| DS-39 | |
|---|---|
 A gun captured by the Finns | |
| Type | Medium machine gun |
| Place of origin | Soviet Union |
| Service history | |
| In service | 1939−1945 |
| Used by | Seeusers |
| Wars | World War II |
| Production history | |
| Designer | Vasily Degtyaryov |
| Designed | 1930 |
| Manufacturer | Tula Arsenal |
| Produced | 1940−1941 |
| No. built | 10,315 |
| Specifications | |
| Mass | 12.0 kg (26.4 lb) (gun only) 33 kg (72 lb) (with tripod and gun shield) |
| Length | 120 cm (46 in) |
| Cartridge | 7.62×54mmR |
| Action | Gas-operated,flapper locking |
| Rate of fire | 500−600 rpm (normal) 1,000−1,200 rpm (fast) |
| Muzzle velocity | 810 m/s (2,650 ft/s) |
| Feed system | 250-round canvas belt or 50-round metallic belt |
| References | [1] |
DS-39 (Russian:Дегтярёва Станковый образца 1939 года,romanized: Degtyaryova Stankovyy obraztsa 1939 goda) was aSovietmedium machine gun, designed byVasily Degtyaryov, that was used during theSecond World War. The work on the gun's design began in 1930, and it was accepted by theRed Army in September, 1939. About 10,000 were made from 1939 to 1941, but the weapon was not successful in service and its production was discontinued after theGerman invasion began in June, 1941, with factories converted to produce the older, more reliablePM M1910 (a WWI-eraMaxim machine gun design) which was in turn replaced by theSG-43 Goryunov medium machine gun in 1943.
The Soviets began mulling on a replacement for thePM M1910 in the 1920s:[a] while theMaxim proved to be a sound design, it was slow to manufacture, required specialized machine tools and skilled workers, it was also heavy to carry around in the battlefield, specially with the soldiers having to carry water for cooling the barrel.[b][4]
In 1928, they defined the specifications: It needed to be an air-cooled design with a firing mechanism similar to theDP andDT machine guns already in use (to simplify training), a firing rate of 500 rounds per minute, and fed by 150-round belts; the complete gun also needed to weigh no more than 30 kg (66 lb) with its mount, while the mounting itself had to be a tripod (with or without wheels) weighing no more than 15 kg (33 lb). Degtyaryov began working on the DS in 1930 with the assistance ofGeorgy Shpagin, who developed the belt-feeding system. After a long process of trials and fixing teething problems, the system was formally adopted by theRed Army in September 1939,[c] with serial production beginning in June 1940.[3]
The DS-39 was a tripod-mounted gun using the sameflapper locking action and gas piston used on the DP and DT machine guns, but thepan magazine was replaced by a belt feed and it featured a heavy finned barrel to improve air-cooling.[3][6] It also had an adjustable gas regulator and could be fitted with a spring-loaded buffer that doubled the rate of fire.[7] The gun had two spade grips with a trigger for each index finger, but the DS could only be fired after a thumb latch on the left grip was pushed (and the barrel was firmly locked in place). The right grip housed a brush and oil reservoir for field maintenance.[6] The gun was fed with 50-round metallic belts[d] or 250-round canvas belts used by the Maxim gun.[8]
The Degtyaryov was a relatively simple design, capable of being disassembled without tools (thoughGeorge M. Chinn stated that it wasn't as easy in comparison to other contemporary designs), but it also had little to nointerchangeable parts, and the finely machined exterior made it too difficult for mass production.[9]
Under field conditions the DS proved to be unreliable: the feeding system had a tendency of tearing thecartridge cases, the gun jammed under dusty conditions and froze up in cold weather.[3] In the anti-aircraft role, the tripod mount was unstable at maximum elevation and raising the fire rate only exacerbated the problems.[5]
According toIan V. Hogg, the gun was so problematic that its defects could only be ironed out with a complete redesign, which was one of the reasons why the Soviets resumed production of the PM M1910/30 after the German invasion.[3] According to Chinn, the failure of the DS was mostly due to problems of producing it in a large scale rather than the gun performance itself.[10]
Prior toGerman invasion in 1941, the Soviets relied on large numbers of the PM M1910/30 and despite misgivings, the DS-39 as their medium machine guns. After the invasion, the Soviets quickly resumed production of the Maxim and began searching for a replacement. In the spring of 1943, they chose a design by Pyotr Goryunov, theSG-43 as a replacement for the M1910/30 and the DS.[11] A total of 10,315 guns were produced between June 1940 and summer 1941 at theTula Arsenal.[3][5] While the M1910/30 remained in use with front-line troops, the remaining DS-39s were mostly issued to second-line troops.[5]
About 200 were captured by Finland in 1941 during theContinuation War and were used against their former owners. They also received some modifications (mostly around the action) fromAimo Lahti, partially solving the reliability problems. These modified guns remained in use until 1944. Surviving guns were kept in storage until 1986. Most were scrapped with only a handful surviving in military museums and private collections.[12]
