Author: Sasha
This article is Sasha's original and will not be reprinted by any media
The Hard-Bone Machine Gun that the PLA has used for 30 years is it: the Type 56 light machine gun that has gone through three wars
The People's Liberation Army had a light machine gun that participated in the Sino-Indian War, the Sino-Soviet Border War, and the Sino-Vietnamese War, and was always the pillar of firepower of the front-line infantry. Interestingly, it turned out to be a weapon designed by the Soviets in 1944 and retired from the Soviet army in the 1960s. The east side is not bright and the west side is bright, what is the origin of this light machine gun called type 56? Listen to Sasha.
The Type 56 squad machine gun or Type 56 light machine gun is a product of the Chinese copycat Soviet RRD light machine gun.
The designer of the RPD light machine gun is still the famous Vasily Teggarev.
Teggarev was arguably the king of the Soviet Machine Gun in World War II, designing a range of excellent light and heavy machine guns and even anti-tank guns. He also received great honors: Teggarev was the second person after Stalin to receive the honor of "Hero of Socialist Labor".
If it weren't for the 69-year-old Teggarev's death in 1949, he would have been able to design more excellent machine guns.
In the 1920s, when the Soviet Union did not have light machine guns, Teggarev spent 5 years developing the DP light machine gun.
The gun produced up to 800,000 units and slaughtered the Germans in the Soviet-German War. Later, in the Korean War, the volunteers also fought with the US army with DP light machine guns, which were no weaker than the American BAR light machine guns.
Although the DP light machine gun was successful, Teggarev was not very satisfied. In the 1920s, the technology and design concept of light machine guns were relatively backward, and the DP light machine guns were already lagging behind during the Soviet-German war.
Teggarev studied countless battles in the Soviet-German war and discovered problems with DP light machine guns or Soviet machine gun tactics.
In the Soviet infantry combat model, light and heavy machine guns have an irreplaceable position. Before the outbreak of the war, the main infantry company of the Soviet Army was equipped with a fire platoon, in addition to light mortars, there were 1 or 2 water-cooled heavy machine guns, which were used as heavy fire cover for the main attack platoon. The role of the heavy machine gun is mainly to cover the continuous fire cover of the cover, mainly to suppress the enemy's important defensive fire points.
Each Soviet infantry squad had 1 light machine gun for direct cover for advancing infantry and could provide timely fire support.
The heavy machine guns of the Soviet Army were too bulky to reach the front line in time, especially to follow the infantry. Especially in urban warfare, heavy machine guns are basically useless, and front-line fire cover can only rely on light machine guns.
Although the DP light machine gun has a 47-round loading magazine, the firepower sustainability is relatively poor. Its continuous firing will make the re-entry spring hot and cause shooting failures. At the same time, the DP light machine gun can not replace the barrel, and the barrel needs to be cooled by a ceasefire for more than 100 rounds continuously.
More importantly, the DP light machine gun is quite heavy, weighing 3 kg with a magazine and 12 kg in the whole gun, which is only 2 kg lighter than the US M1919 heavy machine gun (without a tripod). The Soviets often chose the strongest and tallest soldiers as light machine gunners. Even so, the machine gunners were overwhelmed.
In the same way, the volunteer soldiers in the Korean War were also quite dissatisfied with the heavy DP light machine guns. North Korea is mountainous, and the volunteers were struggling to march even lightly, let alone carry machine guns weighing more than 10 kilograms.
Teggarev believes that these issues must be taken seriously.
After all, the DP light machine gun is a product of the design of the 20s, and there is not much improvement value at present. In 1944, Teggarev improved the DP and introduced the DPM light machine gun, and the performance did not change much.
At this time, Teggarev began to study a new generation of light machine guns, trying to make a breakthrough in design thinking.
After the outbreak of the Soviet-German War in the 1940s, the Soviet army developed a semi-automatic rifle using short rifle cartridges, that is, 762 × 39 mm bullets, which Teggarev agreed with.
Actual combat shows that more than 90% of the battles took place within 400 meters. Then, the traditional 7.62×54 high-density long rifle cartridges have the problem of excessive power. With the power of the DP light machine gun, the effective range is up to 800 meters. Now that the battle takes place within 400 meters, is it still necessary to use long rifle cartridges?
This can lead to excessive recoil of the firearm, a decrease in shooting accuracy, an overburdening of the entire gun, and so on.
Teggarev believed that the new generation of light machine guns must use 7.62 × 39 mm bullets.
After the outbreak, the Jaeggario accelerated the design of the light machine gun, and finally completed the entire design in 1943, which was the RRD light machine gun.
In 1944, the RPD light machine gun was produced on a small scale and put into the front line for testing. Soviet soldiers praised the RPD light machine gun, believing that its comprehensive performance was far superior to that of the DP light machine gun.
