Thompson Machine gun

Hello All,
I am after info on the types of "Tommy Gun" used by the Commando's, ie which types etc as much as you can give me.
Regards Ron

This message was edited 9 times. Last update was at 13/08/2009 23:26:44

Hi Ron

My father is pictured here with one version of the Thompson sub machine gun issued to some of No.2 Commando and others;

Commandos also used the Sten Gun. I have a report from Lt. B. J. Barton DSO MC of No.2 stating how effective use of the Sten gun with silencer was for one of his covert operations on Brac in which the German Commandant of the island was killed. His words were " This operation could have been done with any automatic weapon, but is doubtful if we could have made a succesful retreat if we hadn't used a silent Sten"

also check this link on the Tommy gun models used:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thompson_submachine_gun

Hi Ron

I havn't got much info except for these two extracts from Tim Moreman's Book "British Commandos 1940 - 46".

Cheers Andy

This message was edited 4 times. Last update was at 21/10/2009 06:38:09

1926 BSA had made a number of Thompson Submachine guns in 9 mm.

Early 1940 UK was the first country in the world to adopt the Thompson for war. The Commando units were one of the major concerns of PM Winston Churchill. On a picture from Imperial war museum he can be seen holding a Thompson M1928A1 with vertical forend, compensator and a drum magazine.

The first Submachine guns bought were among the last Colt manufactured Thompsons in the Auto-Ordnance Corporation inventory. This sale was also one of the largest single sales of Colt manufactured Thompsons by Auto-Ordnance. Later on Savage manufactured Thompsons in April 1940.

The type was Model of 1928 (converted from Model of 1921 Thompsons), without compensator and equipped with a horizontal fore-end. The rest of these were sold to Sweden. An authentic Colt Model of 1928 Thompson without a compensator is rare in the US.

This picture shows one of these early Thompson

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 21/10/2009 00:13:11

One of these Thompsons can be seen at the Claymore raid in Norway on 4th of March 1941. Cpt. John Shaw at British Commandos holds a Thompson mentioned above on the picture.

Later on ordinary M1928A1 were delivered with vertical forend and compensator.

Most Colt Model of 1928 Thompsons sold by Auto-Ordnance were equipped with compensators. All Savage, and later Auto-Ordnance, Bridgeport Thompsons, were equipped with compensators.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 27/03/2011 17:10:09

Pete wrote:Hi Ron

My father is pictured here with one version of the Thompson sub machine gun issued to some of No.2 Commando and others;

Commandos also used the Sten Gun. I have a report from Lt. B. J. Barton DSO MC of No.2 stating how effective use of the Sten gun with silencer was for one of his covert operations on Brac in which the German Commandant of the island was killed. His words were " This operation could have been done with any automatic weapon, but is doubtful if we could have made a succesful retreat if we hadn't used a silent Sten"

also check this link on the Tommy gun models used:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thompson_submachine_gun

Pete, do you have a pic of Lt. Barton? I'm interested in his activities with SOE in my area (north italy) acting as "killer" of high rank officers! Thanks

Reply from Pete - No photo. I have sent you a pm

Another advantage of the Thompson SMG was that it fired the same round as the Colt .45 Automatic that also was widely issued to Commando forces.