lift their heads, let alone lean out to accurately aim and shoot, was lucky not to be shot into a sieve by the dense light weapons firepower network of the US military. At the end of the war, the Japanese army realized the superiority of fully automatic weapons and finally began to trial-produce Japanese-made automatic weapons and equipment such as the Type 100 submachine gun to try to save the defeat, but it was too late and useless.

On the Soviet-German battlefield in 1941, the Soviet army, which was seriously lacking in light weapons firepower and far inferior to the firepower configuration of the German infantry squad, basically faced the same terrible situation as the Japanese army.

The Popo-D submachine gun, whose production was so scarce that it was almost non-existent, was in short supply after the outbreak of the war. The Soviet infantry squad, which only had Mosin-Nagant rifles and DP light machine guns as the main light weapons of the squad, was completely not at the same level as the German infantry squad equipped with a large number of MP series submachine guns.

In actual combat, being completely suppressed by the automatic firepower of the German infantry squad was the most realistic portrayal of the Soviet infantry in 1941. This situation was not fundamentally changed until the PPSh submachine gun was officially finalized and put into production in 1942, and was equipped with a large number of front-line troops on a large scale.

Although Malashenko and his troops were also under the Soviet Red Army, they were tank troops, but the lack of automatic firepower of light weapons in the Soviet Army still seriously troubled Malashenko.

In actual combat, the Soviet tank crews whose vehicles were destroyed or paralyzed, or who needed to get off the vehicles to perform rescue and certain walking tasks, had a particularly serious need for self-defense automatic weapons.

The Soviet tank crews, who lacked decent automatic weapons, mostly used pistols to defend themselves. The large and slender Mosin-Nagant and DP light machine guns were not easy to take out in the narrow tank space, which was very lame.

In the early stage of the war in 1941, the Soviet army, which was in a stage of retreat, was almost always the party that took the initiative to retreat. The Soviet tank soldiers who could not control the battlefield after the war could not even hope to clean up the battlefield and pick up the German submachine guns to use. In contrast, the German tank crews who had MP series submachine guns as self-defense weapons were very advantageous.

Malashenko, who had always been troubled by the crew's self-defense weapons, always wanted to get a batch of German submachine guns to solve the urgent needs of his crews when he had the chance. At present, this captured German logistics and baggage convoy was undoubtedly a surprise gift delivered to his door.

Malashenko, leading all four of his crew members, quickly came to the last car in the German truck convoy. Malashenko, who was eager to verify whether what Clauseheim said was true, immediately stepped forward and stretched out his hand to lift the canvas covering the outside of the truck compartment. Boxes of neatly stacked German standard light weapons appeared in front of the group in a brand new unopened posture.

Without saying a word, he pulled out a crowbar that had been placed there at the end of the truck compartment next to him. Malashenko, who held it tightly in his hand, immediately hit it hard and inserted it into the wooden box of weapons in front of him and pushed it hard.

Kaga——

The slightly harsh sound of the wooden box opening followed by the force of Malashenko's hands, and a bunch of brand new MG34 general-purpose machine guns wrapped tightly in oil paper were immediately presented in front of the group.

"A whole box of machine guns is a pity, these things are not useful"

Malashenko, who was not very interested in the MG34 general-purpose machine guns that could not be used as self-defense weapons, immediately picked up the crowbar again to open the next wooden box to continue looking for what he wanted.

Kirill and Seryosha, who had never seen such brand new German weapons, were immediately curious. They took out these brand new MG34 general-purpose machine guns from the wooden boxes one by one and tore open the oil paper packages on them. The shiny black gun bodies exposed to the sun were like beauties from foreign countries, which deeply fascinated these Red Army soldiers.

"These German guns are really good! Kirill. Look, they are much better than our old and rough Mosin-Nagant!"

"But these guys are too big and not suitable for us. I feel like you can hold it flat in your hand to block the tank hatch, although it is really light."

Malashenko, who was walking in the carriage, turned a deaf ear to the conversations of his subordinates and picked a wooden box that he thought would be lucky, just like a random lottery. However, what appeared in front of him after the crowbar was used made him shocked on the spot.

"Is this PPSh? How is it possible?"