[The National Interest] Key Point: The combination of bolt action full-sized rifle and submachine gun was useful in the trenches of World War I...During World War II, the beleaguered German Army fielded a revolutionary new infantry weapon designed to make the German soldier the most powerful on the battlefield. The Sturmgewehr-44, or StG-44 was the first mass produced assault rifle. The weapon, urgently needed as Germany found itself increasingly losing the war, was a template for future weapons, including today’s AK-74M and M4 carbine.
At the outbreak of World War II, the German Army fielded two infantry small arms: the Karabiner Modell 1898 kurz, otherwise known as the 98k bolt action carbine, and the MP series of submachine guns. The 98k was a shorter, handier version of the Gewehr 98 rifle used during the Great War. It weighed 8.2 pounds, had a five round internal magazine, and an effective range of 600 yards. The MP series, including the MP-38, MP-40, and MP-41, were a new design of compact, folding stock submachine guns. The guns weighed approximately nine pounds, fired from a 32 round detachable magazine and had effective ranges of approximately 200 yards.