"I grew up in the Leningrad blockade …" The words from Vysotsky's song can rightfully be attributed to the weapons with which the soldiers of the Red Army reached Berlin: PPS, Sudaev's submachine gun.
The command of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army showed interest in this type of weapon in the late 1920s. The first PP samples were developed under the Nagant cartridge, another suitable one was simply not in service with the Red Army. But he, purely revolving and quite specific, was not suitable for such a task. The adoption of the TT pistol under the Mauser 7, 62x25 mm (not least counting on the use in submachine guns) simplified the work of the designers, but several more years passed before the Degtyarev submachine gun went into production. Its combat characteristics were quite satisfactory for the military, but the production stumbled on labor intensity and the final cost (comparable to the DP light machine gun). For several years, technologists have tried to simplify and reduce the cost of PPD, but have not received a significant result.
It was required to radically change the design, and this work was done by G. S. Shpagin before the war, creating the famous PPSh.
However, if in the infantry the PPSh was loved and appreciated - both for a large-capacity disk, which allowed to fire for a long time without reloading, and for a strong butt that helped out more than one fighter in hand-to-hand combat, then representatives of other military specialties sometimes spoke like this: “The submachine gun used by tank crews The PCA is a necessary weapon for tankers, but the use of the latter is inconvenient. The disk magazine is bulky, creates inconvenience in work, the butt interferes with the free exit of the crew from the tank. It is desirable to have a submachine gun with a box magazine with a capacity of 25–30 rounds and an articulated stock similar to a German submachine gun.”
The GAU realized the need for this type of PP even earlier. From February 25 to March 5, 1942, the first samples of submachine guns, created taking into account the experience of the war, were tested at the NIPSVO test site. In addition to the seven experimental ones, the gross PPSh and the captured MP-40 were fired, the influence of which on domestic designers did not go unnoticed by the testers. Their report says: “Almost all samples take into account the design features of the German model MP-40, for example: a) all prototypes have a trigger mechanism without single firing, a hard firing pin, a sight with folding flaps; b) in addition, PP Degtyarev, Artakademy 1 and 2-nd samples and Zaitsev 2-nd model - folding butts, two samples of Artakademiya have curly safety cutouts for the shutter handle, etc..
Actually, the 2nd sample of the Artakademiya "basically represents the design of the German MP-40 submachine gun with a simplified design of individual units."
A similar thought was expressed by the chairman of the commission for testing new submachine guns, engineer-major Okhotnikov at the plenum of the Artkom in June 1942, which was noted in the protocol:
1. Comrade Goryainov.
Comrade Okhotnikov said that today the German system can be considered ideal - what is this conclusion based on?
Comrade Hunters.
Not an ideal system, but more fully meeting modern requirements in relation to weapons, because it is designed as a universal weapon."
By this time, two clear favorites had already emerged in the competition. One of them was a new sample of G. S. Shpagin, tested as PPSh-2. The second was the development at that time of the still unknown designer of the NIPSVO A. I. Sudaev.
The final tests of the PPSh-2 and the future PPS took place at the shooting range in July 1942. According to their results, it was noted: "Shpagin's submachine gun PPSh-2, in terms of the number of delays when firing in conditions of heavy pollution, did not stand up to competitive tests." The commission recognized the Sudaev submachine gun as the best of all the samples presented for the competition. However, the final decision on the adoption of a new type of weapon was made not by the test site testers, but at higher levels. And here the PPSh-2 found a very influential supporter - the People's Commissar of Armaments DF Ustinov, who wrote: “The Shpagin submachine gun was recognized by the commission as having failed the competitive tests. I disagree with these conclusions and the conclusion of the commission for the following reasons. According to NKV, the Shpagin submachine gun is not inferior to Sudaev's submachine gun in terms of its combat and operational qualities."
GAU KA in the person of ND Yakovlev did not remain in debt, and the deputy chairman of the Councils of People's Commissars LP Beria, who was in charge of armament issues in the State Defense Committee, was involved as an arbiter. It is worth noting that Lavrenty Pavlovich in such cases, which were not so rare during the war years, usually tried to get the conflicting parties to work out a joint solution. But here neither the military, nor the production workers were going to compromise.
