The origins of the Mauser rifle family date back to the late 19th century. The weapon was introduced by order of the German Emperor in April 1898 as the Gewehr 98 (Rifle). This rifle became the standard infantry weapon of all German forces. A modified, shortened version of the rifle (K98K) was introduced into the Wehrmacht in 1935. K is for Kurz which means "short" in German. Therefore, the length was shorter than the WWI Gewehr 98, had a different front sight, and had a curved, rather than straight bolt action handle with a fixed internal magazine of five rounds.
Every soldier who fought for Germany in the Second World War trained with this rifle. In fact for many this was their only weapon throughout the war.
The K98k could also be used as a sniper rifle when a ZF41 2.5x Scope or a ZF42 5x scope was attached. The K98k could also fire both explosive and armor piercing grenades by the attachment of a shot cup to the end of the rifle. This was done by one man in a rifle squad who was trained to set up and fire them.
The Wehrmacht entered World War II with a total number of 2,769,533 K98k rifles. The cost per Mauser was 70 Reich Marks. The practical rate of fire was 15 rounds per minute. The K98k served the Wehrmacht well, and underwent several changes during the 10 year period that it was produced. Various changes were made in an attempt to reduce production costs and to increase actual production. A total of 14 million rifles were produced. This weapon, despite plans to replace it with weapons of greater firepower and lower production costs, remained the primary infantry weapon for the entire conflict.
As with most radical designs departing from old doctrines, new German authorities were not helpful in the development of the MP40. Consequently, as late as 1940 in the Western campaign there were only 3 machine pistols per company of troops.
Earlier models of the newly developed MPi38 were prone to jams and misfirings which could cause lethal accidents. The problem with the misfires was fixed very simply by adding a notch in the casing for the hammer to latch on to, which acted as a safety. Once the technology was advanced to an extent, the new designation of MPi40 was was given to the MPi38.
It was very economical in the fact that it was made almost entirely of stamped parts, which were easy to produce and perfect for wartime conditions. It was also very effective for close range fighting, because of its rapid rate of fire.
The MP 40 was produced in huge numbers up until the fall of the Reich, as it was an extremely simple and effective weapon. By the end of the war, 908317 MP38/MP40 were made.
The MK42(H) was the first assault rifle ever made, of a field which is now a very potent, if not the most potent part of all modern armies firepower.
With all its abilities combined it could basically replace light machine guns. Its ammunition had a perfect balance between penetration power and recoil: It could handle most battle ranges while being moderately easy to hold on target for short bursts. It could fire single shots, or full automatic. The full automatic was especially valuable as soldiers knew that, whether they were attacking or defending, they could bring a large amount of fire on a target in a short time.
Once its worth was proved to such an extent in combat, urgent requests poured in from front line troops. A front line troop who carried the weapon generally became more independent from heavy guns, and much more brazen, as he could bring to bear a lot more firepower when if he ran into too much resistance, and could easily be as effective as a group infantrymen with standard rifles if he knew how to use the weapon.
