MP40

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	Weapon: MP40 Type: Submachine Gun Country of Origin: Germany Year Adopted: 1940 Overall Length (mm): 833.0 Overall Length (in): 32.8 Weight (kg): 3.97 Weight (pounds): 8.75

The MP40 (Maschinenpistole 40) was a German 9x19mm Parabellum submachine gun developed as a simplified, mass-producible follow-up to the earlier MP38 by Erma Werke and adopted into service in 1940. Constructed largely from stamped and welded steel with a folding metal stock and a simple blowback, open-bolt action, the MP40 emphasized low cost, ease of manufacture, and soldier ergonomics for close-quarters combat. It fed from a detachable 32-round box magazine and had a practical cyclic rate in the neighborhood of 500-550 rounds per minute, making it controllable in short bursts at typical engagement ranges.

Produced in large numbers through World War II (production roughly 1940-1945), total output exceeded one million units as German industry pushed to equip infantry, paratroop, and specialist formations with a compact automatic weapon. The MP40 was widely distributed among Wehrmacht units, Fallschirmjager (paratroopers), Waffen-SS formations, and various support troops, and many examples were captured and reused by Allied forces and later irregular and postwar armies. Its straightforward construction and widespread production meant the weapon remained in secondary service-often in reserve, police, or colonial forces-well after 1945 in a variety of global conflicts.

Notorious and iconic in equal measure, the MP40 is often immediately associated with German forces of the Second World War in both historical accounts and popular culture. Praised for its handling and compact profile in close combat, it was nonetheless limited by a single-feed magazine design that could be awkward under combat conditions and by relatively low penetration compared with larger-caliber weapons. Today the MP40's legacy endures as one of WWII's most recognizable submachine guns-valued by collectors, studied by historians, and frequently depicted in film and media as a symbol of mid-20th-century small-arms design.