Sub-machine gun "Suomi" (Suomi). Finnish submachine guns

Finland - a country in the historical sense of the young, it became independent only after the second Russian revolution (or the October Revolution of 1917). Before that, the territory was more often called Chukhnia, and this province was not among the most developed. Becoming a sovereign power, the country began to develop, and soon it had its own industry. The Finnish weapon has not received special distribution except for the famous knives so loved by hunters and robbers both in Russia and abroad, but they were made not only by Finnish masters. Despite the peaceful nature of the inhabitants and a short history, the country still had to fight. In both international conflicts, in which the Finnish army took part, its armament consisted of samples created by the self-taught designer Aimo Johannes Lahti. The submachine gun "Suomi" was not a masterpiece, but it can not be called bad. The reason for this is the popularity of this model all over the world, even if it did not lead to its mass production. More than a dozen countries armed them with their police and military units.

War, about which few people know

In 1932 the bloodiest war in the history of Latin America began. It lasted three years, claimed the lives of dozens (or even hundreds of thousands of people, no one was puzzled at the time by an accurate count of the victims), and, in the end, was almost useless. The deserted Chaco region became the subject of a dispute between Paraguay and Bolivia, where oil fields were supposed to be located. In fact, conflicting "Royal Dutch Shell" and "Standard Oil", and these two companies unleashed a war for control over the deposits. The Bolivian and Paraguayan armies were supplied with various types of weapons, including cannons and airplanes. In this slaughter on an exotic background, even Finnish submachine guns were used. There were war in Russia, and on both sides, they were royal and whiteguard officers, who proved themselves to be excellent military specialists. Oil in the Chaco was never found, but the result was still there. The Latin American land has become, on a par with Spain, a testing ground on which the newest weapons were tested. In particular, in the melee (a feature of the Paraguayan-Bolivian theater of military operations was just short distances between opponents), the Suomi Finnish submachine gun showed its deadly capabilities perfectly. It was his debut.

The inventor of Lahti in his youth

Aymo Johannes did not receive a special technical education, which was manifested in part in some engineering naivety of the design of his offspring. But he was undoubtedly a talented man. The peasant son, having worked the first month at a glass factory (he graduated only six full classes of the school), Lahti spent five marks on the old Russian berdanka and immediately began to mess with it, trying to improve it. Realizing that it was much more interesting than the routine work, he asked the gunsmith Sutherie to be an apprentice. By the time the young man was mobilized, he was already well versed in rifles and was aiming for more.

Dream of a quick-fire pistol

In 1922, Lahti fell into the hands of the German rapid-fire carbine MP-18, and he was carried away by a cunning mechanism. He served in the army with an armory repair shop, but he was creative about the occupation. He managed to improve the three-line, and the Finnish army received a new model - Lahti-Saloranta M-26 (the corporal had to perpetuate the name of the immediate captain Captain Salarant, who became a co-author). And at the same time he invented other types, among which - a pistol and a machine gun. They were not very successful, but in appearance they resembled homemade products (they, in fact, were those). Sub-machine gun "Suomi M-26" became a weapon of policemen. By the way, the tradition to call their samples in honor of their native country Lahti remained true in the future. He rose to the rank of general and resigned in 1944 after a scandalous history with the loss of a party of experienced weapons. His guilt was not, but the sludge, as they say, stayed, and it happens not only in the Finnish army. His submachine gun "Suomi M-31" was adopted in service in 1931.

Winter War

The end of the thirties of the XX century is usually called the prewar period. In fact, the process of redistribution of spheres of influence in Europe has already begun, and it was as impossible to stop it as to avoid the bullet from the barrel after the firing struck the cartridge in the capsule. According to the official version, the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940 began with the provocation of a side adjacent to the USSR. Immediately the term "White Finns" was invented, suggesting the presence of representatives of another, "red" part of this people, and numerous. It was not possible to suppose any aspirations of the "militarism" of the grounds, and it could not be. Finland did not have a strong air force, the tanks also did not go to any comparison with the Soviet. Most of the military budget was spent not on offensive, but on exclusively defensive programs. The construction of the "Mannerheim Line" became a matter of state importance, the attacks were expected and prepared precisely for him. Fortifications really impressed the imagination with its scale and inaccessibility, which was also facilitated by the terrain. Nevertheless, the Red Army managed to overcome it, despite the huge losses. In the conditions of the severe winter of the winter, Suomi submachine gun showed its fighting qualities. The use of weapons has revealed its strengths and weaknesses. The slightest contamination of the shutter mechanism led to a failure, it was heavy, but, most importantly, the quantity did not satisfy the army's needs.

