actually Kalishnokov the K31 was VERY instrumental in WWII, its what kept Hitler outa Switzerland, he wanted to over run the Swiss badly but troops could never get past the Swiss markmen armed with the fast shooting extremally accurate K-31, A very good freind of mine was onea the German soldiers sent against the Swiss, all ya gotta do is listen to some of his stories to understand just how important a role that rifle played in WWII.
"Ever time we sent to Swizlerand dey chut... we die we die 500 meter we fall... de messer not chut 500 meter, when de say u go to Swiz frunt u sey why not chut me here? why make me march in de snow to be chot by de Swiz?"
The first time he saw the Swiss part of my collection he started cussin the K-31 as he removed one from the wall, he also recognized a few of the Swiss sniper rifles..... but admited he never saw one except one that had fallen into german hands and was used for training purposes untill decades after the war was over... But he was very familiar with the K-31
Everyone else has pretty much covered the rest ATBLIS has done an excellent job of listing them. The primary russian rifle was the 91/30 the M44 and M38s didn't hit the scene untill the last months of the War the 91/30 was the standard rifle that did more to win WWII than any American rifle did as we were actually Johny come latellys to WWII compared to the Russians and the British so your primary weapons would be the Russian 91/30 and don't forget the sniper version it was used extensivly by the Russians once they found there was another way to fight rather than just sending waves of bodies at the Germans, the Snipers were so feared it became un-popular to be a German officer, the average life span of a German officer anywhere near the russian front was 5 days! The British Enfield no 1 mkIII* saw extensive use followed by the NO.4MK1, The american 1903A3 saw alot of use but was replaced by the M1 late in the war, The Russian SVT40 actually saw more use by German elite units than it actually did for the Russians, WWII was dominated by the machine gun and subguns, ya really can't have a WWII collection without them as the PPSH was the #1 Soviet weapon, the British Stens and Sterlings were the primary arm, the Americans had the Thompsons and the Grease guns etc... Another very popular American weapon was the Winchester 12 gauge pump.... WWII was a trench war and long arms lost effectivness very quikly, Forcing Japan to pull out was more instrumental than the Garand for ending WWII, but by that time Hitler was already on his knees due to years of fighting the Russians on several fronts
), K31(not actually part of WWII but from that era), Swedish Mauser, Spanish Mauser, M39.
Methinks Germany's decision not to invade Switzerland might come from the same reason that you don't rob the bank that you have your money in.