However, at this time, the demise of the German army was not far away, and the Soviet army lacked the urgent need for new weapons. Moreover, the RPD light machine gun is a brand new weapon, and once it is put into production, there are still complex problems such as training, maintenance, and logistics supply.
Stalin believed that the current performance of the DP light machine gun was enough, and it was more reliable to produce mature machine guns during the war.
As a result, the RPD light machine gun did not begin mass production until 1946, and the obsolete DP light machine gun was quickly eliminated.
In fact, the RPD uses many mature technologies of the DP light machine gun, which is also the design feature of the Jaeggario.
The RPD light machine gun features an aerodynamic, open standby design and an interesting gill lock.
In terms of performance, it is a great improvement over the DP light machine gun.
First, the weight is relatively light and the length is short.
The DP's empty gun weighs 9.2 kg and has a length of 1.27 meters, while the RPD weighs only 7.5 kg and has a length of 1 meter.
This solves the most controversial problem of the DP light machine gun: stupid stupidity.
You know, the Soviet army also needed to fight on foot in the 40s, far from mechanization and motorization.
The weight and length of the light machine gun are very important for soldiers.
Second, the firepower suppression and sustainability have increased significantly.
The actual rate of fire of the DP light machine gun is only about 80 rounds per minute. If this is a large-caliber machine gun, just for long-range short bursts of fire for suppression, a rate of fire of 80 rounds per minute is sufficient.
However, light machine guns are the front-line support firepower, and a higher rate of fire can form a fire suppression.
The RPD light machine gun was raised to 140 rounds per minute, almost doubling, and the suppression ability was greatly enhanced.
After the rate of fire was increased, the RPD light machine gun did not use a 47-round magazine, but used a 100-round chain or chain box, the amount of ammunition was more than twice that of the previous one, and the firepower sustainability was naturally better.
Third, the shooting accuracy is higher and it is easier to train.
After the long rifle cartridge was discarded, the recoil of the RPD light machine gun was significantly reduced.
This brings two good effects, one is that recruit training is much easier, the gun is easier to control, and the other is that the shooting accuracy is much higher, which is a precise machine gun.
In terms of appearance, the biggest difference between the RPD light machine gun and the DP is the use of a bullet chain box.
The chain box is made of metal and contains a metal chain up to 100 rounds long. The magazine must be mounted from under the receiver, but the chain enters the receiver from the left.
Interestingly, due to the unique shape of this cartridge, many people think it is a drum.
In fact, it is just a box with a bullet chain in it, which is completely different from the structure of the drum.
RPD light machine guns can only be supplied with a chain box, not a magazine. Not to mention the weight of the chain and the shell of the metal chain box, the 100 rounds of ammunition are also heavy enough.
Although the weight of the RPD empty gun has dropped greatly, it is still very heavy once the bullets are loaded. The solution is that the light machine gun should not be loaded in peacetime, and the bullet chain box should be loaded before the battle, so as to reduce the burden of the march.
At the same time, the RPD light machine gun was designed in the 40s of World War II, its stock and handle are still wooden, the rest are made of steel, and do not use the new materials that were common later.
The bullets of the RPD light machine gun can be used with the AK47 automatic rifle and the SKS semi-automatic rifle, which greatly reduces the logistical burden. For many years afterwards, the RPD was used as a Soviet-style light machine gun.
The Soviet army believes that the RPD light machine gun has a strong firepower, solves the problem of too long and too heavy, and the reliability has also been significantly improved. Forced to do so, the RPD light machine gun can barely be used as a heavy machine gun, achieving covered fire cover with 100 bullet chains.
This was impossible for the DP light machine gun, which could only fire two or three consecutive rounds to provide first-line infantry fire support.
In many battles, heavy machine guns cannot keep up with the charge of infantry, DP light machine guns can do nothing, RPD light machine guns can top one.
The RPD light machine gun was in service in the Soviet Army until the 1960s.
As the concept of machine guns changed, the Soviets believed that the RPD was obsolete. In the era of full motor mechanization of the Soviet Army, infantry squads had an infantry fighting vehicle or wheeled armored vehicle to provide fire cover, and the new generation of machine guns did not need such a strong firepower.
As a result, the Soviet army was equipped with an RPK light machine gun that could be exchanged with 70% of the parts with the AK automatic rifle.
Interestingly, the RPD light machine gun has been in service in other countries of the world to this day.
Since the 1950s, RPD light machine guns have been seen on almost every battlefield, including today's Ukrainian-Russian War.
Why? The RPD light machine gun is very practical.
In 1956, the People's Liberation Army introduced the Type 56 gun family, including of course the RPD light machine gun.
The mainland imitation is the third model of the RPD light machine gun, and the production equipment and technical information are directly provided by the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union also sent engineers and skilled workers to China to guide production by hand.
