The ''Krummlauf'' (English: "curved barrel") is a bent

barrel A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers for liquids, ...

attachment for the

Sturmgewehr 44 The StG 44 (abbreviation of Sturmgewehr 44, "assault rifle 44") is a German assault rifle developed during World War II by Hugo Schmeisser. It is also known by its early designations as the MP 43 and MP 44 (''Maschinenpistole 43'' and ''44''). ...

(StG 44)

rifle A rifle is a long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting, with a barrel that has a helical pattern of grooves ( rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus on accuracy, rifles are typically designed to be held with ...

developed by Germany in World War II. The curved barrel included a

periscope A periscope is an instrument for observation over, around or through an object, obstacle or condition that prevents direct line-of-sight observation from an observer's current position. In its simplest form, it consists of an outer case with ...

sighting device for shooting around corners from a safe position.

Description

It was produced in several variants: an "I" version for

infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and marine i ...

use, a "P" version for use in

tanks A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engine ...

(to cover the dead areas in the close range around the tank and defend against assaulting infantry), versions with 30°, 45°, 60° and 90° bends, a version for the StG 44 and one for the

MG 42 The MG 42 (shortened from German: ''Maschinengewehr 42'', or "machine gun 42") is a German recoil-operated air-cooled general-purpose machine gun used extensively by the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS during the second half of World War II. Enterin ...

. Only the 30° "I" version for the StG 44 was produced in many numbers. The bent barrel attachments had very short lifespans—approximately 300 rounds for the 30° version, and 160 rounds for the 45° variant—as the barrel and bullets fired were put under great stress. Another problem besides the short life-span was that the bending caused the bullets to shatter and exit the barrel in multiple fragments, producing an unintended

shotgun A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge (firearms), cartridge known as a shotshell, which usually discharges numerous small p ...

effect. As a result, weapons designers experimented with small vent holes drilled into the ''Krummlauf''s barrel in order to reduce pressure and recoil, allowing the discharged bullets' built-up gases to be released to slow the bullet's velocity as it turned to exit the barrel. Nevertheless, the ''Krummlauf''s lifespan remained the same. A triangular shield was also added to prevent venting gasses from clouding the mirror and optics. The 30° model was able to achieve a 35x35 cm grouping at 100m. The ''Krummlauf'' in a Maschinenpistole Vorsatz (P) mount was developed as an alternative close defence weapon for

tank destroyers A tank destroyer, tank hunter, tank killer, or self-propelled anti-tank gun is a type of armoured fighting vehicle, armed with a direct fire artillery gun or missile launcher, designed specifically to engage and destroy enemy tanks, often wi ...

. This mount was fitted to a roof hatch in many

Panzer IV The ''Panzerkampfwagen'' IV (Pz.Kpfw. IV), commonly known as the ''Panzer'' IV, was a German medium tank developed in the late 1930s and used extensively during the Second World War. Its ordnance inventory designation was Sd.Kfz. 161. The Panze ...

/70 (A) vehicles. The tank crew could then attach a StG 44 and use this as a close defence machine gun.

Derivatives

Experiments to adapt the ''Krummlauf'' to the

PPSh-41 The PPSh-41 () is a Soviet submachine gun designed by Georgy Shpagin as a cheaper and simplified alternative to the PPD-40. A common Russian nickname for the weapon is "''papasha''" (), meaning "daddy", and it was sometimes called the "burp gun" ...

were conducted by the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

References

External links

* http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Waffen/Bilderseitenneu/Krummlauf.htm {{in lang, de Research and development in Nazi Germany World War II infantry weapons of Germany

Description

Derivatives

See also

References

External links