PPSh - 41
Russian sub-machine gun

PPSh 41

PPSh - 1941 G
Type: Sub-machine gun
History: The Pistolet Pulyemet Shpagin PPSh was developed in 1940-41 as a replacement for the PPD­40 model, since although the PPD was good it was not entirely suited to fast production in huge quantities, which was the Soviet's primary concern in 1941.

The well-known Russian PPSh 41 sub-machine gun.

The Russian PPSh sub-machine gun used stamped steel for the body and jacket, although the barrel was still chromium lined and the weapon still used a wooden stock. An interesting economy was the utilization of old and reserve Mosin-Nagant rifle barrels to provide barrels for the sub-machine gun; one rifle barrel could be cut up to make two sub­machine gun barrels with a considerable saving in time and machinery. The entire assembly was by pinning and welding, and the barrel jacket extended beyond the muzzle to act as a muzzle brake and compensator to divert some of the gases upwards and thus counteract the tendency, common with all sub-machine guns, for the muzzle to creep upwards during automatic fire. The first models had an optimistic and luxurious tangent sight, but this was soon discarded for a simple peep-sight.

Hand grenades and PPSh sub-machine guns were the two weapons which best suited the aggressive instincts of the Red Army soldiers.

The 71-round drum magazine adopted for the PPD was retained, since production of this item was well established and it gave the firer a good reserve of ammunition, no bad thing considering the high rate of fire of this weapon. The mechanism was simple blowback, a bolt with fixed firing pin and a return spring being almost the only components apart from an agriculturally simple firing mechanism. It was robust, simple to use, and cheap to make, and something like five million were made during the war.
In addition to the 71-round drum a 35-round box magazine was later made for this weapon, but it was much less common than the drum pattern. Large numbers were captured by the German Army on the Eastern Front, so large in fact that they found it worth their while to convert them to fire 9mm ammunition, altering the magazine housing to take the standard MP40 magazine.

Russian partisans armed with PPSh sub-machine guns.

The PPSh 41 sub-machine gun came to be almost the badge of the Red soldier, much as the MP40 was that of the German. Whole divisions were armed with nothing else, since it was a weapon which well suited the Soviet tactics and spirit. With this sort of weapon, you cannot hide in a hole and snipe; the only way to use it effectively is to get out of the hole and go after the enemy, and this they did.

The sub-machine gun is brandished as Soviet infantry follow the flag, breaking out from Leningrad.

Sub-machine gunners under fire

Russians in fox holes.