Rifles
The personal weapon of nearly all standard infantry soldiers of World War II was the rifle.
With some designs marking changes in the development of arms (the semi automatic M1 Garand and the StG44 Assault rifle), the majority of rifles harked back to World War I with few changes being adopted. In part this was because most countries needed to arm their drafted armies rapidly with trusted, simple and effective weapons.
Most rifles used in World War II were powerful, achieving a velocity high enough to enable their bullets to fly with an almost completely flat trajectory over a range of up to two kilometres. This made them extremely accurate firearms.
