Assault rifle (English Wikipedia)

Major Thomas P. Ehrhart "Increasing Small Arms Lethality in Afghanistan: Taking Back the Infantry Half-Kilometer" Archived 2013-07-19 at the Wayback Machine. U.S. Army. 2009
Report of the M16 rifle review panel Archived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine. Department of the Army. dtic.mil. 1 June 1968
Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Research, Development, Acquisition (1 June 1968), Report of the M16 Review Panel (PDF), M16 Surveys in the Republic of Vietnam, Washington, D.C.: Department of the Army, archived (PDF) from the original on 4 March 2016, retrieved 8 July 2016

dtic.mil

Donald L. Hall An effectiveness study of the infantry rifle Archived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine (PDF). Report No. 593. Ballistic Research Laboratories. Maryland. March 1952 (released March 29, 1973)
Per G. Arvidsson Weapons & Sensors Archived 2012-09-04 at the Wayback Machine. NATO Army Armaments Group

fieldandstream.com

""Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941. Kalashnikov, by then a sergeant, was injured within months when a shell stopped his T-34 tank and sent shrapnel through his shoulder. As Soviet history tells it, while Sgt. Kalashnikov recuperated, he began tinkering with infantry weapons, eventually setting his mind on designing a lightweight automatic assault rifle that would expel the better-armed Nazis from Russian soil. Soviet infantry fought World War II with two basic small arms: one was the badly outdated Mosin–Nagant Model 1891 bolt-action rifle. The other was the PPSh series of submachine guns, reliable arms that were effective but only at short range. Something better was needed, and that something was in the hands of the Nazi Wehrmacht. It was called the MP44 Sturmgewehr (assault rifle), and it could fire in full or semiautomatic mode. Chambered for a revolutionary new cartridge, a short 7.92mm round that was less powerful than a full-size rifle cartridge, yet far more powerful than the pistol cartridges for which submachine guns were chambered, the Sturmgewehr made a deep impression on the Soviets who faced it." The Father of 100 Million Rifles Mikhail Kalashnikov was a poor Russian farm boy who happened to be a mechanical genius, and for better or for worse, the rifle he designed has changed history. Article by C.J. Chivers. Uploaded on February 28, 2006". 25 December 2013. Archived from the original on August 15, 2016. Retrieved July 8, 2016.

foxnews.com

"AK-47 Inventor Doesn't Lose Sleep Over Havoc Wrought With His Invention". USA: FoxNews.com. 6 July 2007. OCLC 36334372. Archived from the original on 3 June 2010. Retrieved 3 April 2010. It was before he started designing the gun that he slept badly, worried about the superior weapons that Nazi soldiers were using with grisly effectiveness against the Red Army in World War II. He saw them at close range himself while fighting on the front lines. While hospitalized with wounds after a Nazi shell hit his tank in the 1941 battle of Bryansk, Kalashnikov decided to design an automatic rifle combining the best features of the American M1 and the German StG44. "Blame the Nazi Germans for making me become a gun designer", said Kalashnikov, frail but sharp at age 87. "I always wanted to construct agriculture machinery.

gunfax.com

"US Army intelligence document FSTC-CW-07-03-70, November 1970". Gunfax.com. Archived from the original on 2012-08-29. Retrieved 2012-08-26.

ibiblio.org

HyperWar: The Big 'L'-American Logistics in World War II Archived 2013-12-03 at the Wayback Machine. Ibiblio.org. Retrieved on 2011-12-24.

imageseek.com

Lee Emerson M14 Rifle History and Development Archived 2017-12-15 at the Wayback Machine. October 10, 2006

independencearmory.com

Col. E. H. Harrison (NRA Technical Staff) New Service Rifle Archived 2015-11-07 at the Wayback Machine (PDF). June 1957

izhmash.ru

"IZHMASH JSC official site". June 29, 2011. Archived from the original on 2011-06-29.

lonesentry.com

"Machine Carbine Promoted: MP43 Is Now Assault Rifle StG44, WWII Tactical and Technical Trends, No. 57, April 1945". Lone Sentry. 2007-05-10. Archived from the original on 2012-09-21. Retrieved 2012-08-23.
"Machine Carbine Promoted, M.P. 43 Is Now "Assault Rifle 44", Tactical and Technical Trends, No. 57, April 1945, U.S. Military Intelligence Service, U.S. War Department publication". Archived from the original on 2008-01-16. Retrieved 2008-04-19.

