The part about the Soviets wining becuase of bigger magazine is true. How long would YOU last armede witha bolt action when a bunch of guys charge you armed with drum-fed SMGs with a huge ROF? Oh, and outnumbering the enemy 20-1 never hurts. If Stalin had left the army alone, the Eastern front would have lasted about a year. Or maybe not. Who knows?

It was mainly the quantity of SMGs the Soviets fielded that made the difference, not the magazine capacity. It's a little known fact that Soviet soldiers generally preferred the 35-round stick magazines over the 71-round drum, because they were less bulky and more reliable (apparently the drum was somewhat jam-prone, especially if filled to capacity), and would usually only carry one drum mag along with a bunch of sticks.

Anyway, the reason the Soviets won is certainly not as simple as they had bigger mags. SMGs only lent the Soviets a significant advantage in close quarters combat, as the Germans did tend to have a distinct lack of close quarters firepower in comparison. Not all fighting was house-to-house, though, and the Germans were generally better trained and their squad organization focused on the use of light machine guns (first the MG34, later the fearsome MG42) which I shouldn't have to tell you have far more range and accuracy than any SMG. Sure, a platoon of PPSH-wielding Russians might whoop a bunch of German riflemen in some city streets, but try throwing that same platoon of PPSH-wielding Russians at a well-positioned machine gun nest or two at a hundred meters range and see who comes out on top.

The main reason the Soviets defeated the Germans in the end was simply that they had vast resources (both in terms of manpower and raw materials for manufacturing) and could churn out many more guns and tanks than the Germans could, which was a much bigger factor in their victory than the magazine capacity of one of their guns. The Germans must have known that they wouldn't be able to keep it up as long as the Soviets if they got themselves into a protracted war against them. They knew their only realistic chance to defeat the Soviets was with a quick and decisive campaign. They tried that and failed, only just.

You're right. The Soviets won by having a zillion high-capacity SMGs, and even more men.

I like how in video games the russians seem to have more ppshs than mosins. And half the german army uses mp40s and stg44s.

Actually from playing Call of Duty, I've noticed that the Germans do use mostly Karbiners and MP40s and occasionally MP44s. For Russians, when they were in the cities of Germany, they started to swap out with Ppsh SMGs because of the close quarter combat. So it would be accurate. By the end of the war, MP44s were everywhere, just didn't make a different in the German army because they were lost.

The Russians also have extreme determination to win the war, that and the no retreat policy. If you step back, you get shot. The Russians suffered the most causalities during WWII, and it was mostly due to charge attacks like a tidal wave against the Germans. Sure, a lot of them would get mowed down, but eventually the Germans would run out of ammo, or their barrels would get hot and the rest of the wave of Russians would finish them off.

I realy liked playing Medal Of Honor Alied Assault becase it got the guns right. I can forgive the large number of MP40s, but the StG/Mp44 shows up WAY too early in every game I've played. And, can we please have moblie MG42s? Yes, it would be overpowered, but that's life. Through in a M1919, a Lewis gun and a DP and I'll be happy. Oh, and can I get a shotgun that has a good ROF and is avalibe in campain?

And can hit something more than 10 feet away.

^That's gospel right there. ;)

Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45 has portable, deployable machine guns, including the MG 42, it's a beast and can make life really hard for the players on the Russian team if they don't have a sniper or tank support to counter it with.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiM-jcKVX2Q
(It's from the UT2004 mod that preceded the game, but the MG 42 is implemented in almost exactly the same way in both)

The shotgun question was mostly refering to Call of Duty 2, since the shotgun is only availibe in multiplayer and has poor ROF, though it has huge damage. I've seen 2 peolpe go down from 1 shot in multiplayer. 2 more gripes related to Battlefield 2: 1. Why does my M249 overheat after firing 40 rounds? Why is it so inacurate? 2. Can EA ever get pistol reload animations right?