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Finnish use: Used by Finnish coastal troops and troops stationed in home front during Continuation War (1941 - 1944).

PPSh-41 submachinegun was developed by Georgij J. Spagin, both prototype and test series was made in 1940 and this weapon was accepted to production in December of 1940. Mass production started in autumn of 1941 and continued until late 1940's. So, unlike other earlier Soviet submachineguns PPSh-41 wasn't removed from manufacturing, when new submachineguns were introduced to production. Soviet industry manufactured almost 1.6-million of these submachineguns just in years 1941 - 1942. In some other countries production of PPSh-41 continued until 1960's. PPSh-41 was a cheap 2nd generation submachinegun designed to be mass-produced cheaply, its basic structure was simple with only few parts needing to be machined, as most of its parts were pressed and welded. There was no need for special machinery, manufacturing was fast and easy. Initially slightly modified version (*) of 71-round drum magazine introduced earlier to be used withPPD-40 was the only magazine used with this weapon. But in February of 1942 the Soviets approved also new 35-round arch-shaped box magazine for this weapon. The Soviets had found the 71-round drum magazine too difficult to manufacture in huge numbers required. However besides this they also considered the drum magazine too unreliable, difficult to load with ammunition and heavy (**). However also the early 35-round magazines made for PPSh-41 from 0.5-mm steel plate proved too weak. So in November 1943 Soviet industry started making those magazines from steel plate double the earlier thickness. While 35-round box magazine must have been cheaper and easier to manufacture in massive numbers, filling it to full capacity without loading tool seems to be quite difficult, since after 20 rounds or so the trigger spring pressure makes it very hard. Like earlier Soviet submachineguns also PPSh-41 was select-fire weapon capable to both full-automatic and semiautomatic fire, the selector switch for this is located inside trigger guard in front of the trigger. The safety switch is cocking knob of the bolt and intended to be used for locking the bolt in its most rearward position by sliding the switch into notch in the receiver. PPSh-41 is about as easy to disassemble and re-assemble as submachineguns ever can be. The whole receiver will neatly fold open and only three parts (bolt, recoil spring and buffer) need to be removed for basic maintenance. Early on the weapon had fully adjustable rear sight with tangent, which had settings between 0 - 500 meters. But later some manufacturers started using new rear sight with L-shaped head, which could be flipped to two-settings: One for 100 meters and another for 200 meters. The 100 meter setting has marking "10", while 200 meter setting has been marked with "20". Other changes implemented to PPSh-41 during production included more simple front sight guard, stronger magazine well and receiver, and chroming bore of the barrel. It must be noted that due to hasty production in variety of factories parts of individual PPSh-41 submachineguns are not compatible - in other words parts taken from one PPSh-41 don't necessarily fit to another PPSh-41. And this incompatibility includes even magazines used these submachineguns. German military called this submachinegunMP 717(r).

Finnish troops captured their first PPSh-41 submachineguns in 1942 and by end of Continuation War some 2,500 had been captured. PPSh-41 was one of the two captured Soviet submachineguns that were considered to be modified for 9 mm x 19 ammunition and Finnish magazines around 1942 - 1943, but that project didn't go beyond prototype-stage, as manufacturing of domesticM/44 submachineguns was considered as better alternative. Because of this most of the PPSh-41 were warehoused for rest of the Continuation War, while only small number was issued to Finnish home-front troops. After World War 2 warehousing of these weapons continued and in 1950's they even were refurbished at that time. Then situation changed, Finnish military deactivated remaining PPSh-41 and sold to them to military personnel between 1965 - 1971.

(*) 71-round drum magazine used inPPD-40 and 71-round drum magazine used in PPsh-41 are very similar, but not compatible. The reason for this is differences in magazine attachment system and especially in the systems used for locking the magazines to these weapons.

