Thompson Model 1928 Submachine Gun
name: label: inventor
content: Thompson, John Taliaferro
notes: label: Description
content: During World War I, machine guns were heavy, crew-served weapons. Their operation required several soldiers. Even so-called light machine guns could not easily be handled by single soldiers. To meet the need for an individual rapid-fire weapon, several inventors devised submachine guns. Light enough for one-man use, the new weapons were nicknamed "trench brooms" because they swept the trenches clear of enemy troops. The Thompson submachine gun was the handwork of John Taliaferro Thompson (West Point Class of 1882). It saw only limited wartime use, but the "Tommy gun" in the hands of police and gangsters achieved notoriety as "the gun that made the twenties roar."
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: related event
content: World War I
setName: label: See more items in
content: Military and Society: Armed Forces History, Military
label: See more items in
content: Military
label: See more items in
content: Industry & Manufacturing
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: U.S. Postal Service
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1986.0698.02
label: accession number
content: 1986.0698
label: catalog number
content: 1986.0698.02
label: serial number
content: 11768
objectType: label: Object Name
content: gun, submachine
label: Object Name
content: submachinegun
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 35 in x 2 in; 88.9 cm x 5.08 cm