Cheap and cheerful...the Sten gun By KD

Guns are kind of important in a war and after losing so many during the flight from Dunkirk, the British army needed a quick and cheap replacement. The Thompson machine guns that were bought from the US were too expensive and in 1940 production was started on a gun that cost just under £3, or about £80 at today''s prices.

Named after its inventors; Shepherd, Turpin and Enfield of the Royal Small Arms Factory of Enfield, the Stengun became the mainstay of the British army and was shipped out to guerilla fighters and partisans fighting the Germans, helped along by using the same 9mm ammo used by the German MP40. By 1945, roughly 5 million weapons had been produced.

It was easy to produce, weighed only 3 kilograms, cheap, had a minimum of working parts, (only 50 in early variants) and needed little oiling. There were 5 main variants, not counting the silenced versions, from the Mark I to the Mark V, with a refinement towards simplicity with each iteration. The exception was the Mark V which added wooden grips and butt and could fit a bayonet and was issued to the Paratroopers at the Battle of Arnhem.

Although greeted with reservation by troops initially, the Stengun became a valued asset to the Allies and aside from issues with accuracy at range, misfires, jamming, and a tendency

to fire when dropped, it was a very successful weapon whose production was only surpassed by the Russian PPSh-41 and led to many copies, from the Germans to the Chinese and many other nations.

And finally...the Stengun was so prone to fire off an entire clip of 32 rounds, by being dropped, that troops used them almost like grenades. A handful would be tossed through a door and the guns would fire until empty, handily clearing a room of the enemy.