PPD contrary to legends is not copied from the Finnish "Suomi"
In 2010, there are two significant anniversaries at once: 75 years ago, a submachine gun of the V. A. Degtyarev system was adopted and 70 years ago - a submachine gun of the G. S. Shpagin system. The fate of the PPD and PPSh reflected the dramatic history of this type of domestic weapon on the eve of the Great Patriotic War and its exceptional role in the course of the confrontation on the Soviet-German front.
Submachine guns began arriving in infantry units during the First World War. The use of a pistol cartridge made it possible to create a new type of automatic small arms, rather compact in size and relatively small in mass, from which it was possible to conduct dense fire in close combat. True, outside the "short" ranges, the effectiveness indicators of submachine guns turned out to be quite modest. This largely determined the attitude towards new weapons in a number of armies, including the Red Army, as a kind of auxiliary means.
NOT ONLY FOR GANGSTERS AND POLICE OFFICERS
However, the widespread opinion about the "disdain" of the Soviet military leadership for submachine guns, to put it mildly, is greatly exaggerated. As early as October 27, 1925, the Red Army Armament Commission noted: "… consider it necessary to re-equip the junior and middle command personnel with an automatic submachine gun, leaving the Nagant in service with the senior and higher command personnel." On December 28, 1926, the Artillery Committee of the Artillery Directorate of the Red Army approved the specifications for the manufacture of submachine guns.
Very little time passed, and already in 1927 FV Tokarev, who worked at that time in the design bureau of the First Tula Arms Plants, presented his model of a submachine gun - the so-called light carbine. However, it was made for the 7, 62-mm revolver cartridge "revolver", which was the most accessible then, which was poorly suited for automatic weapons. Meanwhile, in the Soviet Union, work was already underway on a self-loading pistol and on July 7, 1928, the Artillery Committee proposed using the 7, 63-mm Mauser cartridge for pistols and submachine guns.
The Report of the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR of December 1929 stated: “The adopted system of infantry weapons of the Red Army provides for the introduction of a semi-automatic self-loading rifle … a self-loading pistol … a submachine gun as a powerful automatic melee weapon (there are samples, a magazine for 20-25 rounds, range - 400-500 meters) . The main weapon was to be a rifle chambered for a powerful rifle cartridge, and an auxiliary - a submachine gun chambered for a pistol cartridge. In 1930, the 7, 62-mm pistol cartridge (7, 62x25) was adopted - a domestic version of the 7, 63-mm Mauser cartridge. Under it, the development of submachine guns began.
Already in June-July 1930, by order of the Deputy People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs, IP Uborevich, a commission headed by Divisional Commander V. F. These were samples developed by F. V. Tokarev for the revolving cartridge "revolver", V. A.. A. Korovin - chambered for a pistol cartridge. At the same time, foreign pistols and submachine guns are undergoing a similar practical test.
In general, the test results of the first domestic submachine guns were unsatisfactory. Among the reasons for the failures, they named the discrepancy between the power of the pistol cartridge, the high rate of fire and the too limited weight of the samples, which did not allow achieving acceptable accuracy of fire.
At the same time, submachine guns were still treated ambiguously. For example, at the plenum of the Scientific and Technical Committee of the Artillery Directorate on December 14, 1930, it was emphasized: “Submachine guns are currently used mainly in the police and internal security forces. For combat purposes, the Germans and Americans do not recognize them as perfect enough. " This opinion was confirmed due to the fact that in Weimar Germany, the police units were supplied with the MR.18 and MR.28 submachine guns. And the American Thompson submachine gun, which, although it was created as an army weapon, "became famous" mainly in the course of gangster raids and showdowns, as well as operations of the guardians of law and order. The following point of view was even expressed: they say, in the armament system of the Red Army "the submachine gun appeared not from the requirements, but due to the fact that such a sample was made and they tried to apply it to this system." But these conclusions did not interrupt the work of Soviet designers.
