The past hides plenty of secrets and mysteries that intrigue us to dig deep into the days that are long gone and learn more of the lives of our ancestors.

In the depths of a great grandfather’s loft, a man found an unusual discovery. Covered in dust, the strange object had stood there probably for a lot of years.

Eager to learn more, he took to Reddit to ask fellow redditors what it was, and as always, they didn’t dissapoint.

After plenty of speculations, the mystery was unraveled.

It turned out that the object was an MG-42, a machine gun that achieved legendary status for its rapid rate of fire.

It is a German recoil-operated air-cooled general-purpose machine gun used extensively by the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS during the second half of World War II.

German troops called it the “Knochensäge” which translates to “bone saw.” GIs altered the translation and began calling it “Buzz Saw” or “Hitler’s Buzz Saw” because of the distinctive sound it made.

The MG-42 played pivotal role in military history. It’s firepower struck fear into the enemies.

At the time, its design was considered revolutionary. Its features made it very efficient and simple to produce.

The MG-42’s rate–reaching was up to 1,500 rounds per minute under certain conditions.

In spite of its tendency to overheat, the MG-42 was an excellent weapon that was light-years of ahead of the US counterpart, the Browning M-1919A4 machine gun.

Finding this powerful machine gun inside a loft raised plenty of questions of how it even ended up there in the first place. For those who stumbled upon it, it is a representation of their family history and helps them create a better connection with their ancestors.

On top of it, this discovery showed the power of the online community and their ability to show incredible knowledge about everything, including the identification of a military relic.

By preserving these artifacts, we preserve history.