In World War II, the standard individual weapon of the US military , in addition to the M1 Garand and Browning light machine gun , the most famous is the "Thompson" submachine gun (also translated as: Thompson submachine gun ) , and the Thompson submachine gun was the standard weapon for American soldiers during World War II. In addition to being used on the battlefield, it has almost become a symbol of American gangsters and criminals. It is known as the " Chicago Typewriter ", so why is this gun so popular? What about being associated with gangsters?
The Thompson submachine gun was developed by American John Thompson in the mid-1910s. At first, he hoped to develop a submachine gun with a "simple design and large ammunition capacity" to help the Allied soldiers who were still fighting anxiously in the muddy trenches of Europe. To win the war. Although this weapon, which was entrusted with becoming the "trench broom", encountered many problems in the early stages of development, by 1918, most of its mechanical problems had been solved, but it was just about to be manufactured and planned to be shipped to the European battlefield. By then, the war was over.
The Thompson submachine gun is the first firearm to be named a "submachine gun". It uses 0.45-inch caliber submachine gun ammunition. Compared with traditional 9mm ammunition, it has greater recoil and is more difficult to aim, but in exchange It's more ferocious firepower. The first mass production of the Thompson submachine gun began in 1921 (codenamed M1921). Because World War I ended on November 11, 1918, the military had no plans to purchase any firearms in the short term. As the military's demand disappeared, the Thompson submachine gun was promoted to the civilian market and became a firearm that even civilians could purchase directly. However, due to the extremely high price of the Thompson, real American civilians would not spend half the price of a Ford car to buy a gun with the bullet price excluded (at that time, a Ford car was worth nearly $500).
In World War II, if a large number of infantry were equipped at the grassroots level as assault firepower for squads, the Soviet Union's Bobosha submachine gun was the first choice because of its reliable action and powerful firepower. The structure is reasonable, using a large number of the simplest stamping parts, and the cost is low. The cost of the improved Bobos submachine gun is as low as 9 US dollars, which is very suitable for large-scale wars.
Indeed, the early version of the Thompson submachine gun in the 1920s was due to insufficient production technology. After the federal laboratory took over the distribution rights of the Thompson submachine gun, it was discovered that the cost of a Thompson was as high as $230, and each 30-round magazine The price is also about 3 US dollars, and the price of 50 rounds of drum drum is even higher, close to 6 US dollars. But in the United States in the 1920s, there was still a group of people who could afford it, and that was desperadoes such as the mafia and bank robbers. They did almost all evil during the Great Depression and gained a lot of notoriety , and these gangsters His favorite weapon is the Thompson submachine gun.
The ejection action of the Thompson submachine gun is completed vertically.
The Thompson submachine gun is easy to disassemble. After removing the wooden stock and drum, it can be stuffed into a special violin case. In areas where criminal activities are rampant, this method of hiding Thompsons is Very common, hence the famous "Chicago fiddle".
In 1930, the famous bank robber John Dillinger was armed with a Thompson submachine gun and shot at a U.S. federal police officer while robbing a bank. In order to limit the continued occurrence of this situation, the U.S. Congress passed the National Firearms Act in 1934, which stipulated that all fully automatic weapons must be registered with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, severely restricting fully automatic weapons. The transportation, purchase, possession and transfer of weapons have only made the situation slightly better, but the title of "Gangster Gun" has become the most indelible memory in the minds of a generation.
The Thompson submachine gun can be disassembled and easily put into a violin case
Using the Thompson submachine gun actually requires certain skills. Due to the strong recoil of the Thompson, the shooter will "be unable to hold down the gun" due to exhaustion after continuous shooting. Let the ballistic trajectory show obvious upward drift.In response to this, many unrelated passers-by will choose to lie down when encountering armed robbery to avoid stray bullets. Even today, if there is a shooting case in the United States, lying down is still the first thing many people will consider. Hedging measures.
