Own among strangers - 5. Did the "gangster" fight in the USSR?
Tommy Gan. Probably the most celebrated Hollywood. weaponMade in the USA. Very original submachine gun with a funny fate. Not taken into service properly in any country, however, fought from Central America to Asia.
Apparently, the same gangster planid or karma, as someone is more convenient.
Noted "Tommy-Gan" in our country. And, oddly enough, long before the lend-lease supplies.
The idea to arm the fighters overseas is ascribed to the first chairman of the OGPU, F. E. Dzerzhinsky. It happened in the distant 1924 year, when the Civil War was already over, but in the outskirts of the country, order was still established. Mostly Caucasus, Transcaucasia and Central Asia. And the need for mobile automatic weapons took place.
Why a Thompson submachine gun, and not a light machine gun, is hard to say. Even today it is more than difficult to find reliable data, only the fact that through “friends” in Mexico (and the USSR friends were there, LI Trotsky would confirm) the party purchased Thompson submachine guns (PPT). Or, as they were then called, "submañhine gan". The duddle gun
There is no information about the amount of data either, there is only confirmation that the PTT was in service with the Kremlin guards (for which it was more than suitable) and special units of the OGPU that were engaged in clearing the outskirts of the country from gangs of various kinds. Plus, some have fallen into the border troops, who were also subordinate to the OGPU-NKVD.
Budenovka shows that things happen in the years described.
The photo, of course, is not visible, but there is no doubt that the caps of the fighters are green.
In fact, it can be argued that the Thompson submachine gun was baptized in our country in 1926-1927, in Ajaria, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. Mention of this can be found in the memoirs of L.P. Vasilevsky (“KGB were”, 1978) and R.E. Lastochkin (“Traces on the hot sand”, 1967).
Instructions. A very useful and necessary thing in the army.
Of course, "Tommy Gan" did not become a full-fledged replacement for a light machine gun. He temporarily replaced him. Considering that everything that the Red Army had at that time, this “Maxim”, which was nevertheless heavy, especially for a mobile war, occupied a niche.
And he was soon safely forgotten - before the Great Patriotic War.
Great Patriotic War was the second page in stories PPT on our open spaces.
If one does not pay attention to various sources, then one and the same phrase is found everywhere: “It was supplied by Lend-Lease in insignificant quantities, did not become widespread, since the Soviet industry produced more than 6 million PCA pieces” in one way or another.
Some sources add that the PPT was equipped with equipment coming from the USA: Tanks ("Stuart" and "Sherman") and Boston aircraft.
It is worth noting here that the Thompsons staffed all American equipment. And "Willis", which brought to us a huge amount, and trucks "Dodge" and "Studebaker", and even motorcycles. But there were also just supplies of machine guns and cartridges for them.
If you look at the numbers, the 137 000 "Thompsons" and 306 million. cartridges for them (the figures cited by Yu. Veremeev in his work “Lend-Lease”) seem to be somewhat beyond the scope of manning the equipment.
Is it a lot? If to compare with PPSH, then on one “Tommy” there was 45 PPSH. And if you look and compare the characteristics (which has already been done many times), then there is no dispute, the PCA seemed to be more efficient. And there were fewer problems with it in terms of repair and supply, as many times as more were released.
But if you carefully examine everything that is dumped into our global network, it turns out that "Tommi-gan" still fought, and did not gather dust in warehouses, as some people say.
Proceeding from the principle that “a spoon is the road to dinner,” PPT still came in handy. First of all drivers. Military driver, whatever one may say, but must be armed. Here and gangsters, marauders, and saboteurs, and coming out of the environment of the enemy group, and vice versa, broke through the defense of our troops. Anything could be on the front roads.
Mosinka, the main weapon of our infantry, in conditions of a non-spacious cabin of a truck, is still not the most suitable weapon. And nobody would have given the PPSH to the driver by the first time. Machine on the "front" is more important. But overseas gift, which had special fasteners in the cockpit or on board ("Willys" and "Harley"), but a cartridge pouch with four magazines on the 20 or 30 cartridges each ... It is quite an option. It weighs almost like a rifle, but still pohvvatistey will.
Tankers. If you believe the Hero of the Soviet Union, in those years, the tank commander tank commander DF Loze, the fact that in each Sherman of his battalion there were two Thompsons was perceived optimistically. The Soviet tanker had TT as a standard weapon of that time. Good gun. But having an appendage to two submachine guns and one and a half to two hundred rounds of ammunition for them - here the crew of a wrecked tank significantly increased the chances of either going to the rear or waiting for help.
And getting out of the tank with the Thompson was easier than with the PCA. Although, the farther towards the end of the war, the more the tank crews preferred the PPS. And it is easier at times, and there are no problems with cartridges.
The pilots. Here the situation is a little inverse. Americans generously thrust "Thompsons" into each plane. And the "Douglas" and "Bostons" they, too, were completed. But there was already a slightly different attitude. The bomber could be shot down far behind the front line, and then every extra kilogram (that is, in the case of PPT, seven kilograms) became a burden. And given the possible presence of wounded comrades, it is altogether sad. Therefore, if you read the memories of the pilots, then for them the friend was still a pistol and a handful of cartridges in the jacket pocket.
Infantry. Paradox, but the Thompsons were armed with infantry. At least, this is evidenced by the stills of photo chronicle. And once armed, it is obvious that as a weapon, "Tommi-gan" was still considered.
Our soldiers. American equipment, went along with the tanks. The picture was taken presumably in the Kuban in 1943 year.
Stalingrad, 1943 year.
The biggest help in the matter of whether the war was fought on our fronts, or was lying in warehouses (or, as some argue, was in service with "scaffolds" in the camps), the search engine reconstructors had. Enough to go to any site of this kind of movement and find a section dedicated to "Thompson." And here opens the whole geography of the battles of that war. Where not only did the Thompsons and the spent cartridges be dug.
Murmansk, Leningrad, Pskov, Voronezh regions, Crimea, Kuban. Especially a lot in places where 1941-42 battles were fierce. Tikhvin, Meadows, Rzhev, Korotoyak. And everywhere they find characteristic cartridges and cartridges.
It turns out, "Tommi-gan" fought. So, almost yours.
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