I Became a Plutocrat in World War I: Starting with Saving France-Chapter 958: Paratrooper Rifle

Shire was somewhat surprised by Dominic’s words; he was actually able to see the problems with the paratrooper rifle!

...

All along, Shire has always focused on developing aircraft, tanks, and artillery.

Because such things require technological and industrial foundations.

For example, aircraft, even if countries like England, the United States, and Germany know that France is equipped with all-metal transport planes, they cannot imitate them. Their aviation engines have yet to achieve the necessary horsepower to support an all-metal fuselage.

Even if one day the engine’s horsepower reaches the required level, there are still many details that need to be developed step by step. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

Tanks and artillery are similar.

But light equipment is different; rifles, machine guns, submachine guns, mortars, mines... If Shire invents them today, they will appear in the hands of the German Army tomorrow, and perhaps even be used on a large scale.

Therefore, unless absolutely necessary for combat, Shire would only push for advancements in light equipment.

This is also the reason Shire develops attack aircraft instead of Iron Fists, Rocket Launchers, or Bazookas, even though the latter are much simpler.

On the battlefield, French tanks have an absolute advantage, developing these things would purely be creating trouble for oneself.

This approach is the same as the English having the most and strongest battleships, yet insisting on developing torpedo boats capable of punching above their weight.

...

Seeing Shire in a daze, Dominic laughed:

"Don’t be so surprised, General."

"I was reminded by Mr. Browning, who always emphasized that designing firearms is for killing the enemy, thus it must be integrated with warfare."

"My first thought was of your paratroopers."

"I believe that once a new type of soldier emerges, many new problems will arise, including with firearms. Wouldn’t you agree?"

Shire gave a positive response: "Yes, you’re right."

"So," Dominic continued:

"I’ve looked into some materials on paratroopers, and I also hope to visit a few paratroopers who’ve seen combat, to let them describe the difficulties they encountered in battle."

"But unfortunately, I failed."

"Because they said it was confidential, I was almost treated as a spy and captured until I clarified my identity when they let me go."

Dominic looked helpless; it didn’t seem like a very pleasant experience.

Shire chuckled: "Paratroopers are a new type of soldier, Dominic. Many spies are eager to learn their details. We have no choice but to do this."

"I understand," Dominic said, showing understanding: "So, my investigation wasn’t thorough. I can only make judgments or guesses based on known information."

Shire asked with interest: "Tell me your judgments and guesses."

Dominic took two photos from his briefcase and got up to hand them to Shire:

"Paratroopers are equipped with M1 semi-automatic rifles and PPD submachine guns. The PPD submachine gun is alright, it has a high ammo capacity and a short barrel."

"But the M1 rifle is 1107MM long. Soldiers carrying it while parachuting are bound to face many inconveniences."

"For example, in the cramped and crowded cabin, it can easily snag on cords during parachuting, and upon landing could result in injury from rolling with it."

Shire couldn’t help but praise: "Your guess is spot on, indeed some soldiers have been injured during parachuting because of this."

Steed was puzzled: "Then why don’t we equip all paratroopers with PPD submachine guns..."

"Father," Dominic used his gaze to stop Steed from continuing: "It’s because of the range."

Dominic turned his attention to Shire: "Sorry, my father doesn’t understand military matters very well."

"It’s alright," Shire smiled and nodded at the two: "No need to be so restrained, and I have plenty of time, given that it’s now the English and the Americans fighting the Germans!"

Steed and Dominic laughed, and the atmosphere immediately became somewhat relaxed.

Shire continued the earlier topic:

"Dominic is correct, it’s the range issue."

"Although the PPD submachine gun has a large ammo capacity and short barrel, its range is only about 200 meters."

"If the enemy is positioned at 300 meters or further..."

Steed suddenly understood, he hadn’t taken into account actual combat scenarios.

But it’s understandable, the warfare he understands is where everyone uses the same type of rifle, not as complex as now, so naturally, he would not grasp the concept of complementary ranges.

Dominic continued Shire’s words:

"My guess is, paratroopers are likely facing a shortage of firepower as well."

"The reason is paratroopers only carry light equipment, even mortars are rarely seen."

"Whereas the enemy has heavy machine guns, infantry artillery, and abundant ammunition supplies."

Shire acknowledged: "Your guess is quite right, does this mean you have found a solution?"

Dominic excitedly took out a document from his briefcase and handed it to Shire: "This is my new gun design, General, it might solve the difficulties faced by paratroopers."

Shire took a look, surprisingly it was the FG42 rifle specially invented for paratroopers by the Germans during WWII.

(The picture above shows the FG42 paratrooper rifle developed by Germany for airborne troops.)

Dominic explained the document:

"Its overall length is 975MM. With the stock folded to the right, it can be shortened to 710MM, which is shorter than the PPD."

"Yet its range is similar to the M1 rifle, this is my estimation, as it uses rifle cartridges."

"Moreover, it has both single-shot and automatic modes, with a 20-round capacity."

...

In all aspects, its performance is much better than the M1 rifle and seems to solve all the problems: length, firepower, range, etc.

It’s practically tailor-made for airborne troops.

Steed leaned in to look at the gun with glowing eyes, frequently casting admiring glances at Dominic, seemingly proud of him.

It is indeed something to be proud of; Dominic is quite excellent, able to design such a breakthrough rifle with high specificity.

But Shire knows it still might not be ideal.

"It becomes heavier than the M1 when equipped with a bipod, Dominic," Shire said.

"Yes," Dominic replied: "I estimate the empty gun might weigh 5 kilograms, but this is acceptable, isn’t it?"

The M1 rifle weighs 4.3 kilograms, roughly only 0.7 kilograms heavier.

Shire wasn’t nitpicking but had a better plan, couldn’t bear having to take this detour.

"If it’s merely a problem with the gun, it’s indeed acceptable," Shire said:

"But perhaps we should consider that most combat occurs at distances of 300 to 400 meters."

"However, the range of our rifles reaches 800 meters, doesn’t it seem necessary?"

Dominic was taken aback: "Range too far? You mean even the bullets need to be redesigned?"

Shire gently nodded:

"You know, the power of the current bullets makes it difficult for rifles to fire automatically like submachine guns."

"While submachine gun bullets are too weak."

"If there’s a bullet whose power is between that of a rifle and a submachine gun, able to meet soldiers’ combat demands and allow for handheld automatic firing..."

Dominic’s eyes widened: "That would be the gun truly needed on the battlefield, a completely new rifle!"