commander_coops
French Resistance soldier with Sten mkII(WIP)
Service
The Sten, especially the Mark II, tended to attract affection and loathing in equal measure. Its peculiar appearance when compared to other firearms of the era, combined with sometimes questionable reliability made it unpopular with some front-line troops.[10] It gained nicknames such as "Plumber's Nightmare", "Plumber's Abortion", or "Stench Gun". The Sten's advantage was its ease of mass-production manufacture in a time of shortage during a major conflict.
Made by a variety of manufacturers, often with subcontracted parts, some early Sten guns were made poorly and/or not made to specification, and could malfunction in operation, sometimes in combat.[11] The double-column, single-feed magazine copied from the German MP40 was never completely satisfactory, and hasty manufacturing processes often exacerbated misfeed problems inherent in the design. A common statement heard from British forces at the time was that the Sten was made 'by Marks and Spencer out of Woolworth.'[12]. British and Commonwealth forces in the early years of the war often extensively test-fired their weapons in training to weed out bad examples; a last-minute issue of newly-manufactured Stens prior to going into action was not always welcomed.
The MK II and MK III Stens were regarded by many soldiers as very temperamental, and could accidentally discharge if dropped or even laid on the ground whilst the gun was cocked.[13]. Others would fire full-automatic when placed on 'single', or fire single shots when placed on 'automatic'.[14] This was particularly true of early Stens using bronze bolts, where the sear projection underneath the bolt could wear down more easily than ones made of case-hardened steel.
Stens could jam at inopportune moments. One of the more notable was the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich on 27 May 1942, when a Czech partisan fired his Sten point blank at Heydrich, which misfired. Another partisan hastily tossed a grenade, which mortally wounded Heydrich.[15] There are other accounts of the Sten's unreliability, some of them true, some exaggerated and some which are apocryphal. France[2] manufactured (well-made) Sten copies postwar into the early 1950s, evidently believing in the basic reliability and durability of the design.
A well-maintained Sten gun was a devastating close-range weapon for sections previously armed only with bolt-action rifles. In addition to regular British and Commonwealth military service, Stens were air-dropped in quantity to resistance fighters and partisans throughout occupied Europe. Due to their slim profile and ease of disassembly, they were good for concealment and guerrilla warfare. Guerrilla fighters in Europe became adept at repairing, modifying and eventually scratch-building clones of the Sten (over 2,000 Stens and about 500 of similar Błyskawica SMGs were manufactured in occupied Poland).
Staged photograph: A partisan armed with Sten Mk II smg, France, 1944.Canadian infantry battalions in North-West Europe held spare Sten guns for special missions and the Canadian Army reported a surplus of the weapons in 1944. The Sten was not used in Italy due to constraints on the shipping of ammunition; .45 ACP was already being used in theatre by the US Army and a requirement for 9 mm would have been in competition with limited shipping space.
The Sten saw use even after the economic crunch of World War II, replacing the Royal Navy's Lanchester submachine guns into the 1960s and was used in the Korean War including specialist versions for British commandos. It was slowly withdrawn in the 1960s and replaced by the Sterling SMG in British Army service, while Canada adopted a similar weapon, the C1 SMG to replace the Sten.
The Sten was one of the few weapons that the State of Israel could produce domestically during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Even before the declaration of the State of Israel, the Yishuv had been producing Stens for the Haganah; after the declaration, Israel continued making Stens for IDF use. The opposing side also used (mostly British-made) Stens, particularly the irregular and semi-regular Arab Liberation Army. [16]
In the 1950s "L numbering" came into use in the British Army for weapons - Stens were then known as L50 (Mk II), L51 (Mk III) and L52 (Mk V).
One of the last times the Sten was used in combat during British service was with the RUC during the IRA border campaign of 1956 - 1962. In foreign service, the Sten was used in combat at least as recently as the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.
In 1971 various marks of Stens were used by guerilla fighters during the Bangladesh Liberation War.
A number of suppressed Stens were in limited use by the US Special Forces during the Vietnam war, including circa 1971, by the US Rangers.[3][4][5]
In 1984, Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two of her Sikh bodyguards, one of whom emptied the entire magazine of his Sten into the Prime Minister at point-blank range.
