[Tarrif]

It was designed to provide firepower along the lines of a LMG but the accuracy of a rifle. For units like paratroopers, weapons were sometimes designed under the jack-of-all-trades principle. It was never meant to totally replace the rifle or the LMG - especially since it was complicated and expensive to produce. Had the FG-42 been quick and easy to produce, its possible it would have become the primary weapon of the Fallschrimjaegers, but that wasn't the case, so only one or two men per squad recieved them and they were used to augment the firepower of the squad.