Questions of tactics

The Latin American experience, despite the obvious difference in climate, became the reason for reviewing the tactical aspects of the use of automatic weapons. The field regulations of the Finnish army established the presence of one unit in the platoon, the commander. The industry simply could not produce enough "trunks", although by the beginning of 1940 it was possible to issue a submachine gun "Suomi" to each squad leader, bringing the total number to four. But this was also not enough. Then - in violation of the statute - began to form separate consolidated companies of machine gunners who arranged ambushes and opened an unexpected heavy fire, making maximum use of the total firepower. After the raid, this unit again dispersed in its companies and platoons.

The second phase of the Soviet-Finnish war (1941-1944)

It should be noted the ability of commanders of the Red Army to adopt the experience of the enemy. With the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War, companies of submachine gunners became a regular structure in the Soviet armed forces. So, along with "Molotov cocktails", the Finnish method of massive fire exposure was used in the fight against fascism. In addition, the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940 became a kind of catalyst for a significant increase in the production of automatic weapons in the USSR.

It is considered that after the capture of the Mannerheim Line and the conclusion of the peace treaty, this international conflict was over. Some territories were diverted from Finland, the border from Leningrad was withdrawn, and in return the Soviet side provided other lands, approximately the same area. However, the conditions of this world were imposed by force, and after the German attack on the USSR, Finland attempted to return the taken away. The second phase of the war began. The Finns in every possible way stressed the lack of an alliance with Hitler and claimed that they were fighting independently. Suomi submachine guns, however, somehow got into the Third Reich (just over three thousand pieces) - they were armed with some parts of the Waffen-SS.

The Finnish venture failed.

Device

A free shutter is used in the submachine gun. The loading handle is made separately, it remains stationary while firing. Another design feature is the ability to regulate the rate of fire with a special diaphragm-spring pneumatic device with five holes of different diameters.

Protection from an accidental shot and transfer to a single fire is made by a switch located behind the magazine from below.

The forehead is absent as such, so shooting long bursts is problematic: it is impossible to take the left arm by hand - it heats up, and it is forbidden to hold the gun in the shop, so as not to loosen the knot of the joint. However, the same situation was with the PPSh. Bunker-Suomi was also produced without butts (only five hundred pieces), used not only to fire from fortifications, but also for tanks.

TTX

Suomi is designed for a 9-mm cartridge for Parabellum.

Large weight (4600 g uncharged and up to 7000 grams - with a magazine), a small initial speed of the bullet (200 m / s) and insufficient reliability - these are the three main shortcomings that the Suomi submachine gun suffered. Its characteristics are inferior to the parameters of both Soviet and German weapons of the Second World War. But the main vice was not even technical, but technological. The sample was almost impossible to launch into a mass series. The trunk box was made by milling from a single forging, which greatly increased the cost and extended the process. Without stamping, it is impossible to manufacture millions of automatic machines, weapons technology was understood long before the war began. Small batches of "Suomi", however, dispersed around the world in the 30's, and the release lasted until 1953, until the Soviet PPP was copied in Finland.

The decision of the quick-change barrel was recognized as successful, a similar method was used in the Israeli "Uzi".

Score

Suomi submachine gun and PPSh are alike from a distance. There are two reasons: firstly, the rifle butt without a pistol grip, and secondly the disk clip, into which many cartridges are placed. For "Suomi" two variants (for 40 and 70 pieces) are developed. But, as practice showed, this type of store, although it has a large capacity, does not justify itself. It is worth it because of the complexity of the device, and reliability is inferior to the usual box. In the second half of the war, both the PPS and the Suomi began to be equipped with them, which were simpler and more reliable. The same was done in other countries, where this Finnish submachine gun was produced under license (Denmark, Sweden). In just 32 years, eighty thousand M-31 pieces were produced.