The Germans intended to eventually arm every soldier with a submachine gun outfitted with a 30-degree bent barrel and Zeiss sight. The combination of the machine pistol’s firepower and the Krummer Lauf’s around-the-corner capability would have been devastating in European street fighting. In testing the 30-degree model, Captain Sharpe observed that it shot perfectly. At 100 meters this author could place four out of five shots in a letter-head size target….Had these [Krummer Lauf devices] ever gotten into full production and distribution, they would have cost us many thousands of casualties.

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The Krummer Lauf attachment could not stem the sweeping tide of the Soviets in the east or the advancing Allies from the west. Variations of the bent barrels were on the drawing tables for fitting to other German weapons. A 40-degree-bend Krummer Lauf was developed, but never made it past the experimental stage.

Like many thousands of German soldiers, Colonel Hans Joachim Schaede was captured by the Soviets at war’s end. Sent to various prisons in the Soviet Union, he was specifically targeted by their military courts for his efforts on tank development and the creation of the Krummer Lauf. In 1953, he was finally released and returned to a quiet life in Germany. Schaede died in 1967.

This article was written by Kenneth P. Czech and originally appeared in the February 1996 issue of World War II magazine. For more great articles subscribe to World War II magazine today!

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