Monday, September 3, 2018

The Thompson Submachine Gun – From Chicago Streets to European Battlefields

I had to leave one in Saigon but didn't know it's history

The war in Europe had less than a week to go before it finally sputtered and died. Everybody on both sides knew it was over. An American Infantry unit drew up into defensive positions short of a German river to wait it out. Nobody much wanted to be the last casualty of the Second World War in Europe.

The mission was to snatch German prisoners for interrogation. At least that was the briefing. The real mission was to let a new Lieutenant lead a combat patrol before the war ended. It was felt that he would need the experience if he hoped to be successful in an Army full of combat veterans.

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5 comments:

  1. AnonymousSeptember 3, 2018 at 5:12 PM

    raisnbran

    my dad was a army officer pilot who crash landed his plane at the end of the war--he had a Thompson he had never fired except playing with it.a German soldier who they were questioning pushed my dad down and ran.dad shot him with the Thompson hitting him in the ass with a bullet going thru his wallet--dad had some German money with a bullet hole in it-he really felt bad shooting the guy-really bad

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  2. UnknownSeptember 3, 2018 at 7:39 PM

    I have a Thompson 1928 version in semi-auto. While heavy it is a good shooting weapon.

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