MP 18
The MP 18 is a German submachine gun designed and manufactured by Bergmann Waffenfabrik. Introduced into service in 1918 by the German Army during World War I, the MP 18 was intended for use by the Sturmtruppen, assault groups specialized in trench combat, as a short-range offensive weapon that would provide individual soldiers with increased firepower over a pistol.
Although MP 18 production ended after World War I, it was highly influential on subsequent small arms design; it formed the basis of most submachine guns manufactured between 1920 and 1960.
History
What became known as the "submachine gun" had its genesis in the early 20th century and developed around the concepts of fire and movement and infiltration tactics, specifically for the task of clearing trenches of enemy soldiers, an environment within which engagements were unlikely to occur beyond a range of a few feet.In 1915, the German Rifle Testing Commission at Spandau decided to develop a new weapon for trench warfare. An attempt to modify existing semi-automatic pistols failed, as accurate aimed fire in full automatic mode was impossible due to their light weight and high rates of fire of 1,200 rounds per minute. The commission determined that a completely new kind of weapon was needed. Hugo Schmeisser, working for the Bergmann Waffenfabrik, was part of a team composed of Theodor Bergmann and a few other technicians. They designed a new type of weapon to fulfill the requirements, which was designated the Maschinenpistole 18/I. The I stands for the number 1. Four different versions of the MP 18 were evaluated by the German Army, known as the models I, II, III, and IV. They shared the same basic design but exhibited differences in the feed system.
The MP 18/I used the same Trommelmagazin drum as the artillery Luger. No details are available concerning the MP 18/II, however it is known that the MP 18/III and the MP 18/IV both fed from a straight, 90° magazine feed which took Mauser pattern box magazines, of the same type used in Mauser's experimental C06/08 pistol and C17 'Trench Carbine' and later the SIG Bergmann. Full-scale production began in early 1918.
The MP 18 is often credited as the very first submachine gun, as some sources discount the Villar Perosa, on account that it was originally fielded as a light support weapon on a mount. Whether the MP 18 was actually the first submachine gun is debated.
In October 1915 the Austro-Hungarian Standschützen-Battalionen trialed a submachine gun chambered in the 8x18mm Roth cartridge, known as the Maschinengewehr Hellriegel. This was tested as both a support weapon fired from a prone position, and an assault weapon fired from the hip. In late 1916, the Military Aviation Corps of the Italian Army created the first official demand for a submachine gun when they requested the development of a single-barreled Villar Perosa with a detachable stock, which was made in early 1917 and later adopted as the Carabinetta Automatica OVP, with 500 being issued to observation crews. The designer of the Villar Perosa, Colonel Bethel-Abiel Revelli, had already conceived the principles of the submachine gun in September 1915, when he wrote that his gun could be converted to a single-barreled version that "may be mounted in the manner of a rifle so that it may be fired from the shoulder".
It remains a matter of controversy as to whether he made a weapon matching this description, but it is proven that the MP 18/I was merely one of many submachine gun concepts that were developed at the time, and that it cannot be referred to with any certainty as the first. The MP 18/I was the first mass-produced submachine gun to see extensive use in an infantry assault role in warfare.
World War I
The MP 18 was introduced during the final stages of World War I in 1918. Contrary to popular belief, there is no concrete evidence that the Bergmann MP 18/I reached the front lines in early 1918 or that submachine guns were employed by German Sturmtruppen during the Spring Offensive.The MP 18 was primarily fielded in the second half of 1918 as the war drew to a close.
The first recorded unit to receive the MP 18/I was the 237th Infantry Brigade of the 119th Infantry Division, which consisted of the 46th and 58th Infantry Regiments, the 46th Reserve Infantry Regiment and the 119th Storm Division. The brigade received 216 MP 18/1 submachine guns for field trials in July 1918 – after the Spring Offensive ended.
Shortly after reaching the front, the MP 18/I was used at the Battle of Amiens. Canadian troops from the 13th Battalion of the 5th Regiment Royal Highlanders of Canada were photographed with a captured MP 18/I on 11 August. The total number of MP 18/Is manufactured during the war, and the number accepted by the German army, remains controversial.
Major-General Ernst von Wrisberg, the director of the Prussian War Ministry, wrote shortly after the end of the war that some 17,000 guns had been delivered by October 1918. This estimate is backed up by military acceptance stamps reaching into the 17,000 serial mark. Existing serial numbers bear greater numbers, into the 30,000 range. One estimate, based on the serial numbers of surviving guns, is about 35,000 made during 1918 and possibly 1919. The vast majority were not actually accepted into service and likely remained in the factory until a new demand was created in the interwar years. According to a French report made after the war, the Germans produced 50,000 units in 1918, but only 8,000–10,000 were delivered.
