Although the Allied armies were approaching Germany from all sides in the autumn of 1944, Hitler did not consider the war lost. In an attempt to increase the number of men in arms, he decided on total mobilisation and in late September he established the Volkssturm militia, made up of young and old men.
Primitiv-Waffen-Programm
There was chaos in arming the Volkssturm battalions and no standardization existed. Among their ranks were Kar 98k rifles, but also antiquated pieces like the Gewehr 71 developed by Mauser over 70 years earlier. There was also a mix of captured weapons from the victorious campaigns of the first half of the conflict. There was a relative abundance only in anti-tank means, with Panzerfausts at the forefront. Under the conditions of overloaded arms factories, and shortages of raw materials and labor, the so-called Primitiv-Waffen-Programm was created. It tasked designers with devising hand weapons that could be mass-produced by less skilled workers using commonly available materials. They also needed to be simple enough for boys and seniors to use in combat. Engineers from most armories got involved in the project, though few prototypes saw production. Minimal documentation has survived to this day, and sources contradict each other. Nevertheless, it is possible to get a partial overview of the "primitive weapons" program.
Work on simplified pistol models began as part of the usual development at the beginning of 1944 in the workshops of Walther and Mauser. No prototype reached production, but when demand for a "people's pistol" arose at the end of the year, both companies could build on their experience. Walther's engineers achieved better results, and thus the Volkspistole was expected to be not only cheap to produce and capable of hitting a target measuring 20×20 cm at 25 meters but also compatible with P38 magazines.
Designers approached the Volkspistole in several ways and eventually attempted to copy and simplify the American Colt M1911. The final 9mm Walther Volkspistole resembled the model, although it was a single-action trigger mechanism weapon with an external hammer and blowback operation. In an effort to avoid expensive machining, almost the entire gun was made from stamped sheet metal, and the 1000g weapon's surface was treated with phosphating. American soldiers ended the production attempts when they occupied Walther's halls in Zella-Mehlis on April 4, 1945.
Sten for the Volkssturm
If the Germans were inspired by the USA in developing a pistol for the militia, the British "helped" them with the people's submachine gun. Shortly after the war began, numerous Sten submachine guns ended up in Wehrmacht hands from supplies to French resistance fighters or due to the defeat at Dieppe. The primitive design shocked German experts, and they immediately dismissed it. Only when the need arose to arm the Volkssturm did they remember the British automatics. In addition to the simple construction, the use of 9×19 mm German ammunition was possible. In an effort to eliminate the most significant weaknesses, Mauser was tasked with improving the submachine gun. Their team simplified the barrel shroud and secured it to the receiver or modified the magazine holder to be made from a single piece. The automatic weapon was to use a 32-round magazine from the MP 40.
The people's submachine gun featured a fixed front sight, and a welded tube was used for the receiver instead of a seamless one. The trigger mechanism and bolt changed minimally, with the firing pin integrated into the bolt. Unlike the British, the Germans decided to replace most of the manual welding with machine welding, which allowed production to be reduced to 60 minutes. The submachine gun was designated MP 3008, and four versions were made, differing, for example, in the design of the barrel shroud or the charging handle. The first order was for a million units, and plans spoke of 50,000 per month, but only 3,500–10,000 submachine guns were produced in the end.
Rough but Functional Rifles
The greatest confusion among all types of Volkssturm weapons reigns among rifles. The Walther-produced repeater rifle was named VG 1 (Volksgewehr 1) and was to be made entirely from existing parts. It featured a rotating bolt, fired 7.92 mm ammunition, and used ten-round magazines from the Gewehr 43 rifle. The trigger mechanism and guard were made from stamped parts joined by pins, and the primitive safety was a rotating piece of metal blocking the trigger movement.
The sight set to 100 meters consisted of a simple notch on a ring, and the front sight was welded on. The stock with a short forearm was to be made from beech, but various types of roughly hewn wood were used in practice. Since production ran at several smaller companies, the rifles varied significantly—virtually any suitable barrel was used. According to documentation, the rifle was supposed to weigh 3.75 kg and measure 1070 mm in length. Despite inaccuracies and rough workmanship, the first VG 1 rifles functioned well, and if the Germans had managed to mass-produce them, post-war estimates suggest that one piece would have cost only five dollars.
At Spreewerk, work was done on a similar rifle, the Volksgewehr 2, with a modular design. The functional mechanism consisted of stamped steel, with the wooden stock screwed on from the back and the forearm from the front. Rheinmetall's VG 3 and Mauser's VG 4 shared similar construction.
The pinnacle of long weapons for the home guard was the assault rifle. Several companies attempted development, and the Gustloff-Werke design saw production. The bolt did not lock before firing; part of the gases was channeled into a pressure chamber under the barrel, and a piston connected to the bolt block moved parallel to the barrel axis in a cylindrical chamber. Gas pressure immediately after firing kept the piston in the forward position until the bullet left the weapon. This prevented the bolt block from moving backward, sealing the chamber for the critical duration.
Following the Sturmgewehr Model
In an effort to save, the Germans used the 7.92×33 mm Kurz cartridge, fired by the world's first assault rifle, the Sturmgewehr 44, and its 30-round magazine. The new weapon was initially designated MP 507, and MP 508 differed in the pistol grip. Eventually, the name VG 1-5, or Gustloff Volkssturmgewehr (Gustloff People's Assault Rifle), prevailed. The uncertain quality earned the newcomer the unflattering nickname "reine Wegwerfwaffe" or disposable weapon. Excluding rivets and screws, it consisted of 39 metal parts—twelve required milling, twenty-one needed cheap stamping, and six were springs. Unlike the StG 44, the VG 1-5 had a significant disadvantage as it only operated in semi-automatic mode, and only a few prototypes were capable of burst fire. Even so, it provided remarkable firepower and robustness.
One of the few shortcomings was frequent jamming if the user did not maintain and clean the weapon properly. This was expected from Volkssturm members, who underwent only a few hours of training, and disassembling a modern weapon was a tough task for them. Another drawback was the fixed sights set to 100 meters.
Serial production began at the turn of 1944-1945, and about 10,000 units were produced by the war's end. Most were made in Thuringia, and thus primarily went to the local home guard. According to sparse data, a few thousand pieces reached the Volkssturm, but even their relatively successful design could not prevent the inevitable fall of the Third Reich.
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