I’d certainly like to see the SKS-45 added as the contemporary to the VG.1-5, and the Suomi KP/-31 added as the contemporary to the PPSh-41 drum, personally, with the Beretta 38 nudged down to be the contemporary to the PPD. (or rather, the PPD and PPSh-41 being moved up in the campaign tree)
According to my experience with Beretta M38 in the Battle of Normandy, I feel that it is only at the level of PPS42
It’s the best SMG Germany gets right now in Berlin, and was probably the best IRL they used, with the possible exception of the Suomi KP/-31, or maybe the MAS-38. (Though the in-game MP40 definitely has way too much recoil relative to other SMGs too)
By the numbers (Comparison of various Berlin campaign guns) the Beretta is about halfway between the PPS-42 and PPD in performance. Which is more than the rest of the German SMGs can say about themselves.
I mean, the SKS 45 was never used in WW2. But knowing devs stance on historical accuracy we’ll probably see it.
Wasn’t it field tested at the end of the war, I thought? In the book, Bolotin’s “Soviet Small Arms and Ammunition”, it says that the SKS saw field testing in the Belarus campaign between 44 and 45. Granted, the pre-production SKS-45 was firing the earlier 7.62x41 round, before it was modified to the later 7.62x39 to extract more reliably, but it still should be effectively the same as the later production SKS rifles given the ballistics were the same.
There’s a lot of other internet sources touting that it saw field testing in 45, and some claiming there’s an image of such in the hands of a soviet soldier amidst the rubble of berlin, though I’ve not had any luck tracking down said image.
According to this blog the SKS-31 was issued to troops on hte Belorussian Front in 1944 - but never saw combat, and the SKS carbine was never used in WW2 at all.
I generally trust TFB with these sorts of things in general, (I have them bookmarked and read them on the regular) but the only cited source is Kalashnikov Gun Magazine, and the article on the whole appears to be mostly just a translation and summary of what is stated on Kalashnikov ( dot ru).
Are ther other sources?
The wiki statement that the carbine was made in 1945 and tested in combat comes from here - which has no attribution:
https://modernfirearms.net/en/military-rifles/self-loading-rifles/russia-self-loading-rifles/simonov-sks-eng/
One wonders why they then took 4 years to adopt it!
“are there other sources”
I would point to my earlier comment where I cite a book source, ISBN 9789519718415.
And it was redesigned from x41 to x39 with the ammo changes going on in 45, plus there’s the fact that ww2 just ended and we saw prototype gun development get a pause directly after the end of both WW1 and WW2, the only reason things got kickstarted again after WW2 as quickly as they did was because of the ideological tensions between the soviets and the west.
I mean, I’d imagine it’s the same reason why the British dropped the Farquar-Hill and the US dropped the Peterson device at the end of WW1 instead of continuing to develop and adopt them. No more war, no more funding for wartime small arms. Or at least, not as much.
Yeah so you did… sorry - but your book reference says 44-45 in Byelorussian campaign - which can only be Bagration, which ended October 1944 - before the examples were made in 45.
The narative of htem being issued in 1944 fits the one where the SKS-31 was issued to troops of the Byelorussian Front in 1944 better.
It does, yes, which does suggest it was the SKS-31, even if the book says SKS-45. It’s possible the author had them mixed up.
I did, however, find one of the images that were supposedly of the SKS being field tested in 1945, this supposedly being from the 3rd Belorussian in April of 1945;
Still trying to track down the rumored berlin image that I keep seeing mentioned on forums but not finding.
Certainly looks a bit like an SKS - but it looks a bit AK47-ish - eg compare with this photo - (found both on a page dedicated to the howitzer - http://www.russianarms.ru/forum/index.php?topic=3535.0
The writing on the howitzers are different, though, so it’s rather unlikely they were taken of the same set of people.
Also looks nothing like an AK, given the vastly different dust cover and gas block system of the AK, the different front sight, (which appears to be fully hooded on the supposed SKS), and the larger bayonet lug that is indicative of being an SKS rather than a AK.
Yes I appreciate it’s not the same set for the photo - wasn’t suggesting that…but IMO the detail in the first one is insufficient for much conclusion.
Also check out Tank Archives: SKS: Experience is Experience -the photo could even be Rukavishnikov’s, which was apparently trialled in 1944 and 1945
Found a reference on an axis history forum where the potential for conflation between hte SKS-31 and the SKS 45 is discussed, including some text in Russian that states the -31 WAS used in combat - but only in October 1944 and links it back to the Kalashnikov site - which of course says it was NOT used in combat!!
There is a Russian document there I can’t read.
Unsurprisiongly they do not reach a conclusion!