Weapons in World War 2

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Armies and Guns in World War 2

World War 2 was fought between 2 major groups of nations. They became known as the Axis and Allied Powers. The major Allied Powers were Britain, France, Russia and the United States. There were approximately 32 different armies in the Allied forces and approximately 39 different armies in Axis forces between 1939 and1945.

These armies all worked from sea, land and air.

The Allies formed mostly as a defense against the attacks of the Axis Powers. The original members of the of the Allies included Great Britain, France and Poland. When Germany invaded Poland, Great Britain and France declared war on Germany. At the start of World War 2, Russia and Germany were allies. However, on 22 June 1941 Hitler, the leader of Germany, ordered a surprise attack on Russia. Russia then became an enemy of the Axis Powersand joined the Allies.

The United States had hoped to remain neutral during World War 2. However, the US was attacked by surprise at Pearl Harbor by the Japanese. This attack united the country against the Axis Powers and turned the tide of World War 2 in the favor of the Allies. 


Allied leaders (left to right) Winston Churchill, President Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin  
The main Leaders of the Allied Powers were:
  • Great Britain: Winston Churchill
  • United States: Franklin D. Roosevelt
  • Russia: Joseph Stalin
  • France: Charles De Gualle
The major countries in the Axis Powers were Germany, Italy,and Japan. The alliance began to form in 1936. First,on October 15th, 1936 Germany and Italy signed a friendship treaty that formed the Rome-German Axis. It was after this treaty that Italian dictator Benito Mussolini used the  term "Axis" to refer to their Alliance.

An even stronger alliance was signed between Germany and Italy on May 22nd,1939 called the Pact of Steel. This treaty was later known as the Tripartite Pact when Japan signed it on September 27th,1940. Now the three main Axis Powers were allies in the war. 

The three main Leaders of the Axis powers were;


Germany: Adolf Hitler

Italy: Benito Mussolini

Japan: Emperor Hirohito

Guns played a big part in WW2 as they were easy to carry and load and approximately 1,700,000 were used.  These weapons could all be used in the air, on land and in the water.  Although, there were lots of different types of guns used during WW2 I am going to discuss four of the main types of guns used.  These guns were seen as the most influential guns and in my mind must mean that they killed the most people!  In World War 2 these were the M1903 Springfield sniper rifle, the M1 Garand rifle, the Russian PPSh-41 and the M1941 Johnson.

 

 

 

M1903 Springfield Sniper

The M1903 Springfield sniper rifle was a 30-6 . It was able to fire is 10-15 rounds per minute and there are studies to show that the bullets travelled at approximately 584 meters per second, which is extremely fast and another reason why the gun was used by many.




 


M1 Garand                      

The M1 Garand rifle is an air-cooled, gas-operated, semi-automatic gun, which uses the air from the last round of bullets to fire the next round. It was used by the USA in 16 different wars and a lot of other conflicts. It was designed in 1928 by John C Garand.  During World War 2 this gun was only $85 and therefore very cheap to purchase.  It has been evaluated that approximately 6.25 million were sold. During WW2 it weighed 4.31Kg.  However, since then it has been adapted and now weighs 5.3Kg.

Russian PPSh-41 is sub-machine gun


The Russian PPSh-41 is sub-machine gun used by the Soviet Union in ten different wars including WW2. It was designed by Georgi Shpagin in 1941 and about 6,000,000 were produced. It is a medium length gun that weighs 4.3Kg and it is 33.2 inches long and the barrel is 10.6 inches long. The rate of fire is 900 to over 1000 rounds per minute. This makes this gun a fast firing gun which was attractive to many armies.




M1941 Johnson

The M1941 Johnson is a semi-automatic rifle designed and produced by the USA between 1939-1941 by Melvin Johnston. About 70,000 were built. It weighed 4.31Kg and it was 45.87 inches and the barrel was 22 inches  long. The gun loads a 10 rotary magazine which is a loading mechanism which holds 10 bullets.

 


If I was a soldier in the Second World War the gun I would be the M1903 Springfield sniper rifle because I think it was very influential and helped America win most of their battles.