The 'Gangster Gun' Britain's Commandos Refused To Give Up

The Thompson submachine gun was the most infamous weapon in America not because soldiers carried it, but because gangsters did. The British military establishment had publicly dismissed it as a tatty gangster gun. The IRA had used it to ambush British soldiers on a Dublin road. And yet, within weeks of the Dunkirk catastrophe, Britain placed a desperate $21 million order for as many as they could get. This is the story of how a weapon born in American criminal violence became the emblem of Britain's most elite fighting men and why those men refused to surrender it even when a replacement was pushed on them. After Dunkirk stripped the British Army of virtually every submachine gun it owned, the War Office had no domestic weapon in production and no time to build one. Auto-Ordnance Corporation in New York became Britain's only option. What followed was one of the most unlikely procurement stories of the Second World War: 13 separate contracts by December 1940, 514,000 weapons ordered under Lend-Lease, and a weapon that arrived wrapped in its gangster reputation and left wrapped in commando legend. We dig into the engineering reality of the M1928A1 the Blish lock that British armorers in North Africa proved was elegant nonsense, the .45 ACP physics that gave commandos a decisive edge over the German MP40 inside 50 metres, and the simplified M1A1 that cut the unit cost from $209 to $45. We cover Operation Archery at Vågsøy, Operation Chariot at St. Nazaire five Victoria Crosses, the most decorated single British operation of the war and the moment the commando brigades were offered the Sten gun as a replacement and turned it down flat. We also separate fact from sentiment on the Thompson's real weaknesses in Burma and North Africa, and explain exactly what the commando brigades' refusal to relinquish their Thompsons tells us about what actually matters in a combat weapon. Subscribe to The Small Arms File for deep dives into the engineering, combat record, and human stories behind British and Commonwealth firearms. TOPICS COVERED The Dunkirk equipment disaster and Britain's submachine gun shortage, the IRA's first combat use of the Thompson in 1921, Auto-Ordnance Corporation and Savage Arms wartime production, the M1928A1 specifications and the drum magazine problem, the Blish lock theory and why British armorers proved it wrong, the M1A1 simplification and cost reduction, Thompson versus MP40 .45 ACP versus 9mm stopping power at close quarters, Operation Archery at Vågsøy December 1941, Operation Chariot at St. Nazaire March 1942, Lieutenant George Nolan VC Burma, the Sten Mark II as replacement and why commando brigades refused it, Korean War service, and the commando shoulder badge legacy. MAJOR RESEARCH SOURCES Martin Pegler, former Senior Curator of Firearms, Royal Armouries — commando supply priorities and Sten versus Thompson Auto-Ordnance Corporation contract records — 13 British contracts, $21 million valuation, December 1940 Lend-Lease Act records — total British Thompson orders, 514,000 weapons Operation Chariot after-action reports — protection team weapon assignments, five Victoria Crosses Victoria Cross citation, Lieutenant George Nolan, Number One Commando, Burma US Army M1A1 design records, October 1942 — Blish lock elimination and cost reduction figures FURTHER READING Ian Skennerton, Small Arms Identification Series — Thompson variants in British service John Ellis, "The Social History of the Machine Gun" Max Hastings, "Das Reich" — commando weapons and doctrine in Northwest Europe Royal Armouries collection notes, Thompson M1928A1 and M1A1 held at Leeds #ThompsonSubMachineGun #BritishCommandos #WWII #MilitaryHistory #OperationChariot #TommyGun #TheSmallArmsFile