The StG44 assault rifle (Sturmgewehr 44, Assault Rifle 44) is an amazingly innovative weapon that gave birth to a whole generation of modern infantry assault rifles used around the world today. It combined the ease of use of a carbine with the firepower of a submachine-gun. The user could select one of two firing modes: semi-automatic, where one squeeze of the trigger gave the grenadier one shot, or fully-automatic, where the weapon fired as long as the grenadier held down the trigger or the weapon ran out of ammunition.