looserounds.com

[11] Archived 2016-08-27 at the Wayback Machine The M14 not much for fighting (A case against the M14 legend)

m-14parts.com

Danford Allan Kern The influence of organizational culture on the acquisition of the m16 rifle Archived 2013-11-05 at the Wayback Machine. m-14parts.com. A thesis presented to the Faculty of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree MASTER OF MILITARY ART AND SCIENCE, Military History. Fort Leavenworth, Kansas 2006

militaryfactory.com

[13] Archived 2014-07-01 at the Wayback Machine |The Kalashnikov AK-101 is an export assault rifle in operational service with at least nine nations worldwide

nationalinterest.org

Suciu, Peter (2020-11-26). "Meet the Most Influential Gun Designers of the 20th Century". The National Interest. Archived from the original on 2021-01-17. Retrieved 2021-04-21.

nildram.co.uk

quarry.nildram.co.uk

Anthony G Williams Assault Rifles And Their Ammunition: History and Prospects Archived June 2, 2014, at the Wayback Machine. Quarry.nildram.co.uk (revised 3 February 2012). Retrieved on 2011-11-23.
Assault Rifles and Their Ammunition: History and Prospects by Anthony G. Williams Archived 2014-06-02 at the Wayback Machine

nodakspud.com

Peter G. Kokalis Retro AR-15 Archived 2013-10-29 at the Wayback Machine. nodakspud.com

nramuseum.com

[9] Archived 2013-12-04 at the Wayback Machine |CUT DOWN in its Youth, Arguably Americas Best Service Rifle, the M14 Never Had the Chance to Prove Itself. By Philip Schreier, SSUSA, September 2001, pp. 24–29, 46

oneworld-publications.com

Chapter 1. Symbol of violence, war and culture Archived June 16, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. oneworld-publications.com

patents.google.com

US5513461A – Light-weight automatic rifle. Google.com. Retrieved 2015-7-15.

pogoarchives.org

[2] Archived 2015-09-06 at the Wayback Machine M16 Rifle Case Study. Prepared for the Presidents Blue Ribbon Defense Panel. March 16, 1970. By Richard R. Hallock, Colonel U.S. Army (Retired)
[3] Archived 2015-09-06 at the Wayback Machine M16 Rifle Case Study. Prepared for the President's Blue Ribbon Defense Panel. March 16, 1970. By Richard R. Hallock, Colonel U.S. Army (Retired)
[5] Archived 2015-09-06 at the Wayback Machine M16 Rifle Case Study. Prepared for the President's Blue Ribbon Defense Panel. March 16, 1970. By Richard R. Hallock, Colonel U.S. Army (Retired) "Used in quantity against the Soviets at Stalingrad, the German Sturmgewehr made a deep impression on the Russians. They copied the ballistics of the cartridge while improving the configuration and improving the weapon. They standardized the weapon in 1947 as the AK-47 rifle."

popularmechanics.com

History of AK-47 Gun – The Gun Book Review Archived 2014-08-03 at the Wayback Machine. Popular Mechanics (2010-10-12). Retrieved on 2012-02-09.

pravda.ru

english.pravda.ru

[6] Archived 2015-10-15 at the Wayback Machine "The history of the world-known gun started on July 15th, 1943, when a captured complex—an MP-43 gun and a cartridge—were demonstrated at a meeting of the arms committee. Chief designer Nikolay Elizarov and chief engineer Pavel Ryazanov created the Soviet "interim cartridge " within a very short period of time. The technological support was provided by Boris Syomin. After that, scientists started working on a new fire arms system for that cartridge." The History of Kalashnikov Gun. Pravda. 02.08.2003

slate.com

Koerner, Brendan (September 16, 2004). "What Is an Assault Weapon? At last, you can get a semiautomatic rifle with a bayonet". Slate. Archived from the original on September 13, 2014. Retrieved January 26, 2013.

smallarmsreview.com

[10] Archived 2016-04-22 at the Wayback Machine Small Arms Review, "M14 Vs. M16 In Vietnam", By Robert Bruce

tactical-life.com

"Tactical Life. Bulgarian AK-74 5.45x39mm. The AK-74 signified the Soviets' response to the West's M16. By Michael Humphreis October 15, 2013". 16 October 2013. Archived from the original on August 1, 2016. Retrieved July 17, 2016.

