[PzLdr]

Better than the MP 40 in hitting power [.45 ACP vs. 9mm], but one of the few cases where we over engineered, and the Germans didn't. So there were a LOT more MP 40s than Thompsons [even after they were simplified. Plus the Germans tended to issue their troops a lot more semi-auto weapons than we did [and a lot more handguns, including the P-38].

But the critical difference was the machine gun. The MG 42 was the best machine gun of the war. Period. The MG 34 wasn't far behind. This allowed the Germans to build an entire offensive infantry doctrine around those guns. Made them much more dangerous on offense AND defense, since they issued a lot more machine guns to their small infantry units than we did.

[C19fan]

Watching History channel the MG34 was developed by the Germans due to the restrictions of the Versailles Treaty. They came up with the innovative barrel changing system.

[abb]

Wasn’t the M-60 design an MG-42 copycat?

[CougarGA7]

Another little tidbit on the Thompson. It was noisy. I don’t mean when you fire it, I mean it rattled like a can of dried beans. It was not something you wanted to try and sneak up on someone with.