25234
W. Britain
With its Blitzkrieg tactics, the Wehrmacht was the first army to structure every infantry squad around the use of a light machine gun. The MG 34, and later the MG 42, was that weapon. They were light enough to be carried by one man and with a devastating rate of fire of 1,200 rounds per minute, laid down suppressive fusillade. With that sustained fire, the German soldier was compelled to change the barrel regularly. Heat resistant gloves where issued to grasp the hot, quick-change barrel for replacement. The barrel was then placed in the Laufschützer or barrel carrier to cool down and a fresh barrel then inserted. According to regulations, the barrel had to be changed after 150 rounds of continuous fire. Every MG team had one or two spare barrels in spare barrel carriers with their field equipment.
1/30 Scale