telegraph.co.uk

"Interview with AK-47 rifle inventor Mikhail Kalashnikov. Russia celebrates Mikhail Kalashnikov's 90th birthday – the designer who armed the world. This online supplement is produced and published by Rossiyskaya Gazeta (Russia), which takes sole responsibility for the content". Archived from the original on 2015-12-09. Retrieved 2018-04-06.

theatlantic.com

[1] Archived 2017-03-30 at the Wayback Machine The Atlantic. "A Brief History of the Assault Rifle". (The gun's name may have been coined by Adolf Hitler.) by Michael Shurkin. Jun. 30, 2016

theguardian.com

[8] Archived 2017-05-10 at the Wayback Machine Interview with AK-47 rifle inventor Mikhail Kalashnikov. 'I sleep soundly' Shamed by his parents' exile, he was determined to do his bit for the Soviet cause. And so Mikhail Kalashnikov invented what was to become the world's most prolific killing machine. Nick Paton Walsh tracks down the 83-year-old at his tranquil lakeside. by Nick Paton Walsh. The Guardian, Thursday 9 October 2003

vsms.org

[12] Archived 2013-12-03 at the Wayback Machine Compendium Special Operations by Armada. Assault Rifles. by Paolo Valpolini 2/2012 "Among western armies the M4 with its 356-mm-long barrel remains the benchmark type, although reports from the field have shown some criticism regarding its reliability in sand and dusty environments due to the direct impingement or 'gas-tube' system that tends to bring carbon blow-back into the chamber, while hot gases used to cycle the weapon generate heat problems."

washingtonpost.com

Weapon Of Mass Destruction Archived 2011-09-27 at the Wayback Machine. Washingtonpost.com. Retrieved on 2011-11-19.