The number that actually reached the front is probably lower. The best indicator is the serial number range of the examples captured by the Allies in the second half of 1918. All MP 18s that were captured were low serial numbers, typically in the hundreds, a reasonable estimate is that around 4,000 guns saw combat. The presence of an MP 18/I at the Sarsılmaz Museum in Düzce, Turkey, which is said to trace its provenance to the Turkish War of Independence, suggests the possibility that some MP 18s were supplied to the Ottomans at the end of the First World War.
Treaty of Versailles
A common claim is that the gun proved so effective that it was banned by the Treaty of Versailles. Restrictions are laid out in Tables No. II & No. III of the treaty which gives the number of rifles, carbines, heavy machine guns, and light machine guns. A clause that appears in some copies reads "Automatic rifles and carbines are to be counted as light machine guns". This does not constitute a ban, but a restriction to 1,134 guns. The number is so low that it would have stunted the German Army's distribution of weapons of this type, but it does not say the MP 18/I would be banned. There is nothing in the treaty that says that Germany was not allowed to manufacture submachine guns.Post-war service
The MP 18 proved to be an excellent weapon. Its concept was well-proven in trench fighting. The basic design directly influenced later submachine gun designs and showed its superiority over the regular infantry rifle in urban, mobile, and guerrilla warfare.One of the most notable post-war users of the MP 18/I were the Freikorps who armed themselves with weapons appropriated from military depots. After the armistice, Germany found itself embroiled with domestic strife in the form of the Spartacist uprising. Many submachine guns that had not been sent to the front were issued to Freikorps volunteers; the government collaborated closely with the Freikorps to crush the uprising and initially did little to stop these guns from falling into paramilitary hands. The MP 18/I proved to be particularly popular among these irregular forces.
The MP 18/I was gradually retired from military service and allocated to police forces, particularly the Sicherheitspolizei. The government's implementation of the Treaty of Versailles in 1924 approved the distribution of maschinenpistole by the Ordnungspolizei, provided that they were not issued at a rate any higher than one gun for every twenty men. These weapons were stamped "1920" to signify that they had been approved for government issue. These guns were in legal possession of the state, but many more of the c. 50,000 guns that had been produced fell into the hands of unofficial paramilitaries or criminal elements.
In 1922 Foreign Minister Walther Rathenau was assassinated by ultranationalists armed with a stolen MP 18/I.
During the failed 1924 Estonian coup d'état attempt, the MP 18 was used to defend the Tallinn barracks from Communist militants; some of whom were armed with Thompson submachine guns. This was possibly the first engagement where submachine guns were used on both sides.
All the limited conflicts between 1920 and 1940 saw an increasing use of this new class of weapons, first in South America during the Chaco War, then in Europe during the Spanish Civil War, and in China during the Warlord Era and the Second Sino-Japanese War, where its use by well-trained Chinese troops was costly for the invaders as in the Battle of Shanghai. It was also used during World War II by various partisans and resistance forces.
From the MP 28,II, a variant of the MP 18/I was born, which is sometimes called the 'MP 18/Iv'. The guns themselves are marked 'M.P.18,I SYSTEM SCHMEISSER'. The so-called MP 18/Iv was a conversion of the MP 18/I from a 45° Trommelmagazin feed to a 90° Schmeisser box magazine feed. These conversions were carried out at C.G. Haenel on the request of German police forces.. It is commonly assumed that the conversions were undertaken from 1920 onward, predating the MP 28,II. This derives from confusion over the '1920' property stamps that were added after the Treaty of Versailles. In fact, the conversions were not undertaken until the 1930s. It was merely a cheap and economical way for the German police to update their existing stocks of submachine guns to feed from the new Schmeisser box magazine without having to purchase entirely new orders of MP 28,IIs.
Old stocks of MP 18/I submachine guns were distributed as foreign aid to allies of the Third Reich in neighboring countries. These predominantly fell into the hands of fascist groups in France, Austria, and Czechoslovakia. In France, deliveries of the MP 18/I, MP 28,II, and MP 35/I submachine guns were made to the far-right nationalist organization La Cagoule. Several arms dumps were discovered by the French police and destroyed prior to the Second World War.
MP 18/I and MP 28,II submachine guns were distributed to the Austrian SS during their exile from their home country. The Austrian Nazi Party was banned after their attempted coup in 1934 and many members of the militant wing of the party went to Germany to receive training by the SS. The intent was to send these militants back to Austria, but a second coup never materialized.
In Czechoslovakia, police confiscated several MP 18/Is that had been smuggled into the country by the SS to arm Henleinist sabotage squads. Some of these guns saw use during the Sudeten Uprising of 1938. These weapons were sourced from old military stocks and still had their original feed systems taking the TM 08 Trommelmagazin. Bergmann MP 35/Is were also supplied to the Henleinists.
The MP 18 remained in limited service with the German armed forces during the Second World War, specifically with the Sicherheitsdienst, later eastern foreign divisions of the Waffen SS and also with Kriegsmarine coastal artillery units.