(**)Considering the Soviet 71-round drum magazine was basically copy of Finnish 70-round drum, this makes interesting comparison. Also the Finns found the drum magazine quite complicated and costly to manufacture, but as the 50-round "coffin-shaped" box magazine proved much too unreliable the 70-round drum became most commonly used magazine withSuomi M/31 submachinegun during World War 2. Finnish military soldiers were very much aware about difficulties of filling the drum magazine, but they typically didn't seem to consider it too heavy and reliability issues were not common either. These differences might be explained by two factors. Weight of the weapon in which the magazine was used could have been the factor in how heavy the magazine felt like - while PPSh-41 weight 3.2 kg the two Suomi M/31 versions weight 4.75 kg and 4.9 kg. When it comes to reliability issue the higher quality used by Finnish manufacturer (Tikkakoski), almost certainly improved it.

Writer's personal (limited) experiences concerning shooting PPSh-41 submachinegun: This is pretty handy submachinegun and the cartridge is pretty much ideal for submachinegun-use due to its high muzzle velocity, which allow low trajectory. Selector-switch is easy to operate, but safety-switch could be result of poor after-thought and is not terribly practical. Due to ammunition behaviour of the weapon in recoil is bit more aggressive than with 9 mm x 19 caliber submachineguns of about similar weight, but still quite manageable. Sights are pretty good, but adjusting them demands special tool. Since the particular weapon had not been sighted in, it is difficult to say anything specific about accuracy. The individual test-fired weapon produced unacceptable number of jams during test firing of about 100 rounds - two double-feeds (attempt to feed two cartridges to chamber simultaneously) and five or six times failure to extract cartridge case. This may be partly due to ammunition, which was mostly commercial Sellier & Bellot, that was used in test after running out of wartime Soviet ammunition.

(Pistolet-pulemet Sudaeva obr. 42 g., PPS-42)

(Pistolet-pulemet Sudaeva obr. 43 g., PPS-43)

Finnish use: Only by Finnish frontline troops until running out of ammo 1943 - 1944. Finnish9 mm submachinegun M/44 was developed from these two weapons.

PPS-42 designed by Aleksei I. Sudaev was even easier and cheaper to mass-produce thanPPSh-41 and won tests the Soviets kept in July of 1942. Some features Sudaev used in PPS submachinegun originated from earlier prototypes of I.K. Bezruchko-Vysotsky. PPS-42 could be manufactured with even less machinery thanPPSh-41, while also less raw materials and work were needed. Only non-metallic parts in PPS-42 are grip panels. The weapon has folding metal butt and is capable for full-automatic fire only. Needless to mention these submachineguns are also considerably lighter and more compact than earlier Soviet submachineguns. UnlikePPSh-41 this submachinegun could not be used with 71-round drum, as its magazine holder had been designed for 35-round arch shaped box-magazine only. The 35-round magazine designed for PPS-42 was a new design, which was not compatible with magazines used inPPSh-41. The magazine used in PPS-42 and PPS-43 not only remarkably simple and economical to manufacture even compared to 35-round magazine of PPSh-41, but also quite easy to load into full capacity without tools of any kind. It didn't matter that the magazine wasn't structurally terribly strong, since the magazine well had been designed this in mind - soldier gripping the magazine well during shooting didn't cause the weapon to jam unlike with many other submachineguns. From structural point of view PPS-42 and PPS-43 are incredibly simple, which makes their disassembly and re-assembly for routine maintenance very easy. Routine maintenance disassembly and re-assembly can be done in matter of seconds. Simple push of disassembly button and the weapon can be folded open with bolt and recoil spring + buffer combination being the only parts that need to be removed for basic maintenance. Magazine release switch is located inside rear part of magazine holder and safety switch with its two settings (safe + fire) next to front section of trigger guard. Button, which releases the butt mechanism when the butt has been extended, is located on top of the rear receiver and the disassembly button is in rear of lower receiver. Front sight post is screw-like and can be rotated with a correct tool for zeroing in the weapon. Windage-wise front sight base seems to be drift adjustable. Rear sight has L-shape head, which can be pivoted to two settings, which are marked with "10" (100 meters) and "20" (200 meters).

