Weapon Type
Submachine Guns
Automatic pistol-caliber shoulder arms.
Submachine Guns
Firearms — Subcategory
Overview
A submachine gun (SMG) is an automatic firearm firing pistol-caliber ammunition from a detachable magazine. SMGs combine the automatic fire capability of a machine gun with the compact size and pistol-round ammunition of a handgun — making them ideal for close-quarters combat (CQB), urban warfare, vehicle crews, and special operations where a full rifle is too long or heavy. The trade-off is limited effective range: pistol-caliber rounds lose velocity and energy quickly, making SMGs ineffective beyond 100–150 meters.
Development
MP 18 (1918) — The First SMG
The MP 18 (Maschinenpistole 18) was developed by Hugo Schmeisser for German Stormtrooper units:
- 9mm Parabellum; 32-round snail drum magazine (later box magazine)
- ~400 rounds per minute
- Designed for trench clearing and infiltration — scenarios requiring short-range automatic fire
- Too late to significantly affect WWI outcomes but established the SMG concept
World War II SMGs
The SMG came of age in WWII, with all major powers fielding purpose-designed or improvised SMGs:
Thompson Submachine Gun ("Tommy Gun")
- .45 ACP; 20- or 30-round box or 50/100-round drum
- Developed 1919; adopted by Prohibition-era gangsters first; US military in 1928
- Heavy; expensive; reliable; effective to ~50 meters
- Used by US forces throughout WWII; the iconic American SMG
German MP 40
- 9mm; 32-round box magazine; ~500 rounds per minute
- Stamped metal and plastic construction; lighter and cheaper than machined designs
- The standard German infantry SMG; often mislabeled "Schmeisser" (Schmeisser had little involvement)
British Sten Gun
- 9mm; 32-round side-feeding magazine; minimal parts
- Designed for mass production; could be made in small workshops
- Infamous for accidental discharges; beloved for simplicity and reliability (when clean)
- Produced in enormous numbers; airdropped to resistance fighters across Europe
Soviet PPSh-41
- 7.62×25mm Tokarev; 71-round drum or 35-round box magazine; 900 rounds per minute — the highest rate of fire of any WWII SMG
- Mass-produced; entire Soviet platoons were armed exclusively with PPSh-41s
- Used by Chinese forces in Korea
PPS-43
- 7.62×25mm; 35-round box; stamped metal; designed to be producible under siege conditions in Leningrad
- Even simpler than the PPSh; excellent reliability
Post-WWII SMGs
- Israeli Uzi (1954) — Wrap-around bolt design; extremely compact; adopted widely
- HK MP5 (1966) — The definitive modern SMG; 9mm; roller-delayed blowback; exceptional accuracy; the weapon of SWAT teams, GSG 9, and SAS; famous from the 1980 Iranian Embassy siege MP5
- Heckler & Koch HK MP7 (2001) — Fires 4.6×30mm armor-piercing round; designed to defeat body armor; bridges SMG and PDW categories
Decline and Niche Role
As assault rifles became shorter and lighter (M4, SIG 553, HK416), the SMG's advantage (compact size) narrowed. Modern SMGs survive in:
- Law enforcement (where rifle penetration risks are unacceptable in populated areas)
- Close protection details (compact, concealable)
- Special operations (where pistol-caliber penetration is sufficient for the scenario)
This article is a stub. Contributions covering specific SMG models, battles, and tactics are welcome.
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HK MP5
HK MP5 Submachine Gun
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M3 Grease Gun
The M3 'Grease Gun' was America's Sten: a .45 caliber submachine gun of stamped steel and welded seams, designed in 1942 to replace the superb but slow-and-costly Thompson with something a car plant could stamp out by the hundred thousand. Ugly, slow-firing, and utterly practical, it armed tankers and GIs from Normandy to Korea and Vietnam — and stayed in U.S. armored vehicles until the 1990s, outliving the Thompson it replaced by half a century.
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MP40
The MP40 was Germany's war-production submachine gun: 9mm Parabellum from an open bolt, a plain tube receiver of stampings and welds, no wood anywhere, and the first folding stock ever standard on a service long arm. Issued to squad leaders, paratroopers, and vehicle crews rather than whole units, its controllable 500-rounds-per-minute cyclic rate and modern manufacture made it one of the most influential small arms of the Second World War — and, wrongly, 'the Schmeisser' to every Allied soldier who met one.
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Sten Gun
The Sten was Britain's emergency submachine gun: a 9mm open-bolt weapon of stampings, tube, and spot welds that cost a few pounds and a few man-hours when invasion loomed and Thompsons cost dollars Britain didn't have. Over four million were made; it armed Tommies, paratroopers, and half the resistance movements of occupied Europe, and its crude pipework looks bred a soldier's contempt that its long and remarkably global battlefield record — from Normandy to Burma to the maquis — largely refuted.
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Thompson Submachine Gun
The Thompson was America's first submachine gun: a .45 ACP automatic designed as a trench broom for a war that ended before it shipped. Instead it found infamy in Prohibition Chicago, fame in Marine hands in the banana wars, and vindication by the million in the Second World War, where simplified M1 versions armed sergeants, raiders, and paratroopers of every Allied nation. No firearm carries a bigger spread of reputations — gangster icon and GI workhorse in one.