In 1956, China was able to mass-produce the RPD light machine gun, which was not discontinued until 1994, that is, almost 40 years later.
In China, the name of the RPD is the Type 56 light machine gun.
The Type 56 light machine gun is the standard light machine gun of the People's Liberation Army and participated in a series of wars, including the Sino-Indian Border War, the Sino-Soviet Border War, and the Sino-Vietnamese War.
During this period, the mainland also produced a large number of Type 56 light machine guns to aid other countries, such as North Vietnam, Albania, Cambodia and so on.
In 1963, China and the Soviet Union were at odds, and the mainland could not get the new generation of Soviet light machine guns, and could only improve the Type 56 light machine gun.
According to the opinions of the front-line officers and men at that time, the Type 56 light machine gun made some improvements and introduced the Type 56-1 light machine gun.
The internal structure of type 56 is completely consistent with the internal structure of type 56-1, and there are still some changes on the outside.
Some officers and soldiers believe that the Type 56 tripod is too high, resulting in too much exposure to the shooter's head, and the 56-1 type tripod is lowered;
Officers and soldiers believed that the angle of rotation of the tripod was too small, only 32 degrees, and it was very inconvenient to shoot, so the 56-1 type was changed to 72 degrees.
In addition to the tripod, officers and men also have opinions on the ammunition chain box. One is that when shooting, the bullet will continue to hit the metal chain box, making a loud noise. This sound has little effect during the day, but is very pronounced at night, and it is easy to be recognized by the enemy and attacked first. In addition, the 100-round chain was less reliable, and the Type 56-1 was also improved. The method is to put an elastic mat on the elastic chain box to reduce the sound of collision. At the same time, the 100 rounds chain is divided into 4 sections and 25 rounds of ammunition chains to reduce the possibility of jamming.
In addition, there are some minor improvements in the 56-1 type, and the overall difference from the 56 type is not much.
The Type 56 light machine gun proved to be very powerful.
The first is the Sino-Indian war, and the officers and men of the People's Liberation Army have great praise for the Type 56 light machine gun.
The Sino-Indian War took place in the snowy plateau, where the altitude is very high, the physical strength of people is only about half of the flat ground, and the speed and weight capacity of the march are half lower, not to mention the rugged mountain roads.
In a series of offensive and pursuit battles of the People's Liberation Army, the 40-kilogram Type 53 heavy machine gun was too heavy to keep up with the advance of the troops. The Type 56 light machine gun was much lighter and was suitable for altitude combat.
The main light machine gun of the Indian infantry opposite is the British Buren, and the empty gun is 11 kg, which is much heavier than the Type 56 light machine gun.
The Indian Bren light machine gun is generally equipped with 7 30-round magazines, a total of 210 bullets, the total weight is equivalent to the Type 56 light machine gun carrying 5 100-round magazines, and the number of bullets varies greatly.
Therefore, the Type 56 light machine gun is invincible in actual combat, the firepower is much more sustained, and it can even be fired against the heavy machine gun of the Indian army when necessary. During the pursuit, because of the light weight of the Type 56, the infantry marched very fast.
During the battle of Tan Zhenggui's machine gun squad, the Indian army mobilized 3 Bren light machine guns in order to suppress the fire point of our army's Type 56 light machine gun. Tan Zhenggui's machine gun squad relied on the advantages of firepower and weight, constantly shifted positions to shoot, and even fought a draw with 3 Indian army machine guns.
In desperation, the Indian army transferred 2 more Bren light machine guns, and used 5 machine guns to suppress 1 machine gun on our side.
Even so, Tan Zhenggui's machine gun squad was still clever enough to hide for the time being, waiting for the Indian infantry to counterattack.
When the Indian infantry rushed to within 20 meters of our army's position, Tan Zhenggui's machine gun squad suddenly and fiercely strafed.
The Type 56 light machine gun fired fiercely, causing a large number of casualties among the Indian infantry. Obviously, they had absolute superiority in firepower and numbers, but they could not repel our army.
At the same time, Tan Zhenggui's machine gun squad continued to attract Indian machine gun fire with short point shots when there were only 100 rounds of ammunition left in a chain box, buying time for the artillery.
In the end, the 75 mm recoilless gun came up and destroyed 4 bunkers and 1 fire point of the Indian army with 10 shells, completely destroying the Resistance of the Indian Army.
Tan Zhenggui's machine gun squad used a machine gun to win time for the large army to attack the 07 heights, and won the collective second class merit.
By the time of the Sino-Vietnamese War in the 1970s and 1980s, the Type 56 light machine gun was still a sword.
In the complex terrain of the Sino-Vietnamese border, the movement of heavy machine guns is also very difficult. In many cases, the Type 56 light machine gun is the backbone of our army's firepower.