web.archive.org

"Assault rifle". Encyclopædia Britannica. 3 July 2010. Archived from the original on 24 November 2012. Retrieved 2012-08-26.
[1] Archived 2017-03-30 at the Wayback Machine The Atlantic. "A Brief History of the Assault Rifle". (The gun's name may have been coined by Adolf Hitler.) by Michael Shurkin. Jun. 30, 2016
"Machine Carbine Promoted: MP43 Is Now Assault Rifle StG44, WWII Tactical and Technical Trends, No. 57, April 1945". Lone Sentry. 2007-05-10. Archived from the original on 2012-09-21. Retrieved 2012-08-23.
Suciu, Peter (2020-11-26). "Meet the Most Influential Gun Designers of the 20th Century". The National Interest. Archived from the original on 2021-01-17. Retrieved 2021-04-21.
"US Army intelligence document FSTC-CW-07-03-70, November 1970". Gunfax.com. Archived from the original on 2012-08-29. Retrieved 2012-08-26.
Koerner, Brendan (September 16, 2004). "What Is an Assault Weapon? At last, you can get a semiautomatic rifle with a bayonet". Slate. Archived from the original on September 13, 2014. Retrieved January 26, 2013.
Lord, Debbie (May 26, 2022). "Assault Weapon vs. Assault Rifle: What Is the Difference?". WOKV-FM. Archived from the original on September 28, 2022. Retrieved June 3, 2022.
[2] Archived 2015-09-06 at the Wayback Machine M16 Rifle Case Study. Prepared for the Presidents Blue Ribbon Defense Panel. March 16, 1970. By Richard R. Hallock, Colonel U.S. Army (Retired)
Major Thomas P. Ehrhart "Increasing Small Arms Lethality in Afghanistan: Taking Back the Infantry Half-Kilometer" Archived 2013-07-19 at the Wayback Machine. U.S. Army. 2009
[3] Archived 2015-09-06 at the Wayback Machine M16 Rifle Case Study. Prepared for the President's Blue Ribbon Defense Panel. March 16, 1970. By Richard R. Hallock, Colonel U.S. Army (Retired)
Weapon Of Mass Destruction Archived 2011-09-27 at the Wayback Machine. Washingtonpost.com. Retrieved on 2011-11-19.
"AK-47 Inventor Doesn't Lose Sleep Over Havoc Wrought With His Invention". USA: FoxNews.com. 6 July 2007. OCLC 36334372. Archived from the original on 3 June 2010. Retrieved 3 April 2010. It was before he started designing the gun that he slept badly, worried about the superior weapons that Nazi soldiers were using with grisly effectiveness against the Red Army in World War II. He saw them at close range himself while fighting on the front lines. While hospitalized with wounds after a Nazi shell hit his tank in the 1941 battle of Bryansk, Kalashnikov decided to design an automatic rifle combining the best features of the American M1 and the German StG44. "Blame the Nazi Germans for making me become a gun designer", said Kalashnikov, frail but sharp at age 87. "I always wanted to construct agriculture machinery.
""Born in November 1919 – one of 18 children, of whom only six survived – Mikhail Kalashnikov was a Soviet T-38 tank commander in 1941, wounded in the shoulder and back when a German shell smashed part of the tank's armor into his body. "I was in the hospital, and a soldier in the bed beside me asked: 'Why do our soldiers have only one rifle for two or three of our men, when the Germans have automatics?' So I designed one. I was a soldier, and I created a machine gun for a soldier. It was called an Avtomat Kalashnikova, the automatic weapon of Kalashnikov – AK – and it carried the date of its first manufacture, 1947." An interview with Mikhail Kalashnikov, Robert Fisk, The Independent (centrist), London, England. April 22, 2001". Archived from the original on October 1, 2016. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
Chapter 1. Symbol of violence, war and culture Archived June 16, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. oneworld-publications.com
[5] Archived 2015-09-06 at the Wayback Machine M16 Rifle Case Study. Prepared for the President's Blue Ribbon Defense Panel. March 16, 1970. By Richard R. Hallock, Colonel U.S. Army (Retired) "Used in quantity against the Soviets at Stalingrad, the German Sturmgewehr made a deep impression on the Russians. They copied the ballistics of the cartridge while improving the configuration and improving the weapon. They standardized the weapon in 1947 as the AK-47 rifle."
[6] Archived 2015-10-15 at the Wayback Machine "The history of the world-known gun started on July 15th, 1943, when a captured complex—an MP-43 gun and a cartridge—were demonstrated at a meeting of the arms committee. Chief designer Nikolay Elizarov and chief engineer Pavel Ryazanov created the Soviet "interim cartridge " within a very short period of time. The technological support was provided by Boris Syomin. After that, scientists started working on a new fire arms system for that cartridge." The History of Kalashnikov Gun. Pravda. 02.08.2003
""Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941. Kalashnikov, by then a sergeant, was injured within months when a shell stopped his T-34 tank and sent shrapnel through his shoulder. As Soviet history tells it, while Sgt. Kalashnikov recuperated, he began tinkering with infantry weapons, eventually setting his mind on designing a lightweight automatic assault rifle that would expel the better-armed Nazis from Russian soil. Soviet infantry fought World War II with two basic small arms: one was the badly outdated Mosin–Nagant Model 1891 bolt-action rifle. The other was the PPSh series of submachine guns, reliable arms that were effective but only at short range. Something better was needed, and that something was in the hands of the Nazi Wehrmacht. It was called the MP44 Sturmgewehr (assault rifle), and it could fire in full or semiautomatic mode. Chambered for a revolutionary new cartridge, a short 7.92mm round that was less powerful than a full-size rifle cartridge, yet far more powerful than the pistol cartridges for which submachine guns were chambered, the Sturmgewehr made a deep impression on the Soviets who faced it." The Father of 100 Million Rifles Mikhail Kalashnikov was a poor Russian farm boy who happened to be a mechanical genius, and for better or for worse, the rifle he designed has changed history. Article by C.J. Chivers. Uploaded on February 28, 2006". 25 December 2013. Archived from the original on August 15, 2016. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
History of AK-47 Gun – The Gun Book Review Archived 2014-08-03 at the Wayback Machine. Popular Mechanics (2010-10-12). Retrieved on 2012-02-09.
