page_title: MP 40
section_title: Operators
hierarchical_section_title: MP 40 / Operators
caption_attribution_description: Picture of Simone Segouin
context_page_description: The MP 40 is a submachine gun chambered for the 9×19mm Parabellum cartridge. It was developed in Nazi Germany and used extensively by the Axis powers during World War II.
  Designed in 1938 by Heinrich Vollmer with inspiration from its predecessor the MP 38, it was heavily used by infantrymen, and by paratroopers, on the Eastern and Western Fronts. Its advanced and modern features made it a favorite among soldiers and popular in countries from various parts of the world after the war. It was often called "Schmeisser" by the Allies, after Hugo Schmeisser who designed the MP 18, although he was not involved in the design or production of the MP40. The weapon's other variants included MP 40/I and the MP 41. From 1940 to 1945, an estimated 1.1 million were produced by Erma Werke.
context_section_description: During World War II, the resistance and the Allies sometimes captured MP 40s to replace or supplement their own weapons. The MP 40 was used for several decades following World War II by many countries around the world in armed conflicts. Some found their way into guerrilla groups such as the Viet Cong or African guerrillas.
  Its operators have included:
   Algeria: the National Liberation Army used MP 40s supplied by Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia.
   Austria
   Bosnia
   Bulgaria
   Croatia
   Czechoslovakia
   France: French resistance used captured guns during World War II. MP 40s were also carried by French Army in the French Indochina and French Algeria.
   Greece
   Guatemala: MP 38/40 supplied in 1954 from Czechoslovakia, still in service with the police at the end of the Guatemalan Civil War.
   Hungary
   Indonesia
   Israel
   Kosovo Liberation Army
   Nazi Germany used by the Wehrmacht, military police, Gestapo, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm, and Hitler Youth at the end of war. Contrary to the famous opinion, MP 40 was not a main weapon of the German Forces.
   Norway
   Polandcaptured MP 40s, were used by Polish réels during the war.
   Romania
   Soviet Union: captured MP 40s were used by Soviet partisans and Worker-Peasant Red Army. After the war, the MP 40 with other weapons, were sold to others countries in the Eastern Bloc.
   Spain: copied as the Star Model Z-45.
   South Vietnam: used by the South Vietnamese Popular Force.
   Syria: used against Israel.
   Syrian National Coalition
   United States:captured MP 40s used by United States during World War II and by Special Forces and their Civilian Irregular Defense Group program at the beginning of the Vietnam War. Some also apparently captured in the Iraq War.
   Vietnam: captured from the French Far East Expeditionary Corps and used by the Viet Minh, the Viet Cong and the People's Army of Vietnam.
   Yugoslavia
   Zimbabwe: used by ZIPRA and ZANLA.
caption: Simone Segouin, a French partisan, posing with an MP 40 in 1944
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