Machine Gun Platoon

2022-03-14T22:36:13Z

2607:FB90:FD2:75B5:7CA9:7CB3:72DA:F01D: /* IRL */

{{America}}
The American Machine Gun platoon is a unit availble in flames of war. They are armed with the Browning M1919 .30 calibre machine gun. It was a ubiquitous and reliable firearm that saw service in dozens of countries throughtout the rest of the century. It still sees service in NATO countries, though rechambered for newer rounds.

==IRL==
World War I was an intense time of military innovation, and this was no less understood than the United States. Of particular effectiveness on the defense was the Machine gun, which earned a feared reputation. John Browning, a gun designer who had already developed the M2 1918 to give the United States both an anti-personnel/anti-armored car weapon, had been tweaking with a design he had since 1917. This weapon used older water cooling to prevent overheating, but was modified for air cooling.

What spawned from this project went on to be one of the most successful medium machine guns of the 20th century. The design was solid, rugged, reliable, and could carry over 200 .30-06 rounds of pure American freedom. The design saw use on everything from fighters and bombers to tanks and warships for primarily anti-personnel/anti-aircraft duty. One of the most recognized vehicles equipped with the M1919 is the Jeep and the Sherman, the latter of which had two of the things in addition to an M2 1918.

While the M1919 was far outclassed compared to the MG34/42, it was a far better crew mounted weapon than the Japanese equivalents, making it a particularly ruthless opponent for Japanese soldiers, who often favored [[Imperial Guard|madly]] [[Tyranids|charging]] [[Khorne|at their enemies]] when they ran out of ammo. Later variants were so light that they could awkwardly, but feasibly hip fired by a single man, though contrary to the movies, this was not as common as you'd expect. That being said, troops looking for a proper portable machine gun sometimes took matters into their own hands and made modified versions; the most famous example was the so-called “Stinger” variant, an AN/M2 salvaged from aircraft with an M1 Garand buttstock, a BAR bipod and carry handle, and an insanely high rate of fire. Six of these were built for the battle of Iwo Jima, with one user posthumously given the Medal of Honor for his frankly insane but effective use of this frankengun in combat.

Marine and Army mechanics experimented with adding a stock to the M1919, along with a handle for the front of the gun to create a "lmg", though ultimately they decided that stealing the MG34 designs was a better investment of their time. The gun served until Vietnam in US service, where the perfection on MG34 derived designs were found to be excellent replacements for the M1919. The navy used 7.62 converted M1919's on the river boats in 'nam, which was the last major use of the gun by the Americans.

{{Template:US Forces in Flames of War}}

Fallshirmjager Company

2022-03-14T22:16:41Z

2607:FB90:FD2:75B5:7CA9:7CB3:72DA:F01D: /* IRL */

Fallshirmjager Companies, aka Paratrooper companies, are a unit in flames of war and a branch of German Luftwaffe.

==IRL==
The Idea of Paratroops was conceived quite early in the history of aviation. The Soviet Union tinkered with having elite paratroop units, but it was the Germans who more or less standardized the concept. Funnily enough, the Fallshirmjagers were actually classified as Luftwaffe assets, meaning that they were under Georing's whim during the conflict.

German Paratroopers earned a fierce reputation during the early war and played a valuable role in the Invasion of Poland, siezing valuable bridges and roads and awaiting the rest of the German army, in perfect unison with the German blitzkrieg tactics. They were used in France, Norway, and Operation Barbarossa but were used to disastrous effect at Crete, and were pretty much relegated to side duties post-Crete. It didn't help that Stalin was pretty much bulldozing straight towards Berlin with no brakes, and Paratroopers wouldn't do anything against dozens of tons of angry Commie cannon fodder and steel. Compounding this was that the allies had pretty much wrestled away German fighter superiority by this point, which would make the Junkers transport aircraft juicy targets for any unfortunate fool caught by a Spitfire, Mig, or Mustang looking to get back at ol' Adolf.

German Paratroops, much like Elysians, carried distinct weapons compared to general grunts. They carried MP40s on the jump with them, but most of their extra toys like rifles, crew served MGs, and MG34s had to be dropped from the aircraft in containers. This was a severe liability, and this was specifically why the Battle of Crete went so terribly for them. So they decided to make the MG42, but with selective fire and lighter, and by accident made the most advanced weapon in the whole damn war: the FG42.

This weapon was something of a precursor to the later StG-44, in that it was designed with both automatic fire and precision single shots in mind, and had to be compact enough for paratroopers to carry. That being said, like most German technology, it was overcomplicated and difficult to manufacture; the weapon was required to be both Open Bolt on full-auto and closed-bolt on semi-auto (which is an incredibly futsy system for limited benefit), the side-loading magazine gave it a very awkward balance, and the limited 20 round magazine didn't give it much capability for sustained fire.

{{Template:German Forces in Flames of War}}

2d4chan - User contributions [en]

Machine Gun Platoon

Fallshirmjager Company