page_title: Thompson submachine gun
section_title: World War II
hierarchical_section_title: Thompson submachine gun / History and service / World War II
caption_attribution_description: Thompson SMG magazines
context_page_description: The Thompson submachine gun is an American submachine gun first invented by John T. Thompson in 1918 during World War I and became infamous during the Prohibition era, being a signature weapon of various organized crime syndicates in the United States. It was a common sight in the media of the time, being used by both law enforcement officers and criminals. The Thompson submachine gun was also known informally as the "Tommy Gun", "Street Sweeper","Annihilator", "Chicago Typewriter", "Trench Broom", "Chicago Submachine", "Chicago Piano", "Chicago Style", "Chicago Organ Grinder", "Drum Gun", "the Chopper", "the Tommy Boy" or simply "the Thompson".
  The Thompson was favored by soldiers, criminals, police, FBI, and civilians alike for its fully automatic fire, while still being relatively lightweight, portable and easy to use. It has since gained popularity among civilian collectors for its historical significance. It has considerable significance in popular culture, especially in works about the Prohibition era and World War II, and is one of the most well known and recognised firearms in history.
context_section_description: In 1938, the Thompson submachine gun was adopted by the U.S. military, serving during World War II and beyond.
  There were two military types of Thompson SMG.
  The M1928A1 had provisions for box and drum magazines. It had a Cutts compensator, cooling fins on the barrel, employed a delayed blowback action and its charging handle was on the top of the receiver.
  The M1 and M1A1 had a barrel without cooling fins, a simplified rear sight, provisions only for box magazines, employed a straight blowback action and the charging handle was on the side of the receiver.
  Over 1.5 million military Thompson submachine guns were produced during World War II.
caption: Drum and box magazines
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "NIKON", "Image Model": "E995", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image Software": "E995v1.5", "Image DateTime": "0000:00:00 00:00:00", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "2272", "Image XPTitle": "[32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 0, 0]", "Image XPSubject": "[32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 0, 0]", "Image Padding": "[]", "Image OffsetSchema": "3838", "EXIF ExposureTime": "10/673", "EXIF FNumber": "3", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0210", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "0000:00:00 00:00:00", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "0000:00:00 00:00:00", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "41/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2048", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1536", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF Padding": "[]", "EXIF OffsetSchema": "2120"}