In 1932-1933, 14 samples of 7, 62-mm submachine guns, presented by F. V. Tokarev, V. A. Degtyarev, S. A. Korovin, S. A. Kolesnikov. The most successful were the "brainchilds" of Degtyarev and Tokarev. The artillery department in January 1934 marked the degtyarevsky submachine gun as the best in terms of combat and operational qualities. It did not have a high rate of fire, but it stood out for its greater accuracy and manufacturability. The use of a significant number of cylindrical parts (barrel, receiver, barrel casing, bolt, butt plate), manufactured on universal lathes, is characteristic.
On June 9, 1935, by order of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR, the Red Army adopted “7, 62-mm submachine gun Degtyarev arr. 1934 (PPD-34) . First of all, they intended to supply the command staff of the Red Army.
MODERNIZATION REQUIRED
PPD-34 belonged to the samples of the classic "carbine" layout, given by the German MR.18 / I, with a wooden stock and a cylindrical perforated barrel casing. The automatics of the submachine gun operated due to the recoil energy of the free bolt. The PPD trigger mechanism, made as a separate assembly, allowed for automatic and single fire, the flag translator was located in front of the trigger guard. The shot was fired from the rear sear, that is, with the shutter open. A non-automatic safety catch in the form of a latch was located on the bolt handle and blocked it in the front or rear position. A detachable box magazine of a sector shape was attached from the bottom. The sector sight was notched at a range of 50 to 500 m. The aiming range, which was so overstated for submachine guns, would only be abandoned during the Great Patriotic War.
In 1934, the Kovrov plant number 2 produced 44 PPDs, in 1935 - only 23, in 1936 - 911, in 1937 - 1291, in 1938 - 1115, in 1939 - 1700. If in 1937 and 1938 produced 3,085,000 magazine rifles (excluding sniper rifles), then PPD - 4106. This makes it possible to judge the place that was assigned to the submachine gun in the armament system of the Red Army.
Along the way, the revision of the PPD continued, and already in 1939 the Artillery Committee of the Artillery Directorate approved the changes prepared by the plant number 2 in the drawings of the submachine gun. The weapon received the designation "submachine gun model 1934/38". In the PPD of this sample, the fastening of the store was strengthened by installing an additional neck for its fastening, the interchangeability of the stores was worked out, and the fit of the sight was strengthened. At the same time, the Artillery Committee indicated that "it is necessary to introduce it into the armament of certain categories of soldiers of the Red Army, the NKVD border guard, machine-gun and gun crews, some specialists, airborne troops, car drivers, etc."
There were reasons for that. During the 1932-1935 war between Bolivia and Paraguay, for the first time, submachine guns of various systems were widely used, and not without success. They were also used in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). Soon the soldiers of the Red Army had an unpleasant acquaintance with the Finnish "Suomi" m / 1931. This happened during the three-month "unremarkable" campaign of 1939-1940.
However, it was in 1939 that the fate of the PPD was called into question. On the initiative of the People's Commissariat of Defense, the question of stopping the production of submachine guns was discussed. And nine months before the start of the Soviet-Finnish war, they were withdrawn from the Red Army units and transferred to warehouse storage and to the NKVD border troops. They often try to explain this by the "tyranny" of the head of the Artillery Directorate, First Deputy People's Commissar of Defense GI Kulik. But at the same time, one cannot but pay attention to the report on the production of automatic small arms at the enterprises of the People's Commissariat of Armaments for 1939. This document said that the production of PPD should be "stopped until the noted shortcomings are eliminated and the design is simplified." And it was proposed: "… to continue the development of a new type of automatic weapon for a pistol cartridge for a possible replacement of the outdated design of the PPD."
In the same 1939, the most authoritative specialist V. G. Fedorov (monograph "The Evolution of Small Arms") pointed to the "enormous future" of the submachine gun as "a powerful, relatively light and at the same time simple weapon in its design", however, " subject to some of its improvements. " Fedorov also wrote about "the convergence of two types, namely an assault rifle and a submachine gun" based on the creation of a cartridge "with a reduced aiming range for rifles and increased for submachine guns". However, by the beginning of World War II, such a cartridge had not yet appeared. It is not surprising that submachine guns were called submachine guns during the Finnish campaign in the Red Army - this name will last until the end of the 40s.