[7]^[usurped] Small Arms Identification and Operations Guide-Eurasain Communist Countries. by Harold E. Johnson. September 1973. U.S. Army Foreign Science and Technology Center of the U.S. Army Materiel Command.
[8] Archived 2017-05-10 at the Wayback Machine Interview with AK-47 rifle inventor Mikhail Kalashnikov. 'I sleep soundly' Shamed by his parents' exile, he was determined to do his bit for the Soviet cause. And so Mikhail Kalashnikov invented what was to become the world's most prolific killing machine. Nick Paton Walsh tracks down the 83-year-old at his tranquil lakeside. by Nick Paton Walsh. The Guardian, Thursday 9 October 2003
"Interview with AK-47 rifle inventor Mikhail Kalashnikov. Russia celebrates Mikhail Kalashnikov's 90th birthday – the designer who armed the world. This online supplement is produced and published by Rossiyskaya Gazeta (Russia), which takes sole responsibility for the content". Archived from the original on 2015-12-09. Retrieved 2018-04-06.
Killicoat, Phillip (April 2007). "Weaponomics: The Global Market for Assault Rifles" (PDF). World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 4202 (Post-Conflict Transitions Working Paper No. 10). Oxford University. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 January 2012. Retrieved 3 April 2010.
"Machine Carbine Promoted, M.P. 43 Is Now "Assault Rifle 44", Tactical and Technical Trends, No. 57, April 1945, U.S. Military Intelligence Service, U.S. War Department publication". Archived from the original on 2008-01-16. Retrieved 2008-04-19.
[9] Archived 2013-12-04 at the Wayback Machine |CUT DOWN in its Youth, Arguably Americas Best Service Rifle, the M14 Never Had the Chance to Prove Itself. By Philip Schreier, SSUSA, September 2001, pp. 24–29, 46
Gordon Rottman (2011). The M16. Osprey Publishing. p. 6. ISBN 978-1-84908-690-5. Archived from the original on 2016-01-24. Retrieved 2015-10-29.
Arms of the Chosin Few Archived 2013-12-05 at the Wayback Machine. Americanrifleman.org. Retrieved on 2011-11-23.
Donald L. Hall An effectiveness study of the infantry rifle Archived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine (PDF). Report No. 593. Ballistic Research Laboratories. Maryland. March 1952 (released March 29, 1973)
"South to the Naktong – North to the Yalu". History.army.mil. Archived from the original on 2013-11-02. Retrieved 2012-08-23.
HyperWar: The Big 'L'-American Logistics in World War II Archived 2013-12-03 at the Wayback Machine. Ibiblio.org. Retrieved on 2011-12-24.
The Logistics of Invasion Archived 2015-06-22 at the Wayback Machine. Almc.army.mil. Retrieved on 2011-11-23.
Col. E. H. Harrison (NRA Technical Staff) New Service Rifle Archived 2015-11-07 at the Wayback Machine (PDF). June 1957
Anthony G Williams Assault Rifles And Their Ammunition: History and Prospects Archived June 2, 2014, at the Wayback Machine. Quarry.nildram.co.uk (revised 3 February 2012). Retrieved on 2011-11-23.
[10] Archived 2016-04-22 at the Wayback Machine Small Arms Review, "M14 Vs. M16 In Vietnam", By Robert Bruce
Lee Emerson M14 Rifle History and Development Archived 2017-12-15 at the Wayback Machine. October 10, 2006
Danford Allan Kern The influence of organizational culture on the acquisition of the m16 rifle Archived 2013-11-05 at the Wayback Machine. m-14parts.com. A thesis presented to the Faculty of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree MASTER OF MILITARY ART AND SCIENCE, Military History. Fort Leavenworth, Kansas 2006
Peter G. Kokalis Retro AR-15 Archived 2013-10-29 at the Wayback Machine. nodakspud.com
[11] Archived 2016-08-27 at the Wayback Machine The M14 not much for fighting (A case against the M14 legend)
Report of the M16 rifle review panel Archived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine. Department of the Army. dtic.mil. 1 June 1968
Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Research, Development, Acquisition (1 June 1968), Report of the M16 Review Panel (PDF), M16 Surveys in the Republic of Vietnam, Washington, D.C.: Department of the Army, archived (PDF) from the original on 4 March 2016, retrieved 8 July 2016
Per G. Arvidsson Weapons & Sensors Archived 2012-09-04 at the Wayback Machine. NATO Army Armaments Group
[12] Archived 2013-12-03 at the Wayback Machine Compendium Special Operations by Armada. Assault Rifles. by Paolo Valpolini 2/2012 "Among western armies the M4 with its 356-mm-long barrel remains the benchmark type, although reports from the field have shown some criticism regarding its reliability in sand and dusty environments due to the direct impingement or 'gas-tube' system that tends to bring carbon blow-back into the chamber, while hot gases used to cycle the weapon generate heat problems."
""Colt literature notes that the fourth generation of the M16 "still represents the world standard by which all other weapons of this class are judged. Its combat-proven performance is verified by the fact that over eight million M16 weapon systems have been produced and placed in military service throughout the world." Soldier Armed. M16A4 Rifle. By Scott R. Gourley. Army Magazine. July 2008 p. 75" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2015-09-23. Retrieved 2016-07-08.
Assault Rifles and Their Ammunition: History and Prospects by Anthony G. Williams Archived 2014-06-02 at the Wayback Machine
"An Improved Battlesight Zero for the M4 Carbine and M16A2 Rifle". Archived from the original on 2011-10-25. Retrieved 2007-09-11.
"TM 9-1005-319-10 (2010) – Operator's Manual for Rifle, 5.56mm, M16A2/M16A3/M4 (Battlesight Zero pp. 48–55)" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2014-02-08. Retrieved 2014-06-03.
LEGION Ltd. – the producer of high quality firearms with period artistic treatment (threading, engraving, incrustation) and improved finishing. izhmash.ru
[13] Archived 2014-07-01 at the Wayback Machine |The Kalashnikov AK-101 is an export assault rifle in operational service with at least nine nations worldwide
"Arsenal AR-M1 5.56mm assault rifle". Archived from the original on June 18, 2014.
"AK-74 Assault Rifle – Military-Today.com". Archived from the original on 2015-01-09. Retrieved 2016-07-08.
"Tactical Life. Bulgarian AK-74 5.45x39mm. The AK-74 signified the Soviets' response to the West's M16. By Michael Humphreis October 15, 2013". 16 October 2013. Archived from the original on August 1, 2016. Retrieved July 17, 2016.
"IZHMASH JSC official site". June 29, 2011. Archived from the original on 2011-06-29.