Both of these submachineguns were manufactured in Leningrad, but PPS-42 seems to have been manufactured there exclusively, while PPS-43 was manufactured also elsewhere in Soviet Union. Mass-production of PPS-42 started early 1943, but less than 47,000 were manufactured before it got replaced in production by improved version called PPS-43 in late 1943. The Soviets organised production of PPS-submachineguns so, that it was manufactured in factories, which had not earlier manufactured firearms. So, unlike earlier submachineguns PPS-submachineguns didn't actually replace any other weapon in production, but were manufactured in addition of other weapons already in production. Hundreds of thousands of PPS-43 were manufactured in Soviet Union before end of World War 2. It seems that that Soviet manufacturing of PPS-43 ended in year 1946, but this was far from the complete end to its manufacturing, since it was easy design for other Communist countries to manufacture after World War 2. The Germans called PPS-43 "MP 719(r)". After World War 2 copies and improved versions of PPS-43 submachineguns were manufactured in China, Vietnam and several Eastern-European countries (at least Hungary and Poland).

Finnish troops captured first PPS-42 submachineguns in summer of 1943, later (mainly in summer of 1944) large number of PPS-43 were also captured. Finnish Army got interested about these submachineguns and designing a version, that would use 9 mm x 19 ammunition and same magazines asSuomi M/31, this lead into introduction of Finnish9 mm submachinegun M/44. In typical manner Finnish troops that captured PPS-42 and PPS-43 used them as long as ammunition captured with them lasted and handed them out to ordnance administration after running out of ammo. By end of Continuation War few hundred PPS-42 and PPS-43 submachineguns ended up to Finnish Army depots in this way. They remained warehoused until being sold Interarmco in 1960.

 

Finnish military captured little over 4,000 Soviet 7.62-mm submachineguns during World War 2. Number was still too small for adding Soviet 7.62 x 25 ammunition to those ammunition types used by Finnish front-line troops, but at the same time there was also constant demand for more submachineguns. So Finns decided to study if captured Soviet submachineguns could be modified to use 9 mm x 19 (Parabellum) ammunition and Finnish magazines. January of 1942 Ordnance Department of Finnish Armed Forces General Headquarters required offer about this from Tikkakoski Oy. Tikkakoski considered PPD-40 and PPsh-41 were reasonably easy to modify, as only new barrel and new magazine holder were needed for this. After this Tikkakoski manufactured five prototypes in spring of 1943, all or most of these modified submachineguns were PPSh-41. 5^th of July 1943 order of 200 modified Soviet submachineguns was made, but Tikkakoski was so busy with its earlier orders, that work had not yet even started when the order was cancelled 14^th of April 1945. So, ultimately this Finnish project for modifying captured Soviet submachineguns for 9-mm ammunition and Suomi-submachinegun magazines didn't get beyond prototype-stage. Also the Germans tried same kind of modification program for Ppsh-41 SMG during World War 2, but that project didn't lead to large-scale production either.

 

(Maschinen-karabiner Militärmodell Seitlich m/34 - MKMS)

Finnish use: Finland bought 282 MKMS machineguns during Winter War, but they arrived too late for that. They were issued to Finnish home front troops, supplies units and coastal defence during Continuation War (1941 - 1944).

