Sudayev's submachine gun: an example of weapon genius for ages

It's no secret that the legendary PPSh - Shpagin's submachine gun - was called and continues to be called now the "weapon of victory". But Sudayev's submachine gun was rightfully considered a weapon that created the prerequisite for victory, that is, a weapon that helped Soviet troops break through the blockade of Leningrad. There is another aspect related to this weapon. Sudayev's submachine gun is called the most effective weapon of the Great Patriotic War from the corresponding category of weapons.

Introduction

It is very interesting that the development of weapons was conducted in the Leningrad surrounded by the Nazi invaders. In the process of developing a submachine gun, the Sestroretsk Instrument Plant took part. It is no less remarkable that all this was done in conditions that, to put it mildly, did not have the potential to create new weapons. The thing is that all the exact equipment was transported in advance from the Urals. There were no qualified personnel specialists who could speed up the process.

Sudayev's submachine gun was released after testing at the same plant. Leningrad inhabitants, who were in blockade and who could survive the terrible years, really had to study the arrangement of the remaining equipment and master it. As you know, with the products then in Leningrad there was a very tense situation, and workers fainted right here, right behind their equipment, behind their workplaces.

The conditions were simply appalling. But our people were always strong in spirit: that during the war with Napoleon, that during the bloody war with Hitler and his multinational fascist army. And here the ordinary Russian inventor in such conditions was able to create weapons, thanks in large part to which he managed to break through the blockade ring, inside of which was Leningrad. For the sake of justice, it should be noted that these weapons are manufactured in factories to this day.

A brief biography of the designer

Sam Sudayev Alexey Ivanovich was born in the Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, in the city of Alatyr. His father was a postal worker. He graduated from the vocational school of Sudayev in 1929. From that moment he got a job as a mechanic. Later a genius engineer-gunsmith will finish Gorky railway equipment, after which he will go to the office called "Soyuztransstroy". There he took the position of a technician who was monitoring the railway section entrusted to him. His inventive talent began to manifest itself at this time.

The first inventions of Sudayev

It was the "Gasoline engine". Another invention of Sudayev was materials on automatic shooting with the help of infrared rays from a machine gun. Sudayev's submachine gun became, perhaps, the crown of the gunsmith's career of an engineer, while the first author's certificate was handed to him for the development of a pneumatic tipping machine, which was intended for use on self-unloading platforms.

The second certificate he received while serving in the army. We will remind, that then to it the device under the name "Anti-theft" was developed. Already serving in the railway troops, the designer began to actively engage in the repair of weapons and the development of weapons.

The construction of antiaircraft guns

PPP (Sudaev's submachine gun) was developed some time after the engineer presented to state entities the design of an anti-aircraft gun designed by him. The prehistory of this event is as follows. As mentioned earlier, Sudayev entered the Gorky Industrial Institute in 1936. But in parallel (and this happened two years later), he entered the artillery academy. And immediately on the 3rd course. The engineer graduated in 1941, successfully defending his diploma. His subject, by the way, was an automatic pistol, the design of which he developed himself. In the same year, the brilliant designer convened a military commission, which presented his own developments in the field of anti-aircraft weapons.

Prerequisites for creating PPPs

The military situation, which took place in 1942, required decisive action to create a new automatic small arms, which was intended for use by scouts, tank crews and paratroopers. Then there was a PPS. But many representatives of these categories of troops complained that the submachine gun had a large enough mass, large dimensions, and a high rate of fire created problems in the field of transportation of ammunition.

That is why the corresponding competition was announced, the result of which was the invention of the PPP. The weapons had to have tactical and technical characteristics that would be identical to the PPS. But at the same time, the new PP had to be much more convenient and less massive.

Very well-known designers took part in the development. It was Degtyarev, Shpagin, Rukavishnikov, Korovin and himself Sudaev. But, unfortunately, life in the blockade was one of the reasons that greatly shook the health of the great gunsmith, and he died in 1946, in the prime of his strength.

The weapon PPS-43 - just one copy of the entire model list. There were seven in total. For example, the initial version is PPP-42. The following model differed from its predecessor in its best combat qualities, as well as improved manufacturability.

The weapon of victory. PPP

There are some interesting facts related to this weapon. Probably, it's not a secret for anyone that the Germans reworked captured Soviet weapons under their patron. For example, quite often it was done with captured PPSh. But they never did this with the PPP. First, the reason for this was that the cartridges in Sudayev's submachine gun were very, very rare. Secondly, by the end of the war, the German occupants had enough Soviet-type cartridges, and they had to be disposed of, used.