After the outbreak of World War I, the cruel trench strangulation on the Western Front made the warring sides realize that the standard rifles equipped by soldiers were not suitable for fighting in narrow spaces.

Those rifles are too long, suitable for shooting long-distance targets above 1800 meters, and they are extremely clumsy in trench warfare that spans several planes.

After the First World War, with the progress of industrial science and technology, great changes have taken place in the military strategy and tactics theories of various countries. In several battles after World War I, such as the Soviet Civil War and the Spanish Civil War, there were situations in which World War I did not occur.

The fighting distance between the infantry of both sides was greatly shortened compared with that of World War I, and more than 70% of the fighting was concentrated within 400 meters. Within this distance, the rifles equipped by various countries at that time were not competent.

Whether it's Fenghe rifle, Amonari rifle or Enfei Li rifle, the effective range is above 600 meters, and the scale range is above 1500 meters. A rifle with such a strong lethality is obviously unnecessary within 400 meters. In this distance, the power of traditional rifles is too great, far exceeding the requirements of actual combat.

At the same time, the firing rate of manual reloading rifles equipped in various countries is not high, and excellent shooters can only shoot 1 0 ~12 bullets within1minute. Obviously, this rate of fire can't cause enough effective fire suppression to the enemy.

Submachine gun, another kind of equipment for infantry in various countries, can no longer meet the needs of modern warfare. In World War II, the effective range of submachine guns in all countries did not exceed150m, and it was less than100m in actual combat. Although the firing rate and fire suppression of submachine guns are very good in the range of 100 meters, the ammunition used in submachine guns is pistol bullets, and it is impossible to shoot purposefully when submachine guns exceed 150 meters.

Submachine gun 150m, rifle 500m, with a gap of150 ~ 400m in the middle. Infantry units in various countries generally make up for it with light machine guns, but light machine guns are less equipped in basic infantry and have great ammunition power. At this distance, the ammunition power of light machine gun is still surplus.

At the same time, submachine guns need a lot of pistol bullets, rifles and light machine guns also need a lot of rifle ammunition. Grassroots infantry are equipped with submachine guns and rifles at the same time, which means that logistics personnel must prepare two kinds of ammunition at the same time. If the grass-roots ammunition in infantry weapons can be unified, it will be a great help to the military systems and rear systems of various countries.

For these purposes, in the late 1930s, various countries launched research on offensive weapons. They hope to produce a weapon that combines the characteristics of rifles and submachine guns and can replace existing rifles, submachine guns and even light machine guns.

However, experiments have proved that the standard rifle ammunition in the early 20th century is too powerful for automatic rifles, and it is difficult to control the accuracy of automatic rifles in continuous shooting, and it is too heavy for individual soldiers to carry.

Limited by the gun technology and metal smelting technology at that time, of course, the concept of assault rifle was not well understood, which could not meet the actual needs, until the emergence of the world's first straight assault rifle designed by Hugo Schmeisser, a famous German light weapon designer.

1938, German Hanel Company started to develop automatic rifles at the request of the military. At the beginning of the research, many problems were encountered, mainly because the stability of the existing 7.92mm Mao Se rifle ammunition in continuous shooting could not be effectively solved.

However, with the full-scale outbreak of World War II in 1939 (hereinafter referred to as World War II), the development of automatic rifles was attached importance by the German military, and the development speed was obviously accelerated. Hugo Schmeisser, a gun designer, is the scheme designer. It is an epoch-making idea to replace the original 7.92x57 metric Moore rifle bullets with short cores.

As early as 1934, Germany began to study short barrel ammunition with less power. Using short magazine ammunition can combine the characteristics of submachine gun and automatic rifle, and keep the rifle light and easy to control in continuous shooting.

194 1 year, Germany successfully developed 7.92x3 mm rifle bullets after repeated tests. Its length is shorter than that of the German standard rifle bullet of 7.92x7 mm at that time, the warhead is lighter, the propellant is reduced, the charge is reduced from 3 grams to 1.6 grams, the weight of the warhead is reduced from 12.8 grams to 8 grams, and the effective range is shortened accordingly.

This kind of short bomb is called medium power bomb. The length of this bullet is one third shorter than that of the original Mao Se rifle bullet, which greatly reduces the recoil of the gun and solves the technical bottleneck that the automatic rifle cannot fire continuously and accurately.

With the solution of the ammunition problem,1July, 942, Haehnel Company manufactured 50 sample guns-MKB42 (H) and 7.92x3 mm rifle bullets. In the same year, Karl-Walter also developed 50 sample guns-MKB 42 (W), which were strictly tested by German military firearms experts. In the end, Hanel's sample gun MKb2(H rifle won the bid because of its superior comprehensive performance.

In the actual combat of the late Stalingrad campaign, the enhanced firepower density and operational reliability of MKb2(H rifle) were affirmed by the Germans, but there were some problems with the gun in the battle, which were reported to Hanel Company.

According to these reports, Haehnel Company improved MKb2(H-type rifle) and borrowed the naming method of submachine gun to name it MP43. After the Battle of Kursk, MP43 was improved. 1944, the gun was improved and named MP44.

This automatic rifle has the fierce firepower of a submachine gun, and its recoil is small, so it is easy to master when shooting in succession. In the range of 400 meters, the shooting accuracy is better, the power is close to that of ordinary rifles and the weight is lighter.

1944, Hitler gave priority to the production of this gun and named it after himself. It was officially renamed Sturmgewehr 44 (44 (Type 44 assault rifle), referred to as StG4 for short, and StG4 began mass production immediately.