How much small arms ammo was used in World War 2?

Answer 1

There were several types of artillery pieces available to the combateers of WWII, the most common of which being the early Howitzer.

Howitzers of the time were generally one of two types; the Pack Howitzer, which was very small and could be moved, loaded and fired by a single man, and the Field Howitzer, which was larger and fired larger shells. The latter were usually manned by multiple personel and required their own support trucks, which would tow them into place and carry the necessary ammunition and tools.

Both of the above were unlike balistic weapons such as tanks and the massive-bore cannon found on-board contemporary naval vessels in that they fired a high-arcing projectile. This principal allowed the projectile to travel further and do more damage to a larger target area, and hence, these weapons were, and are most effective when used against large troop formations or bases / camps. They were also often used (especially by Germany) to barrage the area between two opposing forces, which were usually encamped in trenches. This area then became what was called "no mans land".... disputed territory that neither side could easily enter or control.

Howitzers of the time generally needed a separate vehicle to tow them around, and although there were a few early itterations of Self-Propelled Artillery in service, they were only experimental and lacked sufficient testing in combat. Modern self-propelling units have come a long way. Some of them weigh in excess of 120 tons yet are still capable of travelling at speeds of up to 50MpH! The tracked vehicles of the war, however were nowhere near as fast, and hence made easier targets for enemy artillery.

Germany took the concept of artillery one step further, with her development of the Rail-Mounted gun. These machines were massive and often sat upon trucks that had multiple bogeys. The largest examples of these fired shells taller than a man and had to be loaded mechanically. Thankfully these superguns never got used to their full potential. As I understand it there are still one or two surviving examples in existence today. They can most likely be found in German museums.

The British were using an American gun carrier which was called the Priest. When the gun was removed to convert it to a personnel transporter it as called an 'Unfrocked Priest ' !

Answer 2

It depends on what country. For Germany a lot of their small arms used either 9mm pistol or 8mm Mauser. Up until late 43 with the development of the STG-44 and its 7.92x33mm ammunition.

The US used a ranged of ammo including .45ACP, .30 Carbine, and .30-06.

The Soviet Union used 7.62x54R for most of their rifles, sub-

machine gun and pistols mostly using 7.62x25mm ammo except for the Nagant revolver which fired 7.62x38Rmm.

The British used .303 for most rifles and machine guns, the Sten sub-machine gun using 9x19 Parabellum.

It is nearly impossible to list all the different types of Japanese cartridges were used, this reason being one of the reasons they lost the war.

Answer 3

There were probably about 70 different rifles used in WWII by different countries, so I will just list the most common used by the largest countries. Rifles were used in WWII were bolt-action, semi-automatic and full automatic.

U.S:

M1 Garand

M1903 Springfield

M1917 Enfield

M1 Carbine

M1918 B.A.R.

M1941 Johnson

England:

M1917 Enfield

M1 Carbine

Russia:

Moisin Nagant

SVT. 40

SKS

Fedorov Avtomat

Japan:

• Arisaka
• Type 38 Rifle
• Type 2 Rifle
• Type 38 Cavalry Rifle
• Type 99 Rifle
• Type 97 Sniper Rifle
• Type 44 Cavalry Rifle
• Type I Rifle
• type 4 rifle

Germany:

Gewehr 43

Gewehr 41

STG 44

Karabiner 98K

Gewehr 98

Answer 4

There are no official figure, but it would have been billions or rounds.