page_title: StG 44
section_title: Post-1945
hierarchical_section_title: StG 44 / History / Post-1945
caption_attribution_description: For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. Zentralbild/Löwe Zum Tag der Republik Am 7.10.1955, dem 6. Jahrestag der DDR demonstrierte die Bevölkerung von Neustrelitz zu einer Kundgebung auf dem Marktplatz in Neustrelitz. UBz: Vorbeimarsch der Deutschen Volkspolizei.
context_page_description: The StG 44 is a German selective-fire assault rifle developed during World War II. It is also known as the MP 43 and MP 44.
  The StG 44 was the first successful assault rifle, with features including a relatively short cartridge, controllable automatic fire, a more compact design than a battle rifle with a quicker rate of fire, and intended for hitting targets within a few hundred metres.
  The StG 44 fulfilled its role effectively, particularly on the Eastern Front, offering a greatly increased volume of fire compared to standard infantry rifles. It came too late to have much effect on the war, but did influence the Soviet AK-47 that was introduced three years after the war concluded. Its influence can still be seen in modern assault rifles.
context_section_description: The Sturmgewehr remained in use with the East German Nationale Volksarmee with the designation MPi.44 until it was eventually replaced with variants of the AK-47 assault rifle. The Volkspolizei used it until approximately 1962 when it was replaced by the PPSh-41. It was still used by other public security formations thereafter. The ammunition was manufactured there at least until 1961. Other countries to use the StG 44 after World War II included Czechoslovakia (although it was not officially adopted) and Yugoslavia, where units such as the 63rd Paratroop Battalion were equipped with it until the 1980s, when the rifles were ultimately transferred to Territorial Defense reserves or sold to friendly regimes in the Middle East and Africa. France adopted captured StG 44 for colonial Foreign Legion units.
  Argentina manufactured their own trial versions of the StG 44 made by CITEFA in the late 1940s and early 1950s, but instead adopted the FN FAL in 1955, because it used the then more common and powerful 7.62×51mm NATO round, which also lacked connections with the Third Reich.
  New semi-automatic civilian reproductions of the MKb 42(H), MP 43/1, and StG 44 are being manufactured in Germany today by SSD (Sport Systeme Dittrich) and distributed by HZA Kulmbach GmbH in the original 7.92×33mm Kurz chambering and accepting the standard magazines. The PTR-44 by PTR Industries was produced for a short while, but was soon discontinued due to high prices and lack of demand. A .22 rimfire copy of the StG 44 by GSG (German Sports Guns) has also been manufactured in great quantity for a lower price, but it is the only widely available reproduction of the StG. Talks have been made by HMG (Hill & Mac Gunworks) to mass-produce a StG-44 replica in different calibers, including the original 7.92×33mm Kurz, but also more modern calibers, like 7.62×39mm, 5.56×45mm NATO and .300 AAC Blackout, but these have yet to be released.
  7.92mm Kurz ammunition is currently manufactured by Prvi Partizan of Serbia.
caption: Officers of the East German Volkspolizei parading through the streets of Neustrelitz in 1955. The StG 44 remained in service with the organization until the early 1960s.
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