In films about the Great Patriotic War, many factual inaccuracies and gross errors are often made, and this is typical not only for modern films, but also for works shot during the Soviet era. And the MP-40 assault rifle should be classified as one of the brightest "movie bloopers".
In the films, the Nazis walk briskly, holding a submachine gun dangling from their hips … Almost every WWII-themed game set includes an MP-40 toy machine gun. And few people remember that the saturation of the German troops with these weapons was weak, since the infantry was mainly armed with Mauser carbines. Because of this, the Nazi infantrymen did not disdain captured PPSh and PPS, converted to a 9-mm Parabellum cartridge.
Hugo or not Hugo?
Very often the weapon is called "Schmeiser". The MP-40 assault rifle is rather Vollmer, since Hugo Schmeisser himself had nothing to do with its creation. Well, except for borrowing from his store design inventions. The famous gunsmith created the MP-18, MP-28 and, subsequently, the MP-41. By the way, the first two models for service with the German army intheir time did not go. The generals (like their Soviet colleagues, by the way) considered submachine guns to be “toys” that could only be used by the police.
But the coming to power of Hitler, who, contrary to popular belief, was never a profane, allowed the gunsmiths to turn around to the fullest. Already in 1938, they received a state order for the creation of a submachine gun, which could equip the landing force, armored vehicle crews, gun servants, doctors and other persons who were not supposed to have a full-size rifle or carbine. The order eventually went to Erma.
Old developments and new design
This was no coincidence, since the company's engineers by that time already had a backlog in the form of the Erma 36 submachine gun they created. The main developer of this weapon was Heinrich Volmer. His outstanding innovation is the use of cold stamping from rolled sheets. Nobody else did that at the time.
It was on the basis of "Erma" that he created the MP-38, from which the MP-40 submachine gun subsequently "grew". There were no wooden parts, which greatly facilitated production; food was produced from a sector detachable magazine for 32 rounds. It soon became clear that the advanced stamping technique only produced parts of not very high quality, and therefore manufacturers had to return to complex and expensive milling.
By the way, the Germans failed to bring the technology of cold stamping to perfection throughout the war. At first they didn't have it toughnecessary, and then there were no more resources and time left. Hugo Schmeiser tried to rectify the situation: he took the MP-40 assault rifle, the technical characteristics of which we describe, as a basis, creating his MP-41. But it was too late.
The emergence of MP-40
All this reduced the rate of production so much that by the beginning of WWII, the Nazis were armed with less than nine thousand of these submachine guns. Because of this, in the middle of 1940, the company received an order to modernize the weapon, which would make it possible to raise its manufacturability to an acceptable level. Volmer coped with the task. Firstly, the technology of cold stamping of the receiver was nevertheless worked out and adjusted, parts from scarce aluminum were replaced with steel ones.
This is how the MP-40 assault rifle appeared, which was immediately put into mass production. How strange, but even in wartime, both the MP-40 and its ancestor, the MP-38, were produced. It is believed that between 1940 and 1945, about one and a half million units were produced (most likely no more than 1.3 million). So you can forget about the total armament of the German infantry with these weapons: hardly every tenth was armed with machine guns.
The cartridge is the standard 9x19 Parabellum, which today has become the de facto standard for both pistols and submachine guns around the world. Note that specifically for machine guns in Nazi Germany they produced special cartridges with an increased weight of gunpowder and a bullet that had better penetrating and barrier action. It was strongly discouraged to use them in pistols, since inas a result, the weapon wore out quickly.
Working principle
The automation of the German PP was quite primitive, working on the principle of a free shutter. The latter was very massive, a powerful return spring was responsible for its movement. Since the weapon was distinguished by a massive shutter and a powerful return damper, its rate of fire (six shots per second) did not even come close to that of the PPSh, which had a very good effect on the accuracy of … single shots. The reverse side of the coin turned out to be the practical impossibility of "covering" a single target with a burst. When firing tracers, it was clear how the target often ended up exactly in the gap between the bullets.
Recall that the Soviet PPS "spit" at a speed of up to 11 rounds per second, and the famous PPSh, which many soldiers called the "Shpagin Cartridge Eater" even fired like an "adult" machine gun. Its rate of fire reached 17-18 (!) shots per second. So the MP-40 assault rifle, the characteristics of which we are considering, was very “low-speed” in this regard.
