Deckungszielgerät - Germany's WW2 Trench Rifle System
Forgotten Weapons
•
6m 41s
When the German attack into Russia stagnated in late 1942, some areas of the front returned to a trench-and-sniper sort of warfare that was reminiscent of World War One. The German military actually went so far as to design and issue a periscopic tech rifle mount, the “deckungszielgerät” (DZG). Stereotypically German in design, it was adjustable to fit a variety of different rifles. The original design intent was for the Gewehr 41(M) and 41(W), but the devices were quickly modified to also fit captured SVT-40 rifles, and the K98k could also be used if necessary (although unlike the WW1 trench rifle mounts, these had no mechanism for cycling a bolt action).
It is unclear how many DZGs were actually made, but certainly not many. This example has been heavily restored, but none of the known surviving ones have serial numbers of manufacturer codes (the “DZG” stamped on the side is its designation, not a manufacturer).
Up Next in Forgotten Weapons
-
The First Trapdoor Springfield Carbin...
The first production of a carbine model of the Trapdoor Springfield was the Model 1870 (excluding 4 prototypes produced in 1868). There was a focus infantry rifles in theTrapdoor program, and just 362 of these carbines were made in 1870. They use the short receiver of the 1870 rifle, a 21 3/4” b...
-
German World War One Gewehr 98 Sniper
Germany was the earliest adopter of scoped rifles in World War One, and produced more of them over the course of the war than any other power. After an initial stop-gap effort to scrounge up civilian hunting rifles, a sniper conversion program was adopted by the main German rifle factories. Germa...
-
Book Review: The Complete Book of Tok...
The Tokarev is a pistol that does not have much written about it in the world of firearms reference literature - largely because it was not until the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact that many of the. variations. became accessible to Western collectors and researchers. What we hav...
