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USSR lend lease tommyguns


Guest artu44
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Everyone knows there are on the market many mint unusued US tommyguns, M1911s and relevant field gears and a legend says that russians didn't use american aids just to avoid logistic problems with different ammos. Crawling in the web today I found this propaganda pic of a sovietic tanker, aboard on a Stuart M3, equipped with an US headgear and showing his thompson M1928. A monument to the lend lease program. Possibly after the pic the tank crewman gave back the tommygun to his supply sarge.

post-67-1294828873.jpg

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Guest Chris_B

Cool picture.

 

The Soviets like the US 37mm cannon and US .50 machine guns in the Airacobras OK. Seems the legend has at least a few verifiable exceptions!

 

if the Soviets got M3 tanks, wouldn't the tommyguns just be equipment in the tank when sent to the USSR?

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Guest Sabrejet

This is a frequently reproduced photograph, obviously staged for propaganda purposes. In reality, the supplying of tanks and Tommyguns was really a symbollic political gesture of solidarity with "Our Heroic Russian Allies". The Russians had much better tanks...and more of them when their production really geared up. Likewise small-arms. The PPS was cheaply made and mass-produced in vast quantities. The higher quality Thompson was expensive, labour-intensive and available in much smaller numbers. Arguably, the most valuable lend-lease asset supplied by the US to the USSR were the 1000s of GMC and Studebaker "deuce and a half" trucks which enabled the Soviets to keep their forces supplied as they advanced ever further westward. Just like the B-29, the Soviets ultimately copied the trucks...and the ubiquitous Jeep/Seep too. Imitation, they say, is the sincerest form of flattery!

 

Sabrejet

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Guest J_Andrews

Yes, the TSMGs -- and the fiber crash helmets -- would have come with the tanks, as "On-Board Equipment" (OBE), just as relevant tools did.

 

The Soviets shunted much of the Lend-Lease equipment away from their primary theaters of action. The major Fronts facing the Germans focused on STANDARD, USSR-made types for logistics reasons. P-40 aircraft went largely to the NAVY air arm and was used in the Northern Fleet AO (Leningrad, Finnish front). Stuart tanks went to the southern front -- Crimea, Trans-Caucasus. The relative handful of Reising SMGs sent were used by Navy shipboard dets and base guard forces.

 

Trucks, jeeps, P-39 and P-63 fighters were exceptions and became ubiquitous. Shermans, White scoutcars and halftracks were to be seen in wide use, but again their limited numbers relegated them to lower-priority battle areas.

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Guest El Bibliotecario

Arturo~

I sense your droll humor in your remark about Ivan turning in his Thompson gun to his supply sgt. I've no idea if the russians used these weapons. I do know that not long ago a US surplus catalog sales company adverstised Thompson gun parts sets with everything but recievers for several hundred US$ ( A complete functioning Thompson gun would probably _start_at 15K US$) These parts sets were supposedly OVM from lend lease US tanks sent to the USSR. Because of our wonderful and enlightened US laws on automatic weapons, the receivers apparently had to be destroyed prior to importing the weapons.

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Arturo~

I sense your droll humor in your remark about Ivan turning in his Thompson gun to his supply sgt. I've no idea if the russians used these weapons. I do know that not long ago a US surplus catalog sales company adverstised Thompson gun parts sets with everything but recievers for several hundred US$ ( A complete functioning Thompson gun would probably _start_at 15K US$) These parts sets were supposedly OVM from lend lease US tanks sent to the USSR. Because of our wonderful and enlightened US laws on automatic weapons, the receivers apparently had to be destroyed prior to importing the weapons.

 

A sad but usual story. After Gorbaciov USSR became a gold mine for US fine mint guns and all europeans found their way in butchering them. In UK and France by deactivation (the good word for "how to kill a gun after having castrate it) while in Italy (we are unbelievably lucky) NIB M1911s were "only" punched with govt proof marks and with a stupid catalog number. The same for Tommyguns. They are moreover converted semiauto, their magazines cut for ten shots max and M1s were fitted with a fake muzzle brake cause their barrel is too short to be legal (too easily concealable LOL).

BTW I'm still eating my balls why I had the idea that 800$ in 1996 was a too high price for a NIB Remington Rand.

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Guest craig johnson

I bought a Russian Thompson several years back. Seems to me the price was around $550 which was a heck of a deal at the time because it had the Lyman sight on it and the ones with the peep ( peep correct??) were going for more.

 

 

Coles was selling them at the time.

http://www.coledistributing.com/

 

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58263130_2cxze-L.jpg

 

This is apparently how they were stored. Dolfs picture obviously.

 

217181481_aHAGA-O.jpg

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Guest Broccoli

In the Czech republic, if we recieve a "special collector's licence" from the police, we can buy full auto ex-russian Tommy guns - M1A1s, M1928A1s in MINT original cond, with free mags, original numbers..

The prices go up and down, but now the M1A1 costs 450USD and the M1928A1 800USD...

 

The only problem is that the licence is not given to any collector..

 

So if sbd. does not recieve the licence, he just let some Tommy weld in 1 piece and has it as a paperweight.. :(

 

3 years ago there were mint WWII .30 cal M1919 Browning machine guns with tripods for 500USD... but those times are gone for good :( - they were not from russia, but ex-Yugoslavia)

 

Would love if BARs were found in russia or anywhere else.. e.g. for 1000 USD :D where the hell all the BARs are??

 

Broccoli

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Guest Broccoli

I need one!! :) or two :w00t:

 

Correction - I found a firing M1A1 for 300 USD ;)

 

How is it in Belgium fith firing automatic weapons? (Legal ones ;):D )

Frankie

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