Thompson M1946

> A standard-issue US Army submachine gun. Its high fire-rate makes it useful when taking on many enemies at close range.
>
> Journal description., Wolfenstein: The New Order

The **Thompson M1946 (A.K.A the *Submachine Gun*)** is a full automatic submachine gun developed by the Auto Ordinance Company. The weapon is an improved model, if slightly more prone to malfunction, of the Thompson M1A1.

## **History**

The Thompson M1946 was rushed in through design and manufacture to replace the Thompson M1A1, following the implementation of the AR-46 into the ranks of the Wehrmacht, who used the weapon against Allied soldiers to great effect, the AR-46 having been developed from the STG-44 and having been given ample time to work on flaws. In contrast to this; the Thompson M1946 was rushed in to production before it could be formally tested, accounting for a great deal of the problems that Allied soldiers encountered when using the weapon in the field, with many Allied servicemen simply discarding there M1946's in favour of the Nazi AR-46's.

After the conclusion of the Second World War, the Thompson M1946 ceased official manufacture due to the defeat of the Allied forces and the victory of the Axis powers, though some weapons were still being produced in smaller numbers in underground production centers or by scavenging older parts, though these weapons were poor mock ups, though many actual Thompson M1946's survived and continued to be used by Resistance fighters, even in 1960, 14 years after it ceased production, the Kreisau Circle and other resistance maintained a number of these weapons.

## Variants

M1946 Thompson - The first major production variant produced was the Submachine gun variant which fired the more powerful .45 ACP Carbine round in a 40 round box magazine, had the charging handle on the top instead on the right hand side and fitted a muzzle break and cooling fins like the older 1921/1928 models. Due to development and production being rushed, the gun tended to jam and misfire which was the main complaint from Allied Soldiers. After the war, the M1946 like many allied weapons were mostly destroyed by the Nazis while some managed to fall into the hands of the resistance during the 1950s and 1960s.

M1980A1 Thompson - The only post war variant produced was a major upgrade to the original M1946 Thompson which it took inspiration from the Sturmgewehr and MP60 systems to make it an equal adversary against German infantry and super soldiers. The weapon fired the new 7.34 x 48mm cartridge in a 40 round box or jungle magazine, the charging handle was on the side instead on the top, had a variety of sights ranging from iron sights to advanced optics and instead of a muzzle break a compensator was fitted which improved control during firing full auto, the body of the gun was bigger but shared resemblance to the older M1946, had a enclosed receiver and a new gas operated system. During its service life it was popular among allied troops and able to operate in extreme conditions made it very reliable and robust on the battlefield. It is still in service as well as Submachine gun variants by the United States, The Commonwealth and a couple of resistances world wide.

## Summary

### Pros

* Accurate
* Manageable recoil
* Large magazine
* High rate-of-fire

### Cons

* Low total ammo and additional ammunition is hard to come by
* Cannot be dual-wielded
* Crosshair blooms wildly when hipfired

## **Upgrades**

### Perk Upgrades:

* **Deadeye:** Increases the SMG's headshot damage when sighted.
* **Quick Draw:** The SMG is equipped faster.
* **Quick Reload:** The SMG is reloaded faster.
* **Dual-wield Expert:** Increases the SMG's standard total ammo capacity.

## **Trivia**

* The Thompson M1946 (Submachine gun) was inspired in a experimental Thompson SMG upgrade that could fire .30 carbine rounds.
* The SMG was based on a dolled-up M1928A1 Thompson submachine gun. However, judging by the size of the rounds in the magazine and the size of the magazine itself, it appears to be chambered in .30 carbine clearly indicated that the Allied modified their Thompson sub-machine gun to have a higher velocity round to have greater penetrative power against improved Nazi armor. Interestingly, in real life at least one Thompson gun chambered in .30 carbine was created by the Auto-Ordnance company in 1939 for testing during the 'carbine trials' (which would eventually see Winchester's M1 Carbine being adopted), the one existing prototype is currently housed at the Cody Firearms Museum and could be the inspiration for the firearm implemented in the game.

* The SMG is akin to the MP40 and MP43 from the previous game, almost identical in terms of combat purpose, effective range, and recoil.

* Before rappelling up Deathshead's fortress, Fergus admits that Thompson M1946 themselves are **inferior** to the German assault rifles and tells everyone to pick one up off a dead Nazi soldier if possible.
* Despite this, Fergus and the rest of the squad use their SMGs throughout the chapter, never replacing them with the StG 46.

It also mirrored the fact that the Nazi actually invented the concept of assault rifle in the weapon industry with the introduction of the StG 44 which is more superior than the M1946 due to its larger caliber, having the suppressing fire function of a light machine gun, and a more reasonable accuracy.

* The SMG third-person model has a foregrip which can be seen when it is wielded by an NPC or even Blazkowicz himself when his character model is viewed in the **Extras** segment.

* The SMG is wielded by Fergus Reid in the final cinematic of *Wolfenstein: The Old Blood*, but the player can't equip it.
* It is unknown whether this weapon is dual-wieldable or not since we never get two SMGs.
* In real life, Thompson M1A1 and Thompson M1928A1 were expanding to USSR in ranks of Lend-lease program and was using by Red Army in Steppe and North-Caucasian Fronts.