Around this time Hitler began hearing the glowing reports coming back from the front lines; so he changed the designation of the rifle once again. This time the name was changed to Sturmgewehr 1944, shortened to STG44. This name was completely for propaganda purposes and it gave the assault rifle its name today because the translation literally means "storm rifle ", or assault rifle. This name sounded menacing to the Germans, and they believed that it would intimidate their enemies also. .
The true success of the STG44 came from the inner workings of the rifle. This rifle brought into play a whole new way of cycling rounds. This weapon utilized a piston drive system in which the gas from the spent round is used to drive back a piston. This piston then pushes back the bolt ejecting the round and loading a new one. This new system proved reliable and deadly to enemies. It was a stroke of luck that it came too late to change the course of the war. It would have been extremely devastating to the allies if it had come any sooner. After the war, development of this rifle was stopped, though its repercussions can still be felt today. This rifle led to two main weapons that share many traits today, the first of these being the AK47.
Near the end of the Second World War when the Soviets in the Red Army were effectively driving the Nazi war machine out of Poland and back into Germany, they were repeatedly confronted by the latest development in German Military Technology, the STG44. This weapon used a smaller caliber bullet with fully automatic fire, giving the power of a multi person machinegun crew to a one-person crew. After the war, the Allied forces examined a number of the 450,000 produced to develop their own weapons. One of these people was the infamous weapons engineer Mikhail Kalashnikov.
Mikhail Kalashnikov was conscripted to be in the Soviet army in 1938 as a tank driver. In 1941 he was injured in the Battle of Bryansk and was sent to a military hospital.
