MP 40

The MP 40 (Maschinenpistole 40) is a submachine gun chambered for the 9×19mm Parabellum cartridge. It was developed in Nazi Germany and used extensively by the Axis powers during World War II.

"MP40" redirects here. For the locomotive, see MPI MPXpress.

Maschinenpistole 40
A Maschinenpistole 40 with the stock folded and unfolded
TypeSubmachine gun
Place of origin Nazi Germany
Service history
In service1940–1945 (Nazi Germany)
1940–present (other countries)
Used bySee Operators
Wars
Production history
DesignerHeinrich Vollmer
Berthold Geipel
Designed1940
Manufacturer
Unit cost57 RM (1940)
210 EUR current equivalent
Produced1940–1945
No. built1,100,000 (estimated)
Variants
  • MP 36
  • MP 38
  • MP 40
  • MP 40/1
  • MP 41
Specifications
Mass3.97 kg (8.75 lb)[2][3]
Length833 mm (32.8 in) stock extended/630 mm (24.8 in) stock folded[4]
Barrel length251 mm (9.9 in)[4]
Cartridge9×19mm Parabellum[4]
ActionStraight blowback, open bolt[3]
Rate of fire500–550 rounds/min[4]
Muzzle velocity400 m/s (1,312 ft/s)[4]
Effective firing range100–200 m[3]
Maximum firing range250 m[3]
Feed system32-round detachable box magazine, 64-round with dual magazines[3]
SightsHooded front blade

Designed in 1938 by Heinrich Vollmer with inspiration from its predecessor the MP 38, it was heavily used by infantrymen (particularly platoon and squad leaders), and by paratroopers, on the Eastern and Western Fronts. Its advanced and modern features made it a favorite among soldiers and popular in countries from various parts of the world after the war. It was often called "Schmeisser" by the Allies, after Hugo Schmeisser who designed the MP 18, although he was not involved in the design or production of the MP40. The weapon's other variants included MP 40/I and the MP 41. From 1940 to 1945, an estimated 1.1 million were produced by Erma Werke.

Development
Willy Zimmermann, a highly decorated German Unteroffizier, with an MP 40 on the Eastern Front in 1944

The Maschinenpistole 40 ("Machine pistol 40") descended from its predecessor the MP 38, which was in turn based on the MP 36, a prototype made of machined steel.[5] The MP 36 was developed independently by Erma Werke's Berthold Geipel with funding from the German Army. It took design elements from Heinrich Vollmer's VPM 1930 and EMP. Vollmer then worked on Berthold Geipel's MP 36 and in 1938 submitted a prototype to answer a request from the Heereswaffenamt (Army Weapons Office) for a new submachine gun, which was adopted as MP 38. The MP 38 was a simplification of the MP 36, and the MP 40 was a further simplification of the MP 38, with certain cost-saving alterations, most notably in the more extensive use of stamped steel rather than machined parts.[5]

The MP 40 was often called the "Schmeisser" by the Allies, after the weapon designer Hugo Schmeisser. Schmeisser had designed the MP 18, which was the first mass-produced submachine gun. He did not, however, have anything to do with the design or development of the MP 40, although he held a patent on the magazine.[6]

Design

The MP 40 submachine guns are open-bolt, blowback-operated automatic arms. The only mode of fire was fully automatic, but the relatively low rate of fire enabled single shots with controlled trigger pulls.[7] The bolt features a telescoping return spring guide which serves as a pneumatic recoil buffer.[7] The cocking handle was permanently attached to the bolt on early MP 38s, but on late production MP 38s and MP 40s, the bolt handle was made as a separate part.[8] It also served as a safety by pushing the head of the handle into one of two separate notches above the main opening; this action locked the bolt either in the cocked (rear) or uncocked (forward) position.[8] The absence of this feature on early MP 38s resulted in field expedients such as leather harnesses with a small loop that were used to hold the bolt in the forward position.[9]

The MP 38 receiver was made of machined steel, but this was a time-consuming and expensive process.[10] To save time and materials, and thus increase production, construction of the MP 40 receiver was simplified by using stamped steel and electro-spot welding as much as possible.[10] The MP 38 also features longitudinal grooving on the receiver and bolt, as well as a circular opening on the magazine housing. These features were eliminated on the MP 40.[10]

