Dispatch

The Deadly Flaw of Hitler’s Buzzsaw

Name: The Deadly Flaw of Hitler’s Buzzsaw
Uploaded: 2026-07-30T19:59:12.562Z
Description: Fifty rounds in two and a half seconds. The MG 42 was the fastest infantry weapon of the Second World War, and every few hundred rounds it had to stop dead while a man pulled a glowing barrel out of it with an asbestos mitt. The German squad was built around that gun — but it was worked by two men, not one, and the one who decided whether the crew lived wasn't the man holding the trigger.

2026-07-30

Fifty rounds in two and a half seconds. The MG 42 was the fastest infantry weapon of the Second World War, and every few hundred rounds it had to stop dead while a man pulled a glowing barrel out of it with an asbestos mitt. The German squad was built around that gun — but it was worked by two men, not one, and the one who decided whether the crew lived wasn't the man holding the trigger.