[The National Interest] Germany is generally credited with developing the first assault rifle with the MP-43, which entered service with select units towards the end of 1943. Later renamed the Sturmgewehr 44‐literally "assault rifle 44"‐this used an intermediate-strength kurz cartridge that balanced the long-range accuracy of heavy, slow-firing bolt-action rifles then prevalent with the automatic-fire capability of submachine guns, which were deadlier at close quarters and capable of laying heavy suppressing fire for infantry assaults.
However, the United States was not very far behind. Late in 1944 it began issuing fully automatic M2 Carbines to Marines and U.S. Army soldiers. Therein, however, lies the controversy: can a fully-automatic "carbine" properly be described as an assault "rifle"? |