As discussed above, at the final recorded session of the SKInfWaffen, held at the Gustloff plant on De cember 12 and 13. 1944, the Haenel firm had been allowed to draw up a proposal for a simplified StG. developed by Hugo Schmeisser. At least one sample of the resulting weapon survived the war, and was brought to Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland and later depicted in the 1958 Aberdeen Proving Ground title Submachine Guns Volume I.
The StG45(H) was gas-operated, with a rigidly locked tilting bolt system like that of the MP44. The StG45(H) utilised a stamped receiver configured as a pair of simple box-like casings one on top of the other, hinged to break open at the rear for removing the bolt assembly.
The bolt carrier with fixed operating handle, a simple hooklike plate which reciprocated in a slot on the left side of the receiver, was a stamping, with the machined gas piston attached to it and held in place by two hexagonal nuts. With the bolt in the forward position the ejection port in the receiver was covered from the inside by the correspondingly shaped outer surface of the bolt carrier. The bolt head was a machined part, but of much simpler shape than that of the StG44.
The firing system was simplified compared to the StG44, but the same safety lever and push-through fire selector were used. The gas cylinder, an elongated smooth metal tube, was located above the barrel and extended to the muzzle end to permit the use of a simplified and much smaller front sight base. which was fixed onto the end of the tube. This constructional feature would have prevented the use of the standard rifle grenade launcher, and it is doubtful if WaPrüf2 would have accepted the weapon in this form. The rear sight, identical to that of the StG44, was fixed directly onto the receiver cover instead of onto a raised sight base, thus lowering the sight axis. The gas block (connector) was similar to that of the StG44, but with a simplified smooth surface, eliminating the depressions on either side. The butt stock and grip piece were of solid wood, fixed onto the receiver.
No documents have been found dealing with the development of the Haenel assault rifle, which was obviously constructed during the last months of the war. Certainly no official trials were ever carried out with it, and it can be assumed that the example depicted was found by US troops when they occu piod the Haenel factory on April 3, 1945.
Judging from its very simple construction, the production time of the StG45(H) would have been considerably lower than that of the StG 44.
