The FG-42 Mark II (Fallschirmjägergewehr-42) assault rifle was developed on the insistence of Field Marshal Herman Göring who commanded the German Luftwaffe. The German paratroop corps, called Fallschirmjägers in German, were part of the German Luftwaffe. Göring wanted an advanced assault rifle that would give his paratroopers an advantage in close combat.

Strict guidelines were issued for the development of this new assault rifle. The weapon had to be light enough to carry when parachuting and had to incorporate both semi automatic fire for sniping and automatic fire for close in combat. In addition, it had to use the standard rifle ammunition that was used in the German K-98 Rifle, the 7.92 X 57 mm Mauser round (otherwise known as 8mm Mauser)

The result of was an extraordinary weapon that became the FG-42. The FG-42 was an air-cooled, gas operated, shoulder fired assault rifle. This new assault rifle had a 20 round side-loaded box magazine and a fixed three-power sniper scope. It fired from the closed bolt position in sniper mode, and open bolt position in full auto mode.

One of the drawbacks of the weapon was that the 20 round magazine made it difficult to balance the weapon. Other drawbacks were the hefty recoil and large ball of flame that erupted from the muzzle every time the weapon fire fired, making its sniper role less than easy or stealthy. As with most German assault rifles of WWII [MP43/44/STG44], the weapon took great care to produce and was very expensive to manufacture. Only 7,000 Fg-42s were manufactured and only a fraction of these made it into the hands of Fallschirmjägers before the end of the war. That said, American soldiers captured several FG-42s in Normandy after D-Day and in subsequent operations on the Western Front.

Désolé pour l'anglais je n'ai trouvé que ca utilisé un traducteur