When it comes to heavy machine guns, what is the first weapon that comes to mind? It has to be Gatling, both in the movies and in the game, Gatling's performance is impressive.
As long as the trigger is pulled to complete the strafing, with the clattering of the bullet casings falling, there will be rows of enemies in front of them, which is called a pleasure, which is also a common shot in war-themed film and television works.
However, one veteran told us: machine guns are used for strafing, don't be fooled by these dramas! What the hell is going on?
The origin of the machine gun
This heavy machine gun was first born in the United States in 1883, it was designed by the famous weapons engineer Makqin, so the world's first heavy machine gun was named - Maxim heavy machine gun. It was the world's first truly successful automatic weapon with gunpowder gas as an energy source.
It became famous in 1916 in the Battle of the Lock Somme, which was during the First World War, and the Maxim heavy machine gun made great achievements with its excellent combat ability, which also made the army units at that time frightened and was known as a killing weapon during the First World War.
During World War I, the German troops as the Entente were equipped with MG08 Maxim heavy machine guns, and in the battle of the Somme, nearly 60,000 British soldiers were killed in just one day.
The whole battlefield was full of corpses, and the blood flowed like a river, because the German army was equipped with a Maxim heavy machine gun, so in this battle the British army was completely suppressed, and the powerful power made the German army complete the situation of winning more with less, and this battle also became the most glorious moment of the Maxim heavy machine gun.
Such a powerful weapon was quickly appreciated by various countries, and after World War I, some countries jokingly called it the stun gun. Because it has a caliber of 11.43 mm and weighs 27.2 kg, it can fire an average of 600 rounds a minute, and there are two types of shooting: strafing, single point, and two types of shooting.
Since it is a heavy machine gun, there is a fixed gun mount, and the magazine is not ordinary, this heavy machine gun is equipped with a 6.4-meter-long bullet belt, and the bullet is sprayed out like an electric spark when it is fired, so it is nicknamed "Race Electro Gun", which is very powerful, but it is not "like in the TV series".
Although in today's era of powerful weapons, the power and prestige of the Maxim heavy machine gun are no longer there, but as the first heavy machine gun in the history of warfare, its position is unshakable.
Why "strafing" doesn't work
Why is the "strafing" of heavy machine guns a pseudoscience in military terms? We have to admit that compared with other guns, first of all, this heavy machine gun can fire bullets in bursts, and its combat efficiency is markedly improved; second, this heavy machine gun has a fixed gun mount, which can reduce recoil and improve accuracy when firing, and can indeed play a role in suppressing firepower.
Let's talk about why "strafing" is a pseudoscience in military terms, and the premise is that the distance between the positions of the two armies is at war, since it is the era of thermal weapons, the distance of the exchange of fire is definitely above 100 meters.
Secondly, we must respect the enemy's intelligence, and if the enemy clearly knows that our troops have heavy machine guns, they will not rush at them stupidly.
Another is that wars require troops to be arranged, usually standing very open, often watching war themes, or often playing like bupg friends know that the division of labor in the war is very clear, cover, assault, reconnaissance.
The last important thing is that you need to aim before shooting, and you also need to sense the wind speed, etc., if you don't get it right, it is likely to miss. If you put it on a heavy machine gun, you can't aim when you shoot a gun, and if you rotate the angle while firing a gun, there is no accuracy at all, not to mention how many people there are in front of the enemy, and the gun is a waste of a lot.
That's why you can't hit the enemy when you're playing a gunfight game, because the barrel of your gun floats when you hit it.
There are also various war films and televisions, why there are always some turrets and pillboxes in them, have you ever thought about it, because heavy machine guns are not like the anti-Japanese dramas that stand up with machine guns and "strafe" casually, but need to fight in a secret place, or a safe enough place.
There is also the plot in the war film and television drama, if a machine gunner falls, the soldier next to him immediately takes over, which is very ridiculous. Because heavy machine gun operators need to be trained, not everyone can be a good one.
Even if the machine gun can be fired, but the accuracy is not guaranteed, in one is the technical work of loading bullets, if you do not keep up, or because of operational problems jamming, it is likely to explode or be rushed up by the enemy.
Although many film and television works deliberately pay attention to this problem, they are still far from reality, and many of them are still too artistic portrayals, especially some divine dramas, such as "I bet you don't have bullets in your gun".
Correct use of heavy machine guns
In fact, the biggest role of the heavy machine gun is to exert psychological pressure on the enemy, and then cooperate with the surprise to give the enemy a fatal blow, to change the understanding of the heavy machine gun, we must forget the heavy machine gun "strafing" scene in the TV series, and there is no need to change bullets in the full field.
This is to talk about the three types of fire of heavy machine guns, beyond shooting, point fire, and strafing. Which type of shooting is used depends on the specific situation.
First of all, this heavy machine gun is generally mainly fired at points, which continuously puts pressure on the enemy, suppresses the enemy's attack, and creates a good combat situation for our side.
The second is strafing, which is definitely a bullet, but it is not completely useless. This situation is certainly very useful if the enemy rushes over, but we have mentioned this point before, it is necessary to respect the enemy's IQ, and there should not be many opportunities for such a swarm to rush to the position.
Then there is the transcendence of shooting, which can well confirm that heavy machine gunners need to be professionally trained, and this shooting method requires physical knowledge, because this kind of direct fire weapon can use the terrain or elevate the trajectory to let the fired bullets fly over the heads of our soldiers, and finally form an arc to hit the enemy.
This method of combat is generally used to support soldiers in assault or counter-encirclement, and the physics used here is that there should be a safe corner between the enemy unit and our soldiers, so that our soldiers can stay in a safe place in the arc.
In short, the biggest role of the heavy machine gun is to create psychological pressure on the enemy, repel the enemy or delay the time for the enemy to break through the defense line
On the real battlefield, the heavy machine gunner is a little more dangerous than the average soldier, because "when the two sides fight, blow up the bunker first", the bunker is the heavy machine gunner's.
Today, the role of heavy machine guns is likely to have been greatly improved, such as accuracy, operation technology, and safety, but every resident of our world does not want every country to take it out and become a murder weapon.
Speaking of this, I also think of a sentence that says that there is no distinction between good and bad weapons, and the key is to see how to use it. Good and evil are only in a thought.
epilogue
Although the war has become a painful history, in order to remember these histories and make TV series and movies, I hope that when filming war themes, I hope that when filming war themes, I can be more rigorous, not make things up, and don't "exaggerate and talk about" acting skills, because the works made in this way will only mislead the audience.