Privet tovarishchi and fellow westernspies!
In 1944 the MP40 production was completely terminated and all major manufacturers of the MP40 were ordered to transfer to StG44 production, while the smaller workshops and suppliers of the MP40 chain were to either produce StG44 parts or manufacture the much simpler Gerätnummer 1-3-3008, more commonly known as the MP3008 or sometimes referred to as Volksmaschinenpistole.
However it was quickly discovered that the MP3008 could not replace and never intended to replace the MP40 and though the MP40 production was discontinued, there were nearly a million in the field that still needed to be supplied with ammunition and spare parts.
In late 1944 a new project was initiated as Gerätnummer 1-1-3009, however no official documents suggest that this would have been an official project until months later when the highest authority gave green light.
The Heereswaffenamt was split in two groups over the matter, causing heated debates.
The “Bauhausites” were led by Emil Leeb and considered the project a waste of resources, seeing no further possibilities in weapon designs than cost reduction while the “rednosed” clique under Vollard-Bockelberg’s leadership argued that they will be forced to restart MP40 spare part production eventually anyway so they might as well start the work on it as soon as possible.
The name rednosed was a pun name given to them after an undisclosed officer in the company of an empty Steinhäger gin attempted to convince a certain Hauptmann Schmidt with deeds rather than words, hitting him on the head.
The matter had quickly escalated and was passed to Heinz Guderian, Acting Chief of the General Staff who would have quickly canceled the project if not for Führer’s intervention.
Hitler, thought that he had passed judgment of Solomon but in reality, the decision made no one happy, but the project commenced anyway and Heereswaffenamt ordered Steyr and Waffenwerke Brünn to deal with the project.
The original proposal is lost, but it seems to have been a list of possible ideas, but only those that Hitler personally liked and cherry picked were accepted into the project, these are:
- skipping production of gun-stock by using old rifle stocks.
- using STEN barrels, that were dropped by Allies for resistance but tens of thousands were found by the occupiers first.
- simplifying logistics by replacing the telescoping spring with “chopped MG42 spring” most likely the same spring used in late production Steyr MP40 guns.
- it must accept both MP40 magazines and also the 64 round drum magazine developed by Waffenwerke Brünn (you might recall this one as the MP SS 42 project).
- These submachine guns would only be issued to Volksgrenadier units, veteran Wehrmatch divisions specialised in brutal close quarters fighting.
The reality was however that most of the captured weapons were already pressed into service with the Volksstrum and only weapons that were already in unusable state or had no ammunition available could be used.
Steyr already had its plates full with StG44, MG42 and rifle production thus all necessary material was simply passed to Waffenwerke Brünn which then attempted to pass them back under the pretense that they cannot work on the project due to a devastating Allied bombing raid. The details are not clear from here, but it seems that Steyr actually did most of the work on the design and even diverted one contracted supplier to source the special MG42 springs, but the rest of the production fell on the Czech factory.
The first prototype was photographed, labeled as “MP44” on April 1st, 1945, just 25 days before Soviet forces “liberated” the city.
Some interesting details are:
- a (mosin?) front sight crudely welded on to the STEN barrel.
- the mosin stock is held in place by screws which are connected to the MP40 by a metal piece also screwed to the gun.
The planned production codes were:
bnz-44-2 for Steyr produced guns (never happened)
tby-44 for Waffenwerke Brünn produced guns
Records indicate that production totaled in only 2,857 guns. On 10th of April the finished guns were loaded onto wagons however, only a single train left the Brünn facility and it is unknown what was on it. The remainder is believed to have been distributed to the Fremdarbeiter (forced labor) contingent in a desperate, last-ditch effort to defend the factory. Among them were thousands that were imported from the Soviet Union or from PoW camps; their compatriots saw them as traitors regardless of why they had been working. The lucky ones were executed on the spot while the rest were sent east, never to be heard from ever again.
The surviving guns were quickly destroyed after the war, by the newly formed Soviet appeasing Czech government. It would have been too embarrassing to admit that Czech factories, workers and designers were still loyally working for Fascists even in the last days of the war.
Caliber: 9mm Parabellum
Rate of fire: 1100 rounds per minute
Initial muzzle velocity: 400 m/s
Weight unloaded: 4.1 kg
Overall length: ca. 840 mm
Barrel length: 198 mm
Magazine capacity: 32 rounds magazine or 64 rounds drum magazine
- lol, good joke but never.
- not funny, didn’t enjoy this, also never add this gun.
if you still dont get it, please check the source.
