Sturmgewehr! From Firepower to Striking Power, Revised Expanded Edition by Hans-Dieter Handrich

Sturmgewehr means assault rifle in German, and that's the topic of this book available from Collector Bookstore. Learn about the German assault rifle's design and development, as well as its importance in World War II.

Handrich, a prizewinning German military historian, has spent years researching the military archives of Germany and elsewhere to piece together the entire technical and tactical history of the the design, development and fielding of the world's first mass-produced assault rifle and the revolutionary 7.92x33mm kurz cartridge, with much entirely new material.

The origins of the assault rifle are traced back to the last years of World War I when machine guns, fielded in massive numbers, took over the long range duties previously assigned to the Gewehr98. The realization that the G98 rifle was overlong and overpowered for close-range action led to the development of the bergmann MP18/1 Maschinenepistole, which fired the 9x19 mm Parabellum cartridge from the 32-round snail drum of the Artillery Luger pistol.

One of the most difficult and persistent tactical problems concerned how to increase the individual's rifleman's firepower while at the same time increasing the striking power of the squad. The term "striking power" was defined in Army regulations as continuous fire as the riflemen, advancing by increments, applied precise fire with their rifles and then overwhelmed the enemy position in a final, lethal rush "Every assault is a risk. Its success requires a bold and death-defying infantry. The bayonet decides, and the hand grenade!" By 1918 the idea had arisen to develop an intermediate-range, selective-fire rifle for general issue, which would be more powerful than a machine pistol but more controllable than the G98, capable of firing precise, aimed shots at medium ranges as well as lethally effective bursts at short range.

The 7.92x33mm kutz clibre Sturmgewehr was by far the most important and influential military small arms development of World War II.