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 films shot during the Soviet era. And the machine gun MP-40 should be attributed to the most striking "kinolapy".
In the films, the Nazis walked briskly, holding a submachine gun hanging from the thigh … As part of almost every game set related to the theme of the Second World War, there is an MP-40 toy machine. And few people remember that the saturation of 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 the captured PPSh and PPS converted to a 9-mm parabellum cartridge.
Hugo il not Hugo?
Very often, this weapon is called Schmeiser. The MP-40 assault rifle is more like a Volmer, since Hugo Schmeisser himself had nothing to do with his creation. Well, apart from borrowing from his inventions the design of the store. The famous gunsmith created the MP-18, MP-28 and, subsequently, the MP-41. By the way, the first two models did not go into service with the German army at one time. Generals (like their Soviet colleagues, by the way) considered submachine guns “toys” that can only be armed with the police.
But Hitler's rise to power, which, contrary to popular belief, was never a layman, allowed the gunsmiths to turn to full. Already in 1938 they received a state order for the creation of a submachine gun, which could equip the landing forces, crews of armored vehicles, staff of guns, doctors and other persons who were not supposed to have a full-size rifle or carbine. Ultimately, the order went to Erma.
Old developments and new design
This was no accident, 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. At that time, no one else did it.
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 parts made of wood, which greatly facilitated production; food was supplied from a 32-round detachable sector magazine. It soon became clear that a progressive stamping technique allows only parts of not too high quality to be obtained, which is why manufacturers had to return to complex and expensive milling.
By the way, the Germans could not bring the cold stamping technology to perfection throughout the war. At first, they did not have a strict need for this, and after that - there was no longer any resources and time left. Hugo Schmeiser was trying to rectify the situation: he took the MP-40 submachine gun, the technical characteristics of which we describe, creating his MP-41. But it was too late.
The appearance of the MR-40
All this so slowed down the release rate that by the beginning of WWII, the Nazis were armed with less than nine thousand of these submachine guns. Because of this, in mid-1940, the company received an order to modernize the weapon, which would allow raising its manufacturability to an acceptable level. Volmer coped with the task. Firstly, the technology for cold stamping the receiver was nevertheless worked out and adjusted, parts from scarce aluminum were replaced with steel.
That is how the MP-40 submachine gun appeared, which was immediately launched into mass production. How strange, but even in wartime, both the MR-40 and its ancestor, the MR-38, were produced. It is believed that between 1940 and 1945, about one and a half million units were released (most likely, no more than 1.3 million). So one can forget about the general armament of the German infantry with these weapons: hardly one in ten was armed with automatic weapons.
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 specially for machine guns in Nazi Germany produced special cartridges with an increased weight of gunpowder and a bullet, which had the best punching and stopping action. It was strongly discouraged to use them in pistols, as as a result the weapons quickly wore out.
Principle of operation
Automation of the German software 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 rounds per second) did not stand close to that of the PPSh, which had a very good effect on the accuracy of … single shots. The flip side of the coin was the practical impossibility of “covering” a single target with a burst. When shooting tracers, it was seen how the target often appeared 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”, shot at all as an “adult” machine gun. Its rate of fire reached 17-18 (!) Rounds per second. So, the MP-40 assault rifle, the characteristics of which we are considering, was very “slow-moving” in this regard.
Specifications
A distinctive feature of the machines of the MP-38/40 family is a pronounced tide under the trunk. He had a dual role: on the one hand, he reduced the “bouncing” of the barrel when firing. On the other hand, it allowed to cling to loopholes in tanks and armored vehicles, increasing accuracy on the go.
The percussion mechanism is the simplest, percussion type. Like PPSh / PPS, the requirements for simplifying production forced the Germans to abandon the translator of firing modes, but with such a low rate of fire, more or less trained shooters could fire both single (or with a cut-off of two or three rounds). There was no fuse on German weapons in principle. Its role was played by a cutout in which the handle of the bolt frame was refueled. It is not surprising that such a primitive mechanism has repeatedly led to accidents. So the automatic machine MP-40, the technical characteristics of which we describe, did not differ in particular complexity.
Store Features
Sector store, capacity - 32 rounds. Appearance - straight, from stamped steel. It is impossible to confuse it with sector stores from PPS or PPSh, since it is direct, while domestic PPs used curved models (due to the characteristics of the cartridge 7.62x25). By the way, the stores from the MP-40 did not enjoy the special love of the infantrymen, since it was very difficult to manually equip them, I had to resort to using special equipment.
It was inserted into the straight neck of the receiver, protruding beyond the arms, fixed by means of a button clip. In practice, it soon turned out that the neck should be protected in every way from pollution, since in combat conditions it was very difficult to clean it. The standard ammunition for the Wehrmacht soldier in those days was about 190 rounds.
Range and effectiveness of shooting
The sight is the most common, rack mount. When shooting, it was possible to use its two “modes”: permanent and folding, designed to fire at a distance of 200 meters or more. But all this mattered only on paper.
The Germans themselves noted that the German MP-40 machine gun did not allow it to get into a running man at a distance of 100-150 meters, unless fire was fired from several barrels at the same time. In addition, the massive shutter so slowed down the initial velocity of the bullet that at a distance of 150-200 meters had to make a correction of half a meter (!) Above the target. Given that in the battle many soldiers forgot about this, most of the cartridges were safely burned without any benefit.
Other problems
In addition, retention of the PP in battle was a big problem. The fact is that grabbing at the store was categorically not recommended: its holding mechanism was so flimsy that it quickly became loose. There were often cases when the MP-38/40, which had a strong “life-beaten" effect, could simply fall out directly during the battle. So I had to hold it right by the barrel … which did not have a casing. So that the soldier would not fry his palms, he was supposed to have asbestos gauntlet throughout the state.
Oddly enough, but neither the heavy gate nor the powerful return spring protected the machine from an excessive tendency to jam at the slightest contamination. Despite this, the MP-40 assault rifle in the initial stages of the war fully met all the requirements for such weapons. It was only with the Nazis losing their strategic initiative that they had to develop the world's first assault rifle, the StG-44.
Modern use
Yes, yes, it was. However, PPSh-41 continued to be produced in China until the beginning of 2000, 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 a machine 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 circuit. Secondly, in fact, is a reduced copy of the G-3 rifle.
Finally, pneumatic assault rifles MP-40, which are demilitarized trunks, are also on sale (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.
The first episodes of combat use
The ancestor MP-40 was first used in Poland during the events of 1939. CSKA immediately began to send complaints regarding the poor performance of the cartridge feeding mechanism. But the main gripe was the tendency to spontaneous shots during a fall (however, all PPs with a free shutter do the same). The soldiers, in order to avoid accidents, even began to wind the bolt handle with a belt. After that, the aforementioned notch appeared on the bolt frame.