A soldier of the Russian Liberation Army with an MP 38 in 1943

One unique feature found on most MP 38 and MP 40 submachine guns was an aluminum, steel, or bakelite resting bar or support under the barrel. This was used to steady the weapon when firing over the side of open-top armored personnel carriers such as the Sd.Kfz. 251 half-track. A handguard, made of a synthetic material derived from bakelite, was located between the magazine housing and the pistol grip.[11] The barrel lacked any form of insulation, which often resulted in burns on the supporting hand if it was incorrectly positioned.[11] The MP 40 also had a forward-folding metal stock, the first for a submachine gun, resulting in a shorter overall weapon when folded.[12] However, this stock design was at times insufficiently durable for hard combat use.[12]

Although the MP 40 was generally reliable, a major weakness was its 32-round magazine.[13] Unlike the double-column, dual-feed magazine insert found on the Thompson M1921/1928 variants, the MP 40 used a double-column, single-feed insert.[13] The single-feed insert resulted in increased friction against the remaining cartridges moving upwards towards the feed lips, occasionally resulting in feed failures; this problem was exacerbated by the presence of dirt or other debris.[13] Another problem was that the magazine was also sometimes misused as a handhold.[14] This could cause the weapon to malfunction when hand pressure on the magazine body caused the magazine lips to move out of the line of feed, since the magazine well did not keep the magazine firmly locked.[14] German soldiers were trained to grasp either the handhold on the underside of the weapon or the magazine housing with the supporting hand to avoid feed malfunctions.[14]

Usage

At the outbreak of World War II, the majority of German soldiers carried either Karabiner 98k rifles or MP 40s, both of which were regarded as the standard weapons of choice for an infantryman.[15]

However, later confrontations with Soviet troops such as the Battle of Stalingrad, where entire enemy units were armed with PPSh-41 submachine guns, the Germans found themselves out-gunned in short range urban combat which caused a shift in their tactics, and by the end of the war the MP 40 and its derivatives were being issued to entire assault platoons on a limited basis.[16] Starting in 1943, the German military moved to replace both the Karabiner 98k rifle and MP 40 with the new, revolutionary StG 44.[16][15] By the end of World War II in 1945, an estimated 1.1 million MP 40s had been produced of all variants.[17]

Post-war usage

During and after the end of World War II, many MP 40s were captured or surrendered (upwards of 200,000) to the Allies and were then redistributed to the paramilitary and irregular forces of some developing countries.[18] The Norwegian army withdrew the MP 38 from use in 1975 but used the MP 40 for some years more. In particular, the Territorials (Heimevernet) used it until about 1990, when it was replaced by the Heckler & Koch MP5.[9]

Variants

MP 40/I

The MP 40/I (sometimes erroneously called MP 40/II) was a modified version of the standard MP 40 with a dual side-by-side magazine holder (for a theoretical ammunition total of 64 rounds), designed for special operations troops on the Eastern Front to compensate for the enemies' PPSh-41 larger magazine capacity. However, the design proved unsuccessful due to weight and reliability issues.

MP 41
An MP 41 with wooden stock

In 1941, Hugo Schmeisser designed the MP 41, which was, in reality, an MP 40 upper receiver with a lower receiver of an MP 28 submachine gun. It saw limited service, however, and was issued only to SS and police units in 1944. The MP 41 was also supplied to Germany's Axis ally Romania.[19]

Later in 1941, rival company Erma Werke sued Haenel company, at which Schmeisser was Chief Designer, for patent infringement. Production subsequently ceased on the MP41. [20][21]

Operators
Simone Segouin, a French partisan, posing with an MP 40 in 1944

During World War II, the resistance and the Allies sometimes captured MP 40s to replace or supplement their own weapons.[22][23][24] The MP 40 was used for several decades following World War II by many countries around the world in armed conflicts. Some found their way into guerrilla groups such as the Viet Cong or African guerrillas.

Its operators have included:

Civilian ownership in the United States

Following the Allied occupation of Europe in 1945, U.S. servicemen shipped home thousands of captured firearms as war trophies,[50] including MP 40s. This practice required proper registration of automatic weapons in accordance with the National Firearms Act before they could be imported, but this was curtailed later in the occupation, meaning a relatively small number of civilian-transferable MP 40 remain in circulation and are valued around $15,000 as of 2017.[51]

There are several semi-automatic variants and cosmetic replicas of the MP 40 available for civilian ownership in the U.S. Beginning in 2014, American Tactical Imports began importing an MP 40 replica manufactured by German Sporting Guns GmbH chambered in .22LR,[52] and since 2016 has also imported a pistol variant chambered in 9mm.[53] The .22LR variant features an all-metal construction with period-accurate Bakelite furniture, a folding stock, and a faux-suppressor to meet barrel length import requirements. The 9mm variant is classified as a pistol and therefore does not ship with a folding stock. Both variants are closed-bolt, blowback-operated semi-automatic firearms that vary substantially from originally manufactured MP 40s in internal operations, making them more of affordable cosmetic replicas than faithful reproductions. Neither of the GSG-manufactured variants are compatible with originally manufactured MP 40 parts and magazines.

