In this part of the review, we will talk about weapons that did not formally exist. Many domestic and foreign experts who wrote about the Wehrmacht machine-gun armament pointed out in their works that during the Second World War there were no large-caliber machine guns in the armed forces of Nazi Germany. From a formal point of view, this is indeed the case. Unlike many other states, such weapons were not ordered or developed for the German ground forces until the beginning of World War II. The niche of large-caliber machine guns in the Wehrmacht was occupied by very successful 20-mm machine guns, suitable for firing at air and ground targets.
Nevertheless, the Germans still had large-caliber machine guns, including those used for air defense purposes. A significant number of 13.2mm heavy anti-aircraft machine guns were captured in France.
The Hotchkiss Мle 1930 machine gun was developed by the Hotchkiss company based on the experience of the First World War, chambered for 13, 2 × 99 mm. A bullet weighing 52 g left the barrel at a speed of 790 m / s, which made it possible to fight low-flying aircraft and light armored vehicles. The automatics of the machine gun worked on the principle of a gas outlet with a long stroke, located under the barrel of a gas piston. For the reliable functioning of the automation, depending on the external conditions and the degree of contamination of the weapon, the volume of the discharged powder gas was changed with the help of a manual regulator. The machine gun had a replaceable air-cooled barrel with characteristic ribbing, which became the hallmark of the Hotchkiss company. The body of the machine gun weighed about 40 kg, the mass of the weapon on a universal tripod machine without cartridges was 98 kg. Rate of fire - 450 rds / min. The ammunition load could include cartridges with conventional, incendiary, tracer, armor-piercing incendiary and armor-piercing tracer bullets.
The Hotchkiss Mle 1930 heavy machine gun was officially adopted by the French military in 1930. However, at first the rate of production was small, the French military could not decide for a long time how to use it. Although the manufacturer has developed a wide range of machine tools and installations - from the simplest infantry for one machine gun to complex mechanized twin and quad mounts, large-caliber machine guns were mainly exported. Infantry generals initially refused to use the Mle 1930 as an anti-aircraft gun, on the pretext that its heavy bullets, if dropped, could harm their own troops. Only in the second half of the 30s 13, 2-mm anti-aircraft guns in significant volumes began to enter the French army. Basically, these were single-barreled and paired ZPUs on universal tripod machines.
To power single-barreled installations, as a rule, rigid cassette tapes for 15 rounds were used, inserted horizontally into a receiver on the receiver cover. To supply tapes-cassettes on both sides of the tape receiver there were hinged dust covers, the tape receiver itself was hinged to the receiver and could be folded up and forward for cleaning and servicing the weapon.
In multi-barreled anti-aircraft systems, detachable box magazines for 30 rounds were used, adjacent to the receiver from above. In the variant with magazine power, the design of the machine gun provided for a slide delay, which would leave the slide in the open position after the last cartridge was used up. The shutter delay was turned off automatically when a full magazine was attached, while sending a cartridge.
Quadruple units were produced in much smaller quantities. They were installed on various vehicles, ships and stationary positions.
Apparently, the Germans managed to capture a significant number of 13.2 mm anti-aircraft guns. In any case, in 1942, the production of cartridges according to German technology was established at French enterprises under the control of the occupation authorities: with a steel sleeve and a bullet with a steel core. This French-German cartridge was marked 1.32 cm Pzgr 821 (e). A bullet with a muzzle energy of 16 640 J. at a meeting angle of 30 ° at a distance of 500 meters pierced a plate of hardened homogeneous armor with a thickness of 8 mm. When hitting along the normal, the thickness of the penetrated armor increased to 14 mm. Thus, a 13, 2-mm bullet could with a high degree of probability penetrate the armored hull of the Il-2 attack aircraft.
Hotchkiss Mle 1930 machine guns used in Wehrmacht units were designated MG 271 (f). In the anti-aircraft units of the Luftwaffe, they were known as 1, 32 cm Flak 271 (f). It is not known exactly how many 13.2-mm installations hit the Eastern Front, but there is no doubt that these weapons could be quite effective against low-altitude air targets.