The successful use of "Suomi" by the enemy in the battles made it urgent to return the PPD to the units of the Red Army. Demands came from the front to equip at least one squad per company with Finnish-style submachine guns. The existing PPDs were urgently transferred to units in Karelia, and at the end of December 1939 - a month after the start of the war - at the direction of the Main Military Council, mass production of Degtyarev submachine guns was launched.
On January 6, 1940, by a resolution of the Defense Committee, the improved PPD was adopted by the Red Army.
THIRD MODIFICATION
Kovrovsky plant No. 2 received a special government task - to organize the production of PPD. To assist in its implementation, a team of specialists was sent there under the leadership of Deputy People's Commissar for Armaments I. A. Barsukov. The manufacture of submachine gun parts was distributed to almost all workshops, but already in January 1940, a workshop was launched at the plant, intended for the production of submachine guns. The workshops of the tool department were engaged only in the manufacture of technological equipment and tools necessary for the production of PPD.
To reduce the production time for one submachine gun, a number of changes were made to its design:
- the number of windows in the casing decreased from 55 to 15, the bottom of the casing was made separately and pressed into the pipe;
- the bolt box was made from a pipe, the sight block was made separately;
- a separate striker with an axis was eliminated in the bolt, the striker was motionlessly fixed in the bolt with a hairpin;
- installed a simplified ejector leaf spring.
Moreover, the PPD, like the Suomi, was equipped with a drum magazine. However, Degtyarev offered a simpler solution - increasing the capacity of the box magazine to 30 rounds and simplifying its change. Although this option, which required much lower costs, was supported by the leadership of the People's Commissariat of Armaments, it was decided to equip the PPD with drum magazines ("disks").
I. A. Komaritsky, E. V. Chernko, V. I. Shelkov and V. A. Degtyarev constructed a drum magazine in almost a week. It was supplemented with a neck inserted into the PPD guide holder. As a result, it was possible to do without alterations to the submachine gun. In addition, thanks to this, the magazine capacity was 73 rounds - two more than the Finnish prototype. This is how the third modification of the PPD appeared, which retained the designation “submachine gun mod. 1934/38 . The submachine gun also received a front sight safety.
From January 22, 1940, all workshops and departments engaged in the production of PPD were transferred to three-shift work. The sharp increase in the release of the submachine gun could not pass without problems. According to BL Vannikov, “ready-made submachine guns were repeatedly returned from shooting to be corrected. There were days when more people worked on fixing than on assembly. But gradually, production entered into a normal rhythm, and the troops began to receive more PPD. True, a submachine gun designed for the technological equipment of factories in the early 30s was expensive. Its cost can be judged by such figures - one PPD with a set of spare parts, like the Simonov automatic rifle, cost the state budget 900 rubles (in 1939 prices), and the DP light machine gun with spare parts - 1150 rubles (although here it is necessary to take into account the already established production rifle and machine gun).
At this time, the first subunits of machine gunners were formed, including ski subunits - an experience that was very useful during the Great Patriotic War. Reconnaissance and assault groups, detachments of skiers tried to provide more abundant automatic weapons, among which the submachine gun showed great reliability. P. Shilov, who was a reconnaissance officer of the 17th separate ski battalion in the Soviet-Finnish war, recalled one battle: “Our SVT did not shoot … fired at the Finns to the last bullet."
On February 15, 1940, V. A. these people will be found more than once in a number of carpet systems), which was distinguished by the following changes:
- up to 71 rounds, the magazine capacity has decreased due to the replacement of its neck with a receiver, the work of the feeder has become more reliable;
- the front and rear stops of the store are placed on the bolt box, the stock is split, with a separate forend - an extension in front of the store;
- the shutter is equipped with a fixed striker.