Specifications
A distinctive feature of the MP-38/40 family of assault rifles is a pronounced tide under the barrel. He had a dual role: on the one hand, he reduced the "bouncing" of the barrel when firing. On the other hand, it made it possible to cling to loopholes in tanks and armored vehicles, increasing the accuracy of fire on the move.
The percussion mechanism is the simplest, percussion type. Like PPSh / PPS, the requirements to simplify production forced the Germans to abandon the translatorfiring modes, but with such a low rate of fire, more or less trained shooters could fire single shots (or with a cutoff of two or three rounds). There was no fuse on German weapons in principle. His role was played by a cutout into which the bolt carrier handle was tucked. It is not surprising that such a primitive mechanism has repeatedly led to accidents. So the MP-40 assault rifle, the technical characteristics of which we are describing, did not differ in particular complexity.
Store Features
Sector magazine, capacity - 32 rounds. Appearance - straight, from stamped rolled products. It is impossible to confuse it with sector stores from PPS or PPSh, since it is straight, while domestic PPs used curved models (due to the characteristics of the cartridge 7, 62x25). By the way, the MP-40 magazines were not particularly loved by the infantrymen, since it was very difficult to manually equip them, they had to resort to the help of a special device.
It was inserted into a straight neck of the receiver protruding beyond the weapon, fixed by means of a push-button clamp. In practice, it soon turned out that the neck should be protected in every possible way from pollution, since it was very difficult to clean it in combat conditions. The standard ammunition for a Wehrmacht soldier in those days was about 190 rounds.
Range and performance
Sight - the most common, rack. When shooting, it was possible to use its two "modes": constant and folding, designed forfiring at a distance of 200 meters or more. But it only mattered on paper.
The Germans themselves noted that it was impossible to hit a running person at a distance of 100-150 meters from the German MP-40 assault rifle, unless fire was fired from several barrels at the same time. In addition, the massive shutter slowed down the initial velocity of the bullet so much that at a distance of 150-200 meters it was necessary to make an amendment of half a meter (!) Above the target. Considering that many soldiers forgot about it in battle, most of the cartridges were safely burned to no avail.
Other problems
Besides, keeping the SMG in battle was a big problem. The fact is that it was categorically not recommended to grab the store: its holding mechanism was so flimsy that it quickly became loose. There were often cases when the MP-38/40, which was heavily “beaten by life”, could simply fall out of the store right during the battle. So I had to hold it right by the barrel … which did not have a casing. To prevent a soldier from roasting his palms, he was required by the state to wear an asbestos glove.
Strange as it may seem, neither the heavy bolt nor the powerful return spring protected the machine from being too prone to jamming at the slightest contamination. Despite this, the MP-40 assault rifle in the initial periods of the war fully met all the requirements for such weapons. Only with the loss of strategic initiative by the Nazis did they have to develop the world's first assault rifle, the StG-44.
Modern usage
Yes, yes, it was. However, PPSh-41 continued to be produced in the PRC until the early 2000s, and in some places it is still being made, so there is nothing surprising in this. And the MP-40 remained in service with the Norwegian police forces back in the 60s of the last century. In addition, it was actively used by both Israelis and Arabs during countless conflicts in the Gaza Strip. So the MP-40 is an assault rifle with a rich history.
By the way, the famous MP-5, which is in service with many police and military units around the world, has nothing to do with the PP we are discussing. Firstly, it works according to the semi-free shutter scheme. Secondly, in fact, it is a reduced copy of the G-3 rifle.
Finally, MP-40 pneumatic assault rifles are also on sale, which are demilitarized barrels (as in the situation with PPSh-41). However, such specimens are still rare, and their cost is high. Usually we are talking about rough layouts.
First episodes of combat use
The ancestor of the MP-40 was first used in Poland, during the events of 1939. The army team immediately began to send complaints regarding the poor performance of the cartridge feed mechanism. But the main gripe was the tendency to spontaneous shots when falling (however, all PPs with a free shutter sin the same). The soldiers, in order to avoid accidents, even began to fasten the bolt handle with a belt. After that, the aforementioned clipping appeared on the bolt frame.
Flaws
The invasion of the USSR revealed otherlimitations. It turned out, in particular, that a low rate of fire with an excessively heavy shutter is a bad idea, since in the cold and even with slight pollution, the automation stopped working. The Steyr factory partially got out of the situation by starting to install a stronger return spring, but as a result of this, the rate of fire increased sharply and the reliability of mechanics that were not designed for such loads fell.
So the MP-40 is an assault rifle that the Germans did not have time to “bring to mind” at that time.