In the mid-30s, the leadership of the Luftwaffe issued the leading German arms firms terms of reference for the development of high-power aircraft weapons. Since rifle-caliber machine guns have practically exhausted their potential and could not ensure reliable destruction of large all-metal aircraft, the designers began to create rapid-fire large-caliber 13-15 mm machine guns and 20-30 mm aircraft cannons.
In the first half of 1938, the Rheinmetall AG concern began testing the MG.131 aircraft machine gun chambered for 13x64 mm. Since this cartridge was the weakest in its class, it was possible to create a large-caliber machine gun for it with a record low weight and dimensions. The weight of the turret machine gun without cartridges was 16.6 kg, and the length was 1168 mm. For comparison: the mass of the Soviet 12, 7-mm aircraft machine gun UBT exceeded 21 kg with a length of 1400 mm. German designers managed to create a very compact and light weapon, in terms of weight and size, comparable to aircraft machine guns of rifle caliber. The objective disadvantages of MG.131 were the low power of the cartridge, which, combined with the low mass of the projectile and the low initial velocity, limited the effective range of fire. At the same time, the German MG.131 had a good rate of fire for its caliber - up to 950 rds / min.
The ammunition MG.131 included cartridges with various types of bullets: fragmentation-incendiary-tracer, armor-piercing tracer, armor-piercing incendiary. The weight of the bullets was 34-38 g. The initial velocity was 710-740 m / s. A characteristic feature of the machine gun ammunition was the presence of a leading belt on the shells, which, according to the currently accepted classification, would rank this weapon not as machine guns, but as small-caliber artillery.
Structurally and according to the principle of operation, MG.131 in many respects repeated the MG.15 and MG.17 machine guns. Automation of the 13-mm aircraft machine gun worked on the principle of recoil short stroke of the barrel. Locking was carried out by turning the clutch. The barrel was cooled by an air flow. In general, with proper care, the MG.131 was a completely reliable weapon and, despite its relatively low power, was popular among German flight personnel and gunsmiths. The production of 13-mm aircraft machine guns continued until the second half of 1944, in total, more than 60,000 units were produced. Shortly before the collapse of the Third Reich, the MG.131 in the warehouses began to be altered for the needs of the Wehrmacht, in total 8132 machine guns were transferred to the disposal of the ground forces. Large-caliber 13-mm machine guns were installed on light machines and even bipods. This was possible due to the relatively small mass of the weapon for such a caliber and acceptable recoil. Nevertheless, aimed shooting from a bipod was only possible with a burst length of no more than 3 shots.
Most likely, the MG.131 available in the Luftwaffe began to be used to provide air defense of field airfields long before the surplus 13-mm machine guns were transferred to the ground forces. They were installed on the simplest swivels, and also used standard turrets dismantled from decommissioned bombers. Although MG.131 was often criticized for its insufficient power for such a caliber, 13-mm armor-piercing tracer and armor-piercing incendiary bullets at a distance of 300 m confidently pierced the side 6 mm armor of the Il-2 attack aircraft.
In 1937, Škoda began production of the 15 mm ZB-60 machine gun. This weapon was originally developed by order of the Ministry of Defense of Czechoslovakia as an anti-tank weapon, but after being installed on a universal wheeled tripod machine, it was able to fire at air targets. The automatics of the large-caliber machine gun worked on the principle of using the removal of part of the powder gases. The device and scheme of the automation were largely identical to the easel 7, 92-mm machine gun ZB-53. The body weight of a 15-mm machine gun without a machine tool and ammunition was 59 kg.