People's Commissar of Armaments Ustinov independently decided to release an experimental PPSh-2 series for military trials. The GAU was not able to parry this move right away - the capacities of the experimental production facilities available to the rifle department were small and loaded with other current projects. As a result, the first serial PPS was manufactured at the plant No. 828 NKMV.
However, GAU officers did not limit themselves to one plant. Their attention was attracted by the besieged Leningrad, where in 1942 the production of PPDs continued at the Sestroretsk tool plant named after S. P. Voskov (formerly the Sestroretsk weapons plant) and plant No. 209 of the USSR People's Commissariat forudprom (Electromechanical Plant named after A. A. Kulakov). Although the Sestroretsk plant was partially evacuated, and No. 209 was loaded according to the main nomenclature - they produced low-current ship machines of high complexity, including encryption ones, the level of equipment and personnel of these enterprises made it possible to produce even a not very technological PPD in significant volumes. In 1941–1942, 42,870 assault rifles were manufactured in Leningrad.
At the end of 1942, Alexei Ivanovich Sudaev was sent to the besieged city to deploy the release of a submachine gun. At first, things went wrong. Although both factories had an excellent personnel and production base, due to their specialization, the PPD with its complex milling details turned out to be closer to them than the simpler, but requiring significant work with PPP stamping. Another Leningrad enterprise, the Primus artel, had to be involved in setting up production. Usually they remember about it when they want to demonstrate that the teaching staff could be done literally in any shed on the knee. In fact, it was an enterprise with serious equipment and experienced personnel (renamed into a factory in 1944). It was the specialists of "Primus" that mastered the production of PPP in two months and helped with stamping both the Sestoretsky and the head plant No. 209, which was considered in Leningrad.
The only detail the production of which could not be established in besieged Leningrad was a rifled barrel. According to some reports, the necessary equipment was even sent to the besieged city, but the plane was shot down. Therefore, all Leningrad PPS received the trunks from Izhevsk.
The manufacture of new weapons was actually going on at the front line. According to the instructions of the Artkom, tests in combat conditions were to take place in parts of the Western and Leningrad fronts, as well as the Moscow Military District and the URVO. The order especially emphasized: “Sudaevskie samples are experimental (teaching staff have the“OP”stamp). Therefore, PPS submachine guns submitted for testing in the districts (in the rear units), under no circumstances should go to the front."
But if for the Moscow teaching staff this order was carried out, then for the "blockade" it was too late. The last "rear" check they passed at the Leningrad artillery range at the end of January 1943 - by this time, the plant number 209 had about two thousand ready-made PPS. Already from February 16, they began to enter the units of the Leningrad Front - the 42nd, 55th and 76th armies. As a rule, PPS were issued to submachine gun companies, tank brigades and reconnaissance officers. New "gifts" came in handy - the troops of the Leningrad Front in Operation Iskra broke through the blockade. According to the reports, the tests were carried out in combat conditions: “The submachine guns were in action during the operation in the direction of Mustolovo and Arbuzovo,” “Sudaev's submachine gun has a number of advantages over PPD and PPSh. There were cases when on the battlefield PPD and PPD were replaced by PPD (witnessed by the deputy commander of a company of submachine gunners Lieutenant Starodumov) "," Troop tests were carried out in combat conditions during attacks in the Mishkin and Chernyshevka area."
We can confidently say that it was the positive feedback from the front that the GAU KA already in May 1943, before the end of the tests in the rear units, recommended that the PPS be adopted.
On May 20, 1943, a new submachine gun was launched into gross production under the designation “7.62 mm submachine gun of the Sudaev system, model 1943 (PPS-43).” It remained in service with the Red Army until the victory. They went with him to the storming of the Reichstag, landed in Port Arthur. Then he continued to fight around the world - from the jungles of Vietnam to the African savannahs. They are going into battle with him now.
But the war for him began just then - in the February snows near Leningrad when the blockade was broken.
