If we talk about the role of submachine guns (PP) in the history of military conflicts, then this role is difficult to overestimate. This weapon itself appeared so quickly that some contemporaries did not fully understand its main purpose. So what was the purpose of the first submachine guns and who can be considered the author of these small arms?
During the First World War, no matter what new products the warring parties "threw" on each other. These are gas attacks and a massive offensive of huge tanks and, of course, the use of that very submachine gun. It is believed that the author of the PP is a German designer with the famous surname Schmeiser. But even before him on the creation of a device that can conduct automatic firing based on the charge of pistol cartridges, a lot of work was done. So the major of the Italian army, Mr. Abel Revelli, in 1914, designed the world's first machine gun, which was designed to use Glisenti pistol cartridges. Signor Revelli's submachine gun had as many as two barrels and allowed up to 3000 rounds per minute. At that time, it was a real breakthrough in the shooting business. One would like to note that if only our current majors would come up with such ideas … Look, there would be order in the army. But now the conversation is not about that. The Revelli submachine gun did not catch on due to its main shortcomings. His bullet flew a short distance and the mass of the weapon was clearly not for use in combat. PP Revelli weighed about 6.5 kg.
But Hugo Schmeisser also managed to reduce the weight of his submachine gun to 4 kg 180 g and put the production of MP18 on stream. The German MP18 submachine gun, which entered the German forces in 1917, had automatic action on the principle of a free shutter. The barrel was covered with a protective casing, in which ventilation holes were made. This was a real revolution in the organization of rapid-fire weapons. And how could 1917 do without revolutions … The rate of fire of this type of submachine guns was up to 500 rounds per minute.
So why did German soldiers need this type of small arms like MP18. The thing is that during the so-called trench phase of the war, when the forces of the opponents became approximately equal, there was a need for extraordinary solutions. This decision of the German command was the stage of training mobile groups. Mobile groups were supposed to secretly get to the enemy's trenches and impose on this very enemy a fight on their own territory, and at this time the active phase of the operation could begin from the main German forces. So, mobile groups were created, their actions are strictly described in accordance with all the requirements of German pedantry, but one serious problem arose. It consisted in the lack of a suitable weapon. It was necessary either to run into the attack with long rifles, or with pistols, but neither one nor the other option was suitable. Why? Because while the soldier is reloading his rifle, he will simply be pierced with a bayonet. This is where the MP18 PP was needed.
In our country, the first submachine gun was put into service more than 75 years ago. It was the PPD - Degtyarev's submachine gun. The beginning of its mass use was the Soviet-Finnish war, and then PPD was successfully used in the Great Patriotic War. The weapon was distinguished by a rather low weight - a little over 3.5 kg and a high rate of fire - 800 rounds / min.
In 1941, one of the most famous submachine guns in the world appeared - PPSh (Shpagin submachine gun). They were armed with the Red Army during the Great Patriotic War. In terms of rate of fire, it is 100 rounds / min. exceeded PPD, and was 150 g lighter in weight than its "brother". And for weapons, every gram and every shot counts. He served PPSh faithfully until 1951. Today PPSh can be seen in museums and in sculptural compositions. So one of the sculptures in Berlin's Treptower Park shows the Soviet war, kneeling, and with a PCA in hand.
Submachine guns have largely determined the course of world wars.
