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| Picture provided by the 1ss reenactors of the CHG |
The MP40 machine pistol was based on the pre-war MP38, modifying the earlier design to make it more suitable for mass production; more than a million were produced during the war. Its folding metal stock made it compact and easy to carry, even in cramped circumstances; its startling staccato bursts of fire shattered the silence in many Norman hedgerow. The MP40 won the admiration of Allied soldiers, who often referred to the MP40 as the "Schmeisser," despite the fact that firearms engineer Hugo Schmeisser, designer of the Bergmann MP18 submachine gun in 1918, was not involved in the design of either the MP38 or the MP40.
