PPD SMG

PPD SMG History

The submachine gun became the main weapon of the Soviet army during World War II, and after the German invasion of the Soviet Union, automatic weapons were chosen instead of the slow bolt action system. This forced the creation of a series of Soviet submachine guns, which included several well-known brands such as the PPS-42, PPS-43 and the famous PPSh-41. The PPD itself, perhaps not so easily recognizable, predates both of them, but proved too expensive for mass production and thus suffered from wartime influences.

Nonetheless, the PPD family of weapons found themselves engaged in eager combat on multiple fronts of the conflict and continued to exist after World War II.

Around the mid-1920s, Soviet engineers began developing various domestic submachine guns. Although some final products appeared, none were manufactured or used on a large scale.

In 1934, Soviet gunsmith Vasily Degtyayrov (1880-1949) began work on another inspiring Soviet submachine gun design, an effort no doubt influenced by the 1918 German Bergman MP18 (MP18 = "Machine Gun 1918") - The world's first true submachine gun.

All production of the PPD submachine gun finally ceased in 1941, after which, after the shameless invasion of the Soviet Union during Operation Barbarossa in June 1941, the associated factories eventually collapsed under the weight of German conquest. The loss of the PPD factory was a blow to the Soviet army to ensure that they were temporarily faced with a severe shortage of various weapons.

The entire factory was completely relocated east of the Urals, and with uninterrupted labor began the rigorous production of war materials. Which PPD weapons did not fall into enemy hands during the invasion continued to serve until their useful life expired.

Eventually, the PPD was replaced by the more effective and cheaper Soviet submachine guns that began to come online, such as the "PPSh-41" in 1941. The PPSh-41 later became the iconic Red Army submachine gun of the Second War.

As many as 90,000 PPD submachine guns may have been produced between 1934-1941. She officially served in the Red Army until the end of the war in May 1945, and was used by Soviet partisans during the conflict. The German army always lacked usable automatic weapons on the ever-expanding front, so under the leadership of the MPs took stock of captured PPD submachine guns. 715(r) and members of Congress.

716(r) specified. The "r" identifies them as being of "Russian" origin, while the 715 series weapons are designated as PPD-34/38 models and the 716 series weapons are in the PPD-40 form.

Unlike other Soviet weapons, the PPD was not used worldwide due to its limited production numbers, and therefore had few operators worldwide. Captured specimens were used by the Finnish Army in two wars with the Soviet Union in World War II (the "Winter War" in 1939 and the "Continuing War" in 1941), while the HUKBALAHAP Philippine communist guerrillas in their 1946 - 54 Rebellion North Korea adopted an unknown number of types, Albania tops the list of well-known PPD operators.

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