The trench broom is an automatic Thompson

The most expensive, the most complex, with the largest caliber and the most advertised in its class - all this is Thompson's submachine gun. It is probably the ideal embodiment of the American weapons school, when price, complexity in production and circulation are not only not important, but even welcome, because they will be paid more for such weapons.

As already mentioned, this is a highly advertised weapon, because you can find few people who would not have heard of it, although the number of released samples was relatively small - less than a half million pieces (PPSh, for comparison, only over six million were released for the war). But, America is America, and the ability to "shove" goods to the Americans can not refuse.

In Russia, submachine guns, like any other automatic weapon, are usually called automatic weapons, so here, for the convenience of the reader, Thompson's PP is also called. By the way, the concept of "submachine gun" in the United States does not exist, the literal translation of "submachine-gun" sounds like a "podpulemet".

For the thousandth time to sound the tactical and technical characteristics that Thompson's automatic machine possesses, there is no need. The purpose of this article is to inform the reader interested in little-known facts related to the creation and use of these weapons. And the first, with what, probably, it would be worthwhile to begin, it with the name - automatic machine Thompson (Tommi-gan).

Many sources say that General John Toliver Thompson has nothing to do with the creation of this weapon, but this is not entirely true. Yes, he was not a designer of weapons, but his active work on organizing his creation, and then selling and introducing them into the troops, probably did no less, if not more, than the activities of designers Theodor Eikhoff, Oscar Payne and George Goll. Thanks to his efforts the whole world learned: it's an automaton Thompson. It should be noted that the military did not seek to use these weapons, and General Thompson had to work hard to ensure that the army still made large orders. However, the general himself did not see this, since he died in 1940, and orders for the Thompson machine began only with the outbreak of World War II.

Another mystery of Thompson's automaton is associated with its caliber of 11.43 mm. Indeed, the choice of such a large cartridge for a submachine gun looks rather strange, especially since all other modern designs used a smaller cartridge, which, in general, is due to a number of advantages. The reason for choosing the 45 gauge was the experience of the Philippine War (1899-1902 gg.). From the army in operation, Washington received repeated reports that 9 millimeter bullets of the US army's regular revolvers do not stop the Philippine partisans pumped up with drugs. Therefore, in the technical conditions, the new weapon contained a demand for an increased "stopping action" of the bullet. Although even the 45 caliber did not satisfy the "fantastic" requirements of the military, it was much more efficient in this parameter than other samples.

And finally, probably, we need to dispel the myth born in the Soviet Army that the Thompson machine in his army (highly simplified) version was not able to break even a quilted jacket or shovel from a short distance. It's not like that at all. But there is still some truth in this tale. The fact is that, in an effort to simplify the very complex and expensive construction of a submachine gun, the Americans removed the barrel locking device from it and turned Thompson's submachine gun into a regular submachine gun with a free shutter. This reduced the already relatively small initial velocity of the bullet. If we compare it with the cartridge used in the PPS, then this difference will look generally huge (500 m / s vs. 300 m / s).

In general, Thompson's submachine gun was an effective and reliable weapon in the hands of an experienced shooter. Another thing is that it was not suitable for the army and large-scale production.