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See also

Footnotes
  1. Used in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War and afterwards by Unit 101 until replaced by the Uzi.[37]

References
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  2. Hogg 2001, p. 16.
  3. Fowler 2005, p. 98.
  4. Myatt & Ridefort 1992, p. 107.
  5. de Quesada 2014, p. 13.
  6. Rottman 2012, p. 9.
  7. Peterson 2011, p. 314.
  8. Bishop 2002, p. 259.
  9. World Guns.
  10. de Quesada 2014, p. 17.
  11. Hobart 1975, pp. 95–98.
  12. Hogg & Weeks 1977, p. 90.
  13. Hogg & Weeks 1977, p. 33.
  14. Dunlap 1966, pp. 80–81.
  15. Neil 2015, p. 65.
  16. Priestley & Cavatore 2014, pp. 105–108.
  17. Willbanks 2004, p. 82.
  18. Ingram 2001, p. 75.
  19. Axworthy 1991, p. 42.
  20. "MP41". Imperial War Museums. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  21. "MP.41 Schmeisser". Modern Firearms. 27 October 2010. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  22. Sakaida, Henry (20 May 2003). Hook, Christa (ed.). Heroines of the Soviet Union 1941-45. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 59. ISBN 1841765988.
  23. Cornish, Nik (20 June 2014). Karachtchouk, Andrei (ed.). Soviet Partisan 1941-45. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 29. ISBN 9781472801456.
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  25. Windrow, Martin (1997). The Algerian War, 1954-62. Men-at Arms 312. London: Osprey Publishing. pp. 10&37. ISBN 978-1-85532-658-3.
  26. de Quesada 2014, p. 66.
  27. de Quesada 2014, p. 64.
  28. de Quesada 2014, p. 28.
  29. Brnardic, Vladimir (17 November 2016). Aralica, Višeslav (ed.). World War II Croation Legionaries: Croation Troops Under Axis Command 1941—45. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 17. ISBN 978-1-4728-1767-9.
  30. Windrow, Martin (15 November 1998). The French Indochina War 1946–54. Men-at-Arms 322. Osprey Publishing. p. 12. ISBN 9781855327894.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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  36. de Quesada 2014, p. 77.
  37. Katz 1988, p. 9.
  38. de Quesada 2014, p. 69.
  39. de Quesada 2014, p. 20.
  40. de Quesada 2014, p. 68.
  41. de Quesada 2014, p. 56.
  42. de Quesada 2014, p. 23.
  43. Williams, Anthony G.; Popenker, Maxim (15 January 2012). Sub-Machine Gun: The Development of Sub-Machine Guns and their Ammunition from World War 1 to the Present Day. Crowood Press UK. p. 15. ISBN 1847972934.
  44. Ezell, Edward Clinton (1988). Personal firepower. The Illustrated history of the Vietnam War 15. Bantam Books. pp. 42–44. OCLC 1036801376.
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  48. https://66.media.tumblr.com/a80862b55c1a9573923f0a9f4a5a5417/tumblr_inline_opb69xmTa51ug4sui_1280.jpg
  49. Abbott, Peter; Botham, Philip (15 June 1986). Modern African Wars (1): Rhodesia 1965–80. Men-at-Arms 183. Osprey Publishing. p. 10. ISBN 9780850457285.
  50. "Chapter XVIII: The Occupation Troops". history.army.mil. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
  51. "Subguns - Machine Gun Price Guide". machinegunpriceguide.com. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
  52. Grant, Jim (19 January 2014). "ATI's GSG MP40, the quintessential bad-guy gun". Guns.com. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
  53. Johnson, Steve (24 February 2016). "BREAKING NEWS: ATF Approve ATI MP40 9mm Pistol (Pistol Version of German WWII MP40 Submachine Gun) - The Firearm Blog". The Firearm Blog. Retrieved 5 January 2018.

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