wokv.com

Lord, Debbie (May 26, 2022). "Assault Weapon vs. Assault Rifle: What Is the Difference?". WOKV-FM. Archived from the original on September 28, 2022. Retrieved June 3, 2022.

worldbank.org

www-wds.worldbank.org

Killicoat, Phillip (April 2007). "Weaponomics: The Global Market for Assault Rifles" (PDF). World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 4202 (Post-Conflict Transitions Working Paper No. 10). Oxford University. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 January 2012. Retrieved 3 April 2010.

worldcat.org

search.worldcat.org

"AK-47 Inventor Doesn't Lose Sleep Over Havoc Wrought With His Invention". USA: FoxNews.com. 6 July 2007. OCLC 36334372. Archived from the original on 3 June 2010. Retrieved 3 April 2010. It was before he started designing the gun that he slept badly, worried about the superior weapons that Nazi soldiers were using with grisly effectiveness against the Red Army in World War II. He saw them at close range himself while fighting on the front lines. While hospitalized with wounds after a Nazi shell hit his tank in the 1941 battle of Bryansk, Kalashnikov decided to design an automatic rifle combining the best features of the American M1 and the German StG44. "Blame the Nazi Germans for making me become a gun designer", said Kalashnikov, frail but sharp at age 87. "I always wanted to construct agriculture machinery.

worldpress.org

""Born in November 1919 – one of 18 children, of whom only six survived – Mikhail Kalashnikov was a Soviet T-38 tank commander in 1941, wounded in the shoulder and back when a German shell smashed part of the tank's armor into his body. "I was in the hospital, and a soldier in the bed beside me asked: 'Why do our soldiers have only one rifle for two or three of our men, when the Germans have automatics?' So I designed one. I was a soldier, and I created a machine gun for a soldier. It was called an Avtomat Kalashnikova, the automatic weapon of Kalashnikov – AK – and it carried the date of its first manufacture, 1947." An interview with Mikhail Kalashnikov, Robert Fisk, The Independent (centrist), London, England. April 22, 2001". Archived from the original on October 1, 2016. Retrieved July 8, 2016.