Thanks to the use of a powerful 15 × 104 mm ammunition with a muzzle energy of 33,000 J, a bullet weighing 75 g in a barrel with a length of 1400 mm accelerated to a speed of 880 m / s. At a distance of 500 m, when meeting at a right angle, a bullet could penetrate 16 mm armor, which is a fairly high figure even now. To power the machine gun, a box with a tape for 40 rounds was used, the rate of fire was 430 rds / min. The ammunition included cartridges with armor-piercing and tracer bullets. The pyrotechnic composition of the tracer bullet burned at a distance of up to 2000 m. Due to the strong recoil, firing in bursts longer than 2-3 shots at an air target was ineffective, which was largely determined by the unsuccessful design of the machine with a too high anti-aircraft rack.
In the late 30s, several hundred ZB-60 machine guns were purchased by: Great Britain, Yugoslavia and Greece. In 1938, the British decided to organize the licensed production of the ZB-60 under the name Besa Mk.1. In Czechoslovakia itself, the decision on the serial production of 15-mm machine guns after repeated tests and improvements was made only in August 1938. However, before the German occupation, only a small number of large-caliber machine guns were produced for their own needs. Several dozen ZB-60s were assembled at the Hermann-Göring-Werke enterprise (as the Škoda factories began to be called under the Germans) already under German control. Machine guns were used by parts of the SS, anti-aircraft gunners of the Luftwaffe and Kringsmarine. In German documents, this weapon was designated MG.38 (t). The rejection of the mass production of 15-mm machine guns was explained by their high cost and the desire to free up production capacity for weapons developed by German designers. In addition, as already mentioned, the ZB-60 had a not very successful machine, which had a low stability when conducting intense anti-aircraft fire.
Due to the poor choice of the range of available Czech bullets and their relatively low armor penetration, the Germans used the same bullets for equipping 15-mm cartridges as for MG.151 / 15 aircraft machine guns. This approach also made it possible, thanks to partial unification, to reduce costs in the production of ammunition. Since these German 15-mm bullets had a leading belt, structurally they were shells. To place the projectile in the chamber of the machine gun, German specialists shortened the muzzle of the Czech sleeve by the width of this belt (3 mm), as a result, the length of the sleeve of the converted ammunition was 101 mm.
Although few ZB-60 machine guns were produced during the years of the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, a significant number of photographs of German soldiers posing with these weapons have survived. Apparently, the Nazis also had British 15-mm Vesa Mk.1 machine guns, captured after the emergency evacuation of British troops from Dunkirk, as well as captured Yugoslav and Greek 15-mm machine guns.
As for the already mentioned 15-mm MG.151 / 15 aircraft machine gun, it was also used to create a ZPU. The history of the use of this weapon as part of anti-aircraft machine gun installations is very amusing. The design of the aviation 15-mm machine gun was started by the specialists of the Mauser-Werke A. G. company. in 1936, when it became clear that 7, 92-mm aircraft machine guns were not able to guarantee the defeat of new all-metal aircraft.
The automatic action of the 15-mm aircraft machine gun was based on the use of the recoil of the movable barrel, with which the bolt was firmly connected during the shot. In this case, when fired, the barrel rolls back together with the bolt. This scheme ensures that the sleeve is fully pressed against the chamber walls before the projectile leaves the barrel. This makes it possible to increase the pressure in the barrel and provides a higher muzzle velocity compared to a weapon with a blowback. The MG 151/15 uses recoil with a short barrel travel, less than the bolt travel. The barrel bore is locked by turning the combat larva. Slide-type feeder.
Simultaneously with the creation of weapons for him, the development of ammunition was carried out: with fragmentation-incendiary-tracer, armor-piercing tracer and subcaliber armor-piercing bullets with a carbide (tungsten carbide) core. Bullets accepted for a 15x95 mm shot, in fact, were shells, since they had a leading belt characteristic of artillery shells.
An armor-piercing tracer bullet weighing 72 g had an initial velocity of 850 m / s. At a distance of 300 m, it confidently penetrated 20 mm armor of medium hardness along the normal. Even greater armor penetration was possessed by a sub-caliber bullet with a carbide core. Leaving the barrel at a speed of 1030 m / s, a bullet weighing 52 g could penetrate 40 mm armor at the same distance. However, due to the acute shortage of tungsten, cartridges with sub-caliber bullets for firing at air targets were not purposefully used.
