Posted on 09/23/2017 8:41:12 AM PDT by Navy Patriot
The monument in the heart of Moscow was supposed to be a tribute to Mikhail Kalashnikov, the creator of the AK-47 assault rifle.
Unfortunately, things went wrong, spectacularly so. The etching on the plinth was not of a Kalashnikov but the StG 44 rifle used by the Nazis during WWII.
The mistake was spotted by arms experts, the BBC reported. It left the authorities having to use an angle grinder to remove the offending image.
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
> It left the authorities having to use an angle grinder to remove the offending image. <
That’s one statue modification I can agree with. There was (of course) nothing honorable in the German invasion of Russia. If the Russians want to blot out any positive reference to the Germans, i say go for it.
Leaning Right wrote: “There was (of course) nothing honorable about the German invasion of Russia.”
Nor nothing honorable about the Russian invasion of Poland to help the Germans wipe out the Poles and partition their country. Or Finland. Or Czechoslovakia. Or . . ..
The sculptor is claiming that he made a mistake and doesn’t know how he did it. I think he’s just lying. I think he included the STG-44 precisely because that’s what the AK-47 design was heavily influenced by and everyone knows it.
The Russkies don’t like being reminded that they borrowed ideas from Nazis.
Tell the Poles, the Finns, Czechoslovakia ... geez!
And, providing Russian grounds in the 1920’s and 30’s for the training of the German Army in contravention of the Versaille treaty ...
And we had to get rid of the crescent from the Flight 93 memorial.
Or, some bureaucrat who has a sense of historical accuracy!
The AK-47 was, in fact, the Soviet answer to the Sturmgewehr 44 (StG44), which the German forces used from 1944.
Determined to find an equally effective weapon, the Soviet Union launched a competition, which was won by Mikhail Kalashnikov.
Having been wounded at the Battle of Bryansk, Kalashnikov began designing weapons. But the AK47 (notice the 47) didn't come into service until 1947 and while the AK was not a exact copy of the Sturmgewehr 44 (StG44), ALL of the requirements for a assault rifle found in the StG44 were produced in the AK47. The StG44 was a game changer!
Of course the Russians don't want to admit that the StG44 was the inspiration for their AK47!
Governments are the same everywhere.
If only he had a RESET button...
“If the Russians want to blot out any positive reference to the Germans, i say go for it.”
About 30 years ago I become interested in reading Russian history by Russian authors (English language of course).
One thing I noticed was an obvious omission or scant consideration of the 200 year or so domination of the Mongols along the Volga.
> Nor nothing honorable about the Russian invasion of Poland to help the Germans wipe out the Poles and partition their country. Or Finland. Or Czechoslovakia. <
Very, very true. And I’d add Hungary to your list (my relatives would demand that). But none of that lessens the obvious crime that was the German invasion of Russia. There were lots of tangled, horrific crimes in that part of the world, to be sure.
> One thing I noticed was an obvious omission or scant consideration of the 200 year or so domination of the Mongols along the Volga. <
Interesting. I am NOT in favor of wiping out unpleasant history. But I am in favor of minimizing positive references to criminal activities. So I’m OK with the Russians blotting out that Nazi weapon.
A slippery slope, I know.
> Tell the Poles, the Finns, Czechoslovakia ... geez!
And, providing Russian grounds in the 1920’s and 30’s for the training of the German Army in contravention of the Versaille treaty ... <
You make a good point. Please see my post #12.
Determined to find an equally effective weapon, the Soviet Union launched a competition, which was won by Mikhail Kalashnikov.
For historical purposes, that is probably the most observational accurate statement that can be made.
Kalashnikov had access to the German factory, very complete sets of blueprints, a stock of finished parts and the designers themselves, as prisoners of war.
Obviously a huge influence on his work.
Huge Mistake...or
They forgot a little Bubble
with
A dreamed AK?
> If only he had a RESET button... <
Which gives me an opportunity to knock Hillary. When she was Secretary of State, she presented a “reset” button to the Russian foreign minister. But the button wasn’t labelled “reset” in Russian. It was labelled “overload”. That certainly confused the Russians present!
Yet another example of how stupid Hillary was, and how stupid her advisers were. Odd that this wasn’t widely mocked in the mainstream media.
http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2014/03/14/designed-ak-47/
Random gun thoughts on `clips’ v. `magazines’ and inventors:
After the war the Russians couldn’t get the `bugs’ out of their adaptation of the German original, particularly the stamped receiver.
The Automat Kalashnikov was designed for different users. The German weapon was operated mostly by high school graduates. So Hugo Schmeisser kindly agreed (ahem) shortly after cessation of hostilities to bring his crew to Mother Russia and help out his new comrades, as the article above explains.
And Schmeisser didn’t invent the Machinen Pistol 40, even though it is often called a `Schmeisser’.
Incidentally, John Browning wasn’t the sole creator of the `Browning Hi-Power’. He died before it was completed. A Belgian named Dieudonné Saive deserves a lot of the credit.
The machine pistol `Krinkov’ AK isn’t called a Krinkov by the Russians. They use a Russian term for “cigarette butt”.
Ever wonder why the M16/AR15 mag looks like the bottom part was an afterthought? The Russians had 30 rounds and—by gum, we were going to have 30! So Colt was told to make it bigger.
The Soviets were always looking for Heroes. Mike did put it together, but saying Kalashnikov got a lot of help is being generous.
“All’s fair ...” I suppose.
We stole the Germans machine gun MG 42 (the M-60) while the Huns stole our bazooka (`Panzerschrek’) and the Soviet T-34 tank design for their Panther tank.
Sturmgeweher 44.
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