Year 1933 weapons designer Gaetzi of Swiss Neuhausen factory designed MKMO submachinegun (according some sources Gottard End co-designed it with Gaetzi). Year 1934 bolt and extractor of the weapon were improved and this improved version was named MKMS (Maschinen Karbiner Militärmodell Seitlich). Both of these submachineguns had also shorter police-versions - MKPO and MKPS. MKMS submachineguns were manufactured in several calibres: 9 mm x 19 Parabellum, 7.65 mm x 21 Parabellum, 9 mm Colt and 9 mm Steyr. Between 1933 - 1939 S.I.G. (Schweizerische Industrie Gesellscharft Neuhausen) manufactured 1,228 of these four (MKMO, MKPO, MKMS and MKPS) submachinegun models in small manufacturing lots. From these four submachinegun-models the police-versions were manufactured only in very small quantities, but the longer models didn't sell to well either. So, in the end S.I.G. manufactured only few hundred MPMS. Compared to most submachineguns of that time MKMS is very long and has magazine-holder structure that allows folding magazine forwards inside weapons front stock. Presumably this folding mechanism was designed to improve the weapons bayonet-fighting capability. As typical to first generation submachineguns parts of MKMS are milled from steel. The firing mechanism used in this submachinegun was somewhat unusual - its trigger had two stages, one stage for single shots of semiautomatic fire and another stage for full automatic fire. The barrel used in MKMS was also one of the longest ever used in submachinegun and thanks to this the distance between sights was also very long (450-mm) for a submachinegun. The rear sight has settings 1 - 10 (for 100 - 1000 meters), which can only be considered both very optimistic and quite ridiculous at the same time. While the weapon was designed to accept to Swiss-designed bayonet, Finnish military acquired its MKMS submachineguns without them. The magazines had been designed so, that once magazine was fired empty, it locked the weapons bolt in its rear position. The 40-round box magazine used in this weapon was 25.5-cm long and weight 710-grams full / 285-grams empty.

During Winter War Finnish military had shortage of just about everything, including submachineguns. In that desperate situation Finland was willing to buy just about any submachineguns and these Swiss weapons happened to use same ammunition as already used in Finland. So Finland bought 282 MKMS submachineguns, but they arrived bit too late for Winter War. The first batch of 40 weapons arrived just five days after ending of that war. The rest were delivered in four delivery batches that all arrived April - July of 1940. 242 of these weapons were 9 mm x 19 calibre version and the other 40 were of 7.65 mm x 21 calibre version. Finland paid 90,121 Swiss francs for the 242 9-mm weapons and 16,100 Swiss francs for the 40 7.65-mm submachineguns. Delivery of these weapons included also 4,800 spare magazines and some spare parts. As mentioned apparently only few hundred MKMS were ever manufactured, so likely Finland was the largest customer for this submachinegun-model. During Continuation War these submachineguns were issued to home front troops, supplies units and coastal defence units. During the war VKT (Valtion Kivääritehdas = State Rifle Factory) manufactured spare barrels for them. About one third of these weapons were destroyed or lost during Continuation War. After the war remaining MKMS submachineguns were warehoused until remaining 7.65-mm weapons were declared obsolete and sold and exported in year 1960. The remaining 9-mm MKMS submachineguns remained warehoused until being declared obsolete, deactivated and sold to military personnel and collectors in early 1970's.

 

(Maschinenpistole 28/II)

Finnish use: 171 bought from Belgium in during Winter War. They arrived too late for that war (in spring of 1940). During Continuation War (1941 - 1944) they were used by Finnish troops located to Lapland, home front troops and supplies units.

German Hugo Schmeisser designed Maschinenpistole 28-II (MP 28/II) submachinegun based to earlier MP/18-I and its further developmentBergmann submachinegun. The main manufacturer of the weapon was German factory C.G. Haenel in Suhl, but in 1930's to circumvent restrictions of Versailles treaty it was also manufactured under license in Belgium and Spain. The Belgian license manufacturer was Anciens Etablissements Pieper S.A. in Herstal. Belgian military adopted MP 28-II as model 34 and it became standard Belgian submachinegun until German invasion. The weapon didn't prove to much of a commercial success before World War 2, but it was sold to Spain, Portugal and several countries in South America. The British also introduced their own version known as Lanchester. During World War 2 German military used also MP 28 II submachineguns.