Serial production of the MG 151/15 heavy machine gun began in 1940. Thanks to the use of successful design solutions, it had high characteristics for its time, which, along with well-developed 15-mm cartridges, ensured its confident superiority over other models of German aviation weapons in terms of initial projectile velocity and armor-piercing action. With a machine gun body weight of about 43 kg, it had a total length of 1916 mm. Rate of fire - up to 750 rds / min.
However, with sufficiently high rates of fire and armor penetration, as well as good accuracy, the 15-mm machine gun was not used in the Luftwaffe for long. This was due to the insufficient destructive effect of its explosive ammunition on the load-bearing structures of heavy bombers. On the Soviet-German front, BF-109F-2 fighters, armed with MG 151/15, successfully hit all types of Soviet single-engine combat aircraft, including armored Il-2, as well as twin-engine Pe-2, at real distances of air combat. However, attempts to intercept the four-engined British bombers demonstrated the insufficient effectiveness of the 15-mm aircraft machine gun. In this regard, in 1941, the company Mauser-Werke A. G. based on the MG 151/15 machine gun, she created the 20 mm MG 151/20 cannon, which was widely used as the main armament of fighters of various modifications, and the freed 15 mm aircraft machine guns were used to create anti-aircraft installations.
Initially, MG 151/15 was used to create a single installation. However, this option was not widely used. The most widespread was the built-in ZPU on the Flalaf. SL151. D machine, installed on the 1510 / B pedestal. Pillar anti-aircraft guns were located both in stationary positions and on towed trailers.
At the same time, the installation had a solid ammunition, in the boxes fixed parallel to the pedestal, a total of at least 300 cartridges were placed. All three barrels had a common descent. The total rate of fire of the three-barreled installation reached 2250 rds / min, that is, the second salvo of three 15-mm machine guns was 0.65 kg.
The installation, built with the use of aircraft machine guns little adapted for use on the ground, required careful maintenance and, with strong dust, often gave failures. Also, to aim three barrels at the target, the shooter required considerable physical effort, which negatively affected the accuracy of firing at fast-moving targets. Nevertheless, 15-mm anti-aircraft machine guns turned out to be quite a formidable weapon. Due to the high initial velocity of the bullet, the aimed firing range was 2000 m, and the armor penetration made it possible to guarantee to overcome any aviation armor that existed at that time. Thus, in the course of special tests of the single-seat Il-2 armored hulls, carried out at plant No. 125 in the summer of 1942 when fired from the German MG-151/15 heavy machine gun, it was found that the side armor plates 6 mm thick did not provide protection against 15-mm armor-piercing bullets from distances less than 400 m at an angle to the longitudinal axis of the aircraft over 20 °.
As for foreign models, the most common anti-aircraft heavy machine gun used by the Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front was the Soviet 12.7 mm DShK.
Although during the Great Patriotic War in the Red Army there was an acute shortage of large-caliber machine guns, and until May 1945 only about 9,000 units were fired, the enemy managed to capture a certain number of serviceable DShKs. The Germans very quickly appreciated the Soviet heavy machine gun and adopted it, assigning the designation MG.286 (r). These weapons were used by the SS, the Wehrmacht and the Luftwaffe airfield units.
The DShK machine gun on Kolesnikov's universal wheeled-tripod machine with a mass of about 158 kg was able to conduct effective fire at air targets at a distance of up to 1500 m. The rate of fire was 550-600 rds / min. At a distance of 100 m, an armor-piercing incendiary bullet with a steel core weighing 48.3 g, leaving the barrel at a speed of 840 m / s, penetrates high-hardness steel armor 15 mm thick. High armor penetration combined with a satisfactory combat rate of fire and reach in range and height made captured 12.7 mm machine guns very dangerous for our attack aircraft. In terms of the complex of service, operational and combat characteristics, the captured DShK were the most advanced large-caliber machine guns used by the German army on the Soviet-German front.