In the Chinese Civil War, both sides used the Sten.
courtesy of wiki
French Resistance soldier with Sten mkII(WIP)
Service
The Sten, especially the Mark II, tended to attract affection and loathing in equal measure. Its peculiar appearance when compared to other firearms of the era, combined with sometimes questionable reliability made it unpopular with some front-line troops.[10] It gained nicknames such as "Plumber's Nightmare", "Plumber's Abortion", or "Stench Gun". The Sten's advantage was its ease of mass-production manufacture in a time of shortage during a major conflict.
Made by a variety of manufacturers, often with subcontracted parts, some early Sten guns were made poorly and/or not made to specification, and could malfunction in operation, sometimes in combat.[11] The double-column, single-feed magazine copied from the German MP40 was never completely satisfactory, and hasty manufacturing processes often exacerbated misfeed problems inherent in the design. A common statement heard from British forces at the time was that the Sten was made 'by Marks and Spencer out of Woolworth.'[12]. British and Commonwealth forces in the early years of the war often extensively test-fired their weapons in training to weed out bad examples; a last-minute issue of newly-manufactured Stens prior to going into action was not always welcomed.
The MK II and MK III Stens were regarded by many soldiers as very temperamental, and could accidentally discharge if dropped or even laid on the ground whilst the gun was cocked.[13]. Others would fire full-automatic when placed on 'single', or fire single shots when placed on 'automatic'.[14] This was particularly true of early Stens using bronze bolts, where the sear projection underneath the bolt could wear down more easily than ones made of case-hardened steel.
Stens could jam at inopportune moments. One of the more notable was the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich on 27 May 1942, when a Czech partisan fired his Sten point blank at Heydrich, which misfired. Another partisan hastily tossed a grenade, which mortally wounded Heydrich.[15] There are other accounts of the Sten's unreliability, some of them true, some exaggerated and some which are apocryphal. France[2] manufactured (well-made) Sten copies postwar into the early 1950s, evidently believing in the basic reliability and durability of the design.
A well-maintained Sten gun was a devastating close-range weapon for sections previously armed only with bolt-action rifles. In addition to regular British and Commonwealth military service, Stens were air-dropped in quantity to resistance fighters and partisans throughout occupied Europe. Due to their slim profile and ease of disassembly, they were good for concealment and guerrilla warfare. Guerrilla fighters in Europe became adept at repairing, modifying and eventually scratch-building clones of the Sten (over 2,000 Stens and about 500 of similar Błyskawica SMGs were manufactured in occupied Poland).
Staged photograph: A partisan armed with Sten Mk II smg, France, 1944.Canadian infantry battalions in North-West Europe held spare Sten guns for special missions and the Canadian Army reported a surplus of the weapons in 1944. The Sten was not used in Italy due to constraints on the shipping of ammunition; .45 ACP was already being used in theatre by the US Army and a requirement for 9 mm would have been in competition with limited shipping space.
The Sten saw use even after the economic crunch of World War II, replacing the Royal Navy's Lanchester submachine guns into the 1960s and was used in the Korean War including specialist versions for British commandos. It was slowly withdrawn in the 1960s and replaced by the Sterling SMG in British Army service, while Canada adopted a similar weapon, the C1 SMG to replace the Sten.
The Sten was one of the few weapons that the State of Israel could produce domestically during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Even before the declaration of the State of Israel, the Yishuv had been producing Stens for the Haganah; after the declaration, Israel continued making Stens for IDF use. The opposing side also used (mostly British-made) Stens, particularly the irregular and semi-regular Arab Liberation Army. [16]
In the 1950s "L numbering" came into use in the British Army for weapons - Stens were then known as L50 (Mk II), L51 (Mk III) and L52 (Mk V).
One of the last times the Sten was used in combat during British service was with the RUC during the IRA border campaign of 1956 - 1962. In foreign service, the Sten was used in combat at least as recently as the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.
In 1971 various marks of Stens were used by guerilla fighters during the Bangladesh Liberation War.
A number of suppressed Stens were in limited use by the US Special Forces during the Vietnam war, including circa 1971, by the US Rangers.[3][4][5]
In 1984, Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two of her Sikh bodyguards, one of whom emptied the entire magazine of his Sten into the Prime Minister at point-blank range.
In the Chinese Civil War, both sides used the Sten.
courtesy of wiki