[calex59]

Actually, speaking as a teacher of American History, the classic Trench Broom was the old Winchester pump shotgun ... I forget the model number but it sported a bayonet and a hammer. That was WWI and I think it predates the Thompson.

The shotgun in question was the Model 97. Hammer on the outside and it had tendency to go off when you didn't want it to after it was used enough to wear a bit, however, it was very useful and I saw quite a few of them when I was a kid in the 1950s.

[ExSoldier]

I saw quite a few of them when I was a kid in the 1950s.

But they had been around for years, yes? Decades? If not, what model was it that I was thinking of from WWI?