The Sten deserved to included for the same reason that the T-34 is seen by some as the best tank of WW2 - quantity has a quality all of its own. There were LOTS of Stens and they were in use into the 1960s.
The Thompson probably should not have been included. It was a good weapon, but complicated, expensive, and heavy. That’s why the M-3 was invented. But it is a architype. It’s amazing how many soldier pictures it is in, not to mention comics like Sgt. Rock.
The M-3 must at least be adequate since it was still in service when I was in the Army.
Dunno ‘bout the PPS-43, but the 11 ACR’s museum featured one that was captured in Vietnam, do I guess it had a long service life, too.
No Thompson SMG?
The very first SMG ever developed, to which all following SMGs owe their very existence? And ubiquitous to boot. 1.5 million were produced. Compare to the MP40 at 1.1 million produced.
No, I beg to differ. The Thompson deserves to be #1 on the list IMHO.
The Greasegun was kind of lousy as an SMG, though: slow rate of fire and heavy. We used to joke that you could "run between the rounds" when it fired.
I made the mistake of carrying one for about two weeks in Vietnam. It looked cool but with two magazines taped together a la Steve McQueen, it weighed exactly as much as my loaded M14 but shot only at much closer range and a lot less accurately. I got my M14 back after just one firefight across a 200m rice paddy.