During Winter War (1939-1940) Finland had shortage of weaponry so Finnish representatives tried their best acquiring suitable weaponry from abroad. These representatives managed making two MP 28-II deals. The deal madein Belgium included 171 of these submachineguns while the deal made in France included 215. However it seems that the 215 submachineguns the Finns purchased from France with million French francs never arrived. They seem to have been still in France when the Germans invaded in 1940 and the Germans probably captured them. Anyway, the 171 weapons bought from Belgium with 414,400 Belgian francs arrived in spring of 1940. The MP 28-II submachineguns that arrived to Finland were quite a mixed bunch: Originally they had been 7.65 mm x 21 calibre and manufactured in Germany, but later they had been modified to 9 mm x 19 calibre in Belgium. Some of them had markings suggesting they had been used or intended to country using Spanish or Portuguese language and some had attachment points for German Mauser-bayonet. During Continuation War these submachineguns were used by Finnish troops located to Lapland (where also some German units used MP 28-II SMG), home front troops and some supplies units. Year 1951 still 126 remained and they were kept warehoused until year 1971. In that year almost 100 were deactivated and sold to collectors, the last remaining 30 of these submachineguns were given to museums and other Finnish military collections by mid 1980's.

 

(Maschinenpistole 38 and Maschinenpistole 40)

Finnish use: Some 150 - 160 weapons ended up to Finnish hands during Continuation War. They had been delivered with the German vehicles bought at that time. They saw some combat use during that war - mainly with the vehicle crews of the vehicles they had been delivered with.

Among other restrictions Versailles treaty ending World War 1 had prohibited submachineguns from German military, but once the Nazis got into power in year 1932 Germany refused to anymore to follow it and started massive rebuilding of its Armed Forces. During World War 1 Germany had been the first to introduce practical submachinegun - MP 18/I designed by Hugo Schmeisser. In 1920's and 1930's variety of submachinegun designs based to MP 18/I appeared and one of the most radical of these designs was maschinenpistole 38 (MP 38). Berthold Geipel designed it for Erma, but utilised many of the previously existing patents of Hugo Schmeisser. The development work of this submachinegun and its predecessor prototype maschinenpistole 36 (MP 36) was financed by German military, which approved MP 38 for military use in year 1938. After proving its worth during German Campaign in Poland in year 1939, a decision was made to issue MP 38 in much larger extent. However, since main parts of MP 38 were milled, it was very expensive weapon to mass-produce in huge numbers. Due to this reason a much cheaper to manufacture version, called maschinenpistole 40 (MP 40) was designed and it replaced MP 40 in production in year 1940. Estimated total production of MP 38 was only about 42,000 weapons. Production methods wise MP 40 was a revolutionary design - a first 2nd generation submachinegun manufactured mainly from stamped metal parts. MP 40 became the standard submachinegun of German Armed Forces for World War 2 and over one million were manufactured by end of the war. Besides Erma, the manufacturers included also Steyr and Haenel. During World War 2 MP 40 was the most common submachinegun used by German military, but not in extent that the Hollywood films sometimes suggest. During the war Haenel developed a version known as maschinenpistole 41 (MP 41), which was manufactured only in limited numbers and exported to Romania. During World War 2 captured MP 38 and MP 40 were apparently popular with allied soldiers, no matter their nationality. After the war large number of these submachineguns saw use with several Armies (Austria, Israel, Norway). MP 40 also effected some later submachinegun-designs, like Spanish Star Modelo Z-45 and Yugoslavian Zastava M56.

Design-wise MP 38 was very innovative design. Unlike earlier submachineguns, it had no wooden parts and relied to folding metal stock. While it didn't have any wood, the weapon had both Bakelite (plastic) and aluminium parts (receiver housing and frame) - both of which were new materials in submachineguns. Recoil spring was a multi-part telescoping structure related to those used in earlier Erma designs. Early version had a safety issue - the weapon could fire if dropped. This safety issue was solved by adding a slot, which allowed the bolt handle used for locking the bolt into its rear position. 32-round removable box magazines used in MP 38 and MP 40 were similar to used in earlier Erma EMP. The all-steel folding butt folds under the receiver. Both MP 38 and MP 40 are blowback full-auto only weapons firing from open bolt. Front sight is adjustable and rear sight has two available settings - 100 meters and 200 meters. Magazine release button in located on side of the magazine well. The whole design is very modern for its time and structurally very simple.

