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The Thompson Gun’s Curious History, from World War I to World War II
Both British and U.S. soldiers liked the Thompson submachine or 'Tommy' gun for its rugged dependability and knock-down firepower, and it was certainly in the fighting across Europe that the Thompson excelled.
By Arnold Blumberg
In 1917, when America entered the First World War, the United States Army tasked Brigadier General John T. Thompson, Chief of the Small Arms Section of its Ordnance Department, with designing a short-range, rapid-firing, large capacity infantry trench weapon. The general turned the job over to his own firearms firm, the Auto-Ordnance Corporation (AOC). Thompson and his team determined the .45-inch Automatic Colt Pistol cartridge used in the Colt M1911 semi-automatic pistol pr
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3 thoughts on “The Thompson Gun’s Curious History, from World War I to World War II”
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Thompsons always one of my favorites!… The Allies also sent enormous numbers of M1928A1s to the Soviet Union….Wonder what happened to them? Cheers!
The Soviet Thompsons were eventually taken out of the armories (the Russians never threw any arms away) and were sold to Europe. I saw Dewatted Thompsons still in the crate at a militaria store in Normandy in 2002. Fortunately, France did not require receiver cuts like the ATF, so the Thompson were in beautiful original condition. Unfortunately, not importable to the US without the receiver cuts.
Good articles