Especially in the early stage of the war, the infantry squad of our army was weak in firepower, and it was also equipped with a large number of Type 56 semi-automatic rifles, which could not compete with the Vietnamese army in terms of firepower, and almost all relied on type 56 light machine guns to support.
In the same way, the Vietnamese army tried to get rid of our light machine guns.
Let's look at an example of a battle in the 126th Regiment on March 7, 1979.
At that time, the Vietnamese army had a reinforced company defensive position, with Hill 3 as the core, with 1 main bunker and 8 bunkers built on it, and deployed 1 reinforced platoon. Since the enemy's fire points are very hidden, our large-caliber artillery, including mortars, is powerless against them and can only rely on infantry.
Our army attacked with 1 company, and on the first line were two infantry platoons, under the cover of regimental artillery fire. At that time, the Vietnamese army fired wildly from the light and dark bunkers, and 2 infantry platoons of our army fired at the same side with Type 56 light machine guns to attract enemy fire, on the one hand, to cover the infantry carrying 82 recoilless guns and 40 rocket launchers.
The main offensive platoon, under the cover of light machine guns, destroyed 5 enemy bunkers in a row. The Commander of the Vietnamese Company, seeing that the situation was not good, decided that he could not sit still and suddenly commanded a main squad to launch a counterattack. The enemy was condescending and the firepower was very fierce, and the main offensive platoon of our army suffered no light casualties for a while. At such a critical time, the deputy company commander led another platoon of reinforcements up, chose a favorable position to set up the Type 56 light machine gun, and annihilated most of the enemy infantry squad with continuous fire. Our infantry took the opportunity to charge, destroyed several more pillboxes, and rushed into the main position on the heights. The Vietnamese army was not easy to provoke, and a Type 56 light machine gunner rushed out of the bunker, setting up a machine gun and constantly strafing. Our army was again blocked by fire.
At such a critical time, a deputy squad leader disregarded his own safety and threw several grenades in a row to attack it. In the smoke, neither the enemy nor the enemy could see clearly, and the distance between the enemy and the other was less than 3 meters when they found each other. At that time, the Vietnamese army was changing the bullets for the light machine gun, and the deputy squad leader rushed up desperately, knocking down an enemy with one shot, but the rifle in his hand accidentally jammed. The deputy squad leader did not care to change the bullets, raised the butt of his gun and smashed it at the Vietnamese machine gun deputy. The Vietnamese machine gun deputy was so frightened that he ran out of gas and fled backwards to the main bunker.
Our army rushed to the firing corner of the main bunker, shoved the blasting canister through the ventilation hole, and blew up the shelter in one fell swoop, completely annihilating the enemy.
After more than an hour of fighting, my sharp knife company triumphantly captured Highland 3.
Due to the terrain, heavy machine guns could not go up, and the Type 56 light machine gun played a key role. The main attack platoon's sharp knife squad fought fiercely, conquered the main bunker of the core, crushed a platoon of the Vietnamese army, and annihilated 24 people below the enemy captain and battalion commander, making an important contribution to the victory of the battle. After the war, the class was awarded the first class of collective merit.
Although the Type 56 light machine gun is very practical, after all, it is a weapon designed in the 40s, and it is obviously outdated in the Sino-Vietnamese War more than three decades later.
The main infantry squad of the Vietnamese army was equipped with two types of machine guns, namely the RPK light machine gun and the PK universal machine gun.
The empty gun is only more than 5 kg of RPK light machine gun, using a 40-round magazine or 75 rounds drum, much lighter than the Type 56 light machine gun, and the structure is simpler. In this environment in Vietnam, it is clear that the RPK light machine gun is more suitable as a machine gun for the most advanced infantry squad.
As long as the infantry can go, the RPK light machine gun can be on.
In principle, the RPK light machine gun has a small load and is not as powerful as the Type 56. However, the two light machine guns can not replace the barrel, can not be strafed for a long time, the actual combat firepower is similar.
Platon soldiers believe that in the high temperature and humidity environment of Vietnam, the Type 56 light machine gun fired 100 rounds of bullets from a bullet chain box, and if it was strafed, the barrel would be red.
At this time, if you forcibly strafe again, up to 100 more bullets will be fired, and there may be a possibility of failure if you continue to shoot. Therefore, experienced Type 56 light machine gun shooters only occasionally use covered strafing, and usually use long and short point shots.
As for the PK general-purpose machine gun, it is stronger than the Type 56 light machine gun in all aspects, and the two are not at all a product of the times.
After being stimulated by PK, our army copied it and successfully launched the 1980 7.62 mm general-purpose machine gun, referred to as the Type 80 machine gun.
The Type 56 light machine gun began to slowly retire from service after the war. The original Type 56 RPD light machine gun was fully retired from the Soviet army in the 60s.
Speaking of which, it is still an excellent copycat!
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