Finnish Armed called these submachineguns MP-38 and MP-40. Finland never bought any of them separately. But a small number arrived with certain German vehicles (such as 59 Stu 40 G assault guns, 15 Pz-IVj medium tanks and some soft vehicles), which Finland bought from Germany during Continuation War. Typically each of these German vehicles arrived with one MP-38 or MP-40 submachinegun included among the equipment reserved for use of the vehicle crew. In this way Finnish military ended up with about 150 - 160 MP-38 and MP-40 submachineguns. The large majority of these weapons were MP-40. During Continuation War the submachineguns saw use (typically) with crews of the vehicles they had arrived with. After the war some saw use with Finnish prison administration. Otherwise they remained warehoused until most were either scrapped or deactivated and sold in early 1970's. Only small number of them was saved for museum purposes.

Writer's personal (limited) experiences concerning shooting MP-40 submachinegun: The 32-round magazine is quite easy to fill - early on, but without loading tool it gets notably harder once getting closer to full capacity. The submachinegun itself is quite compact and ergonomics seem to be pretty good. The folding metal stock provides rather sturdy support and the sights are very utilitarian (large front sight post and U-notch in rear sight). Due to slow rate of fire, firing of accurate two round bursts is very easy and after some trigger practice firing even single shots should be possible, even if the weapon in full-auto only. Hitting normal military falling plate targets (upper torso) from 150 meters proved quite easy, but smaller sniper falling plate targets (head and little bit of shoulders) proved a challenge from that distance.

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SOURCES:

Markku Palokangas: Sotilaskäsiaseet Suomessa 1918 - 1988 osat 1 - 3 (= Military Small Arms in Finland 1918 - 1988 parts 1 - 3)

D.N. Bolotin: Soviet Small-Arms and Ammunition.

Thomas B. Nelson: The World's Submachineguns (Machinepistols)

Thomas B. Nelson and Hans B. Lockhoven: The World's Submachineguns (Machinepistols), Volume I

Jan Kronlund: Suomen Puolustuslaitos 1918 - 1939 (= Finnish Defence Department 1918 - 1939)

Small Arms of the World by E.C. Ezell.

Mika Pitkänen and Timo Simpanen: Suomalaiset sotilaspatruunat 1918-1945 / The Finnish military catridges 1918-1945.

Finnish Military archives, archive reference T18419.

Finnish Military archives, archive reference T19043.

Finnish Military archives, archive reference T20206.

Finnish Military archives, archive reference T20207.

Finnish Military archives, archive reference T20209.

Report concerning common Soviet small arms dated 7th of January 1943. Ordnance Department documents, Finnish Military Archives, archive folder T-19052/32.

Article: Neuhausen "MKMS"-konepistooli - aseharvinaisuus Suomen lähihistoriasta by Markku Palokangas in Ase magazine vol. 2/1982.

Article: Neuhausen MKMS-konepistooli by Markku Palokangas in Kaliberi magazine vol 4/2010.

Article: Saksalainen konepistooli 1918-1945 in Ase magazine vol. 2/87.

Article: MP 38/40 - historia ja lyhyt oppimäärä by Pekka Liimatta in Ase-lehti vol. 1/2004.

Article: MP-38, iskee kuin miljoona volttia by Jarkko Koskinen in Rekyyli magazine vol. 3/2004.

Military manual: Neuhausen-konepistooli. Rakenne, toiminta ja käsittely by Puolustusministeriön Taisteluvälineosasto (1940).

Special thanks to Sotamuseo (Finnish Military Museum), Helsinki.

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