On February 21, the Defense Committee under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR approved these changes, and in early March they were introduced into production. This is how the “7, 62-mm submachine gun of the Degtyarev system arr. 1940 (PPD-40) . He could have either an open front sight, or a safety front sight.
However, tests of a submachine gun with a fixed bolt striker showed a large percentage of delays, and therefore the Artistic Directorate of Small Arms insisted on returning to the previous drummer scheme. That is why, from April 1, 1940, the version with the former separate drummer went into production. In total, 81,118 PPDs were produced in 1940, so that the fourth serial modification of the Degtyarev submachine gun, PPD-40, turned out to be the most massive.
The massive appearance of submachine guns among the troops at the end of the Soviet-Finnish war and the adoption in 1940 of the PPD-40 with a magazine for 71 rounds contributed to the birth of the legend that Degtyarev copied his development from the Suomi system of A. Lahti. Meanwhile, it is enough just to carry out an incomplete disassembly of these two samples, belonging to the same generation of submachine guns, to see that the relationship between PPD and "Suomi" is very distant. But the first drum shop really got from the second, albeit with alterations.
Trophy Suomi was also used later by the Red Army, and sometimes even played a role … PPD in Soviet films during the war - for example, in the films "Actress" in 1943 or "Invasion" in 1945.
TACTICAL AND TECHNICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PPD OBR. 1934 g
Cartridge 7, 62x25 TT
Weight of weapons with cartridges 3, 66 kg
Weapon length 778 mm
Barrel length 278 mm
Bullet muzzle velocity 500 m / s
Rate of fire 750-900 rds / min
Combat rate of fire, od./aut. 30/100 rounds / min
Sighting range 500 m
Magazine capacity 25 rounds
MADE IN LENINGRAD
In 1940, the attitude towards the submachine gun changed. It was still considered an auxiliary weapon, but the degree of saturation of the troops with it increased. Typical, for example, is the statement in the speech of the General Inspector of Infantry Lieutenant General A. K. Smirnov at a meeting of the senior leadership of the Red Army in December 1940 that "when our (rifle) squad was divided into two links" they would have " and automatic rifles and submachine guns”. At the same meeting, the head of the Red Army's Combat Training Directorate, Lieutenant General V. N. 2880 bayonets, 288 light machine guns, 576 PPD … On average, for 1 km of the front there will be 2888 attackers against 78 people on the defensive, machine guns and submachine guns - 100 against 26 …"
At the last pre-war May Day parade in 1941, a unit of fighters armed with PPD-40 marched across Red Square. However, G. S. Shpagin's submachine gun has already replaced the PPD …
In the initial period of the Great Patriotic War, PPD production was restored in Leningrad. In Kovrov, in the experimental shop of the chief designer's department, about 5,000 PPDs were collected from the remaining backlog of parts. And in the city on the Neva, on the basis of the equipment of the Sestroretsk Instrument Plant named after S. P. Voskov, which was exported there, the production of PPD-40 was re-launched, leading it almost manually. In December 1941, when Leningrad was already surrounded, the A. A. Kulakov plant joined in this work. In total, in 1941-1942, 42,870 PPD-40s were manufactured in the Northern capital, which were used by the troops of the Leningrad and Karelian fronts. One of these PPD-40 is kept in the Artillery Museum. On the butt of the submachine gun there is a sign: “Made in Leningrad during the enemy siege. 1942 . Many PPDs of Leningrad production had a simplified folding sight instead of a sector sight.
By the way, the factories named after Voskov and Kulakov served as a good basis for organizing the mass production of another submachine gun - PPS.
TACTICAL AND TECHNICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PPD OBR. 1940 g
Cartridge 7, 62x25 TT
Weight of weapons with cartridges 5, 4 kg
Weapon length 778 mm
Barrel length 278 mm
Bullet muzzle velocity 500 m / s
Rate of fire 900-1100 rds / min
Combat rate of fire, od./aut. 30 / 100-120 rounds / min
Sighting range 500 m
Magazine capacity 71 rounds
