World War Two
Published 25 Feb 2023Now that the Americans have seized the Marshall Islands, they can bypass the Japanese base at Truk. This impels Prime Minister Hideki Tojo to shake up both army and navy command, and he even takes personal control over the Japanese Army. On the Anzio Front, Lucian Truscott replaces John Lucas as Allied Commander. In the field, the Allies win a big victory in Burma, and in Ukraine, the Soviets are still on the move.
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February 26, 2023
Tojo Takes Control – Week 235 – February 25, 1944
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February 7, 2023
The Soviet Union Adopts an SMG: Degtyarev’s PPD-34/38
Forgotten Weapons
Published 21 Oct 2022The Soviet Union adopted its first submachine gun in 1935 after trials of some 14 different design in 1932/33. The winner of the trials was Vasily Degtyarev, once of the Soviet Union’s most prolific firearms designers. His model 1934 was a simple blowback gun reminiscent of the MP-28,II albeit with different trigger and magazine systems. The PPD34 used a 25-round box magazine, chambered for 7.62x25mm Tokarev. It was put into slow production, with just 3,300 or so produced by the end of 1938. During that time, Degtyarev made a number of small improvements to the gun, smoothing out the teething problems that are always found in new production systems. This improved version was designated the PPD34-38.
During the time, the submachine gun was not considered a priority by the Red Army. The leading generals did not see the value in the class of arms, and actually pulled all the PPDs from service in 1939 and had them put into storage. Only a few months later, the Red Army would be given a grim demonstration of SMG effectiveness when they closed the border into Finland and encountered determined Finnish resistance with kp/31 Suomi SMGs.
Some Suomis were captured by Soviet troops, and were very well liked — for obvious reasons. The inevitable inquiry into why the Red Army did not have such a weapon led to a frantic re-issuing of PPDs and production of as many as possible. At Stalin’s direction, the Suomi drum magazine was copied and adapted to the PPD34-38 as well. This required the addition of a short feed tower to fit the magazine well initially deigned for a standard box magazine. While PPD34-38 production continued, the PPD40 was quickly designed and put into production alongside the older model. Eventually, both were replaced in service by the PPSh-41, which was truly designed for mass industrial production.
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October 30, 2022
Jatimatic: Finland’s Least Successful PDW
Forgotten Weapons
Published 24 Jun 2022The Jatimatic was a stockless PDW designed by Jari Timari, who co-owned Tampereen Asepaja Oy, a firearms company in Tampere Finland. The firm was founded in the early 1920s, making .22 biathlon rifles, sporterizing military surplus, and other gunsmithing work. In the late 70s he got the idea for a compact 9mm PDW with some unique climb-reducing features, and in 1980 it was introduced as the Jatimatic (JAli TImari). Only about 400 were made, as it was not adopted or purchased in large quantities by anyone (although it was tested by many, including the Finnish Border Guards).
The Jatimatic was made without a stock, instead using a shooting sling for stabilization. It used standard Swedish K magazines, and has a distinctly off-angle appearance. This was done to counteract muzzle climb, as the line of the barrel points directly back into the shooter’s hand. It also has an interesting safety built into the folding front grip – if the grip is closed, the bolt is locked in place.
Production ended in the late 1980s after “permit irregularities” and a robbery of a bunch of Jatimatics from the company premises. The rights to the design were sold to a new company called Golden Gun in 1994, and they attempted to reintroduce it as the GG-95 with a few improvements, but it was a rather complete flop. Its best achievement was getting into several major movies, including Cobra and Red Dawn.
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September 15, 2022
Lahti L-35: Finland’s First Domestic Service Automatic Pistol
Forgotten Weapons
Published 23 Apr 2018When Finland decided to replace the Luger as its service handgun, they turned to Finland’s most famous arms designer, Aimo Lahti. After a few iterations, Lahti devised a short recoil semiautomatic pistol with a vertically traveling locking block, not too different from a Bergmann 1910 or Type 94 Nambu. It was adopted in 1935, but production did not really begin in earnest until 1939 at the VKT rifle factory. Several variations were made as elements of the gun were simplified to speed up production, and the design was also licensed to the Swedish Husqvarna company, which manufactured nearly 10 times as many of the pistols as VKT eventually did.
In today’s video we will look at each of the variations, including one with an original shoulder stock and the early and late military guns as well as the post-war commercial guns marked Valmet instead of VKT.
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July 18, 2022
Russian Invasion of Finland – The Winter War 1939-40
Mark Felton Productions
Published 24 Mar 2022Find out why Russia invaded neutral Finland in late 1939, and how the outnumbered and outgunned Finns managed to defend their country for 3 months until making peace with Stalin.
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July 13, 2022
m/26 Suomi: Aimo Lahti’s First Production Design
Forgotten Weapons
Published 23 Mar 2022
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April 29, 2022
Kalevala – The most epic national epic
Mandelin
Published 2 Feb 2021Kalevala is the national epic of Finland. But if you have no time to read through all the 22,795 verses, but still want to learn more about this epic Finnish epic, this video contains most of the important things you need to know about.
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March 21, 2022
M44 Submachine Gun: Finland Copies the Soviet PPS-43
Forgotten Weapons
Published 17 Nov 2021http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons
https://www.floatplane.com/channel/Fo…
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The kp/31 Suomi submachine gun in Finnish service was an outstanding weapon, but it was slow and expensive to manufacture. When Finnish forces began capturing Soviet PPS-42 and PPS-43 submachine guns from the Soviets in the Continuation War, it was very quickly decided that Finland should copy the design. This was a far simpler, far cheaper stamped sheet-metal design that was not as refined as the Suomi, but much more efficient to make.
The Sudayev design was changed only minimally; primarily to fit the Finnish cartridge (9x19mm Parabellum) and magazines. The guns were originally designed to use the 50-round quad-stack boxes and 71/72 round drums of the Suomi, but also used the Swedish Carl Gustaf m/45 magazine that was adopted by Finland after WW2.
Two companies were approached to produce the M44; Tikkakoski and Ammus Oy. Ammus was unable to source raw materials for the project, and only Tikka put the guns into production. Marshal Mannerheim initially wanted 50,000, but the order was reduced to 20,000 — of which only 10,000 were actually made, due to limited material availability before the end of the war led to production ending. Another 400 were assembled from remaining parts after the war.
In the 1950s, a plan was begun to resume M44 production in order to completely replace the Suomi in Finnish inventory. However, this plan was interrupted when Sam Cummings of InterArms made a deal to trade Finland about 75,000 surplus Sten guns for Finland’s supply of 7.35mm Carcano rifle (received as aid from Italy during the war) along with a melange of old machine guns. This was a sufficient quantity of Stens to handle the duties of the Suomi, and so the Sten went into Finnish service and M44 production was never resumed.
Those Carcano rifles were in turn imported into the United States, and this is why the majority of 7.35mm Carcano here bear Finnish “SA” property stamps. The same is true for the significant number of Chauchat automatic rifles in the US with Finnish property marks, which were also part of the deal.
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March 11, 2022
QotD: In 1939, Stalin never imagined Finland would refuse his demands
The one thing Stalin had not reckoned on was that any of these neighbors might object. Certainly he did not expect resistance from the Baltic states. As early as September 24th, 1939, three days before Warsaw surrendered to Germany, Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov had advised the Estonian foreign minister, Karl Selter, to “yield to the wishes of the Soviet Union in order to avoid something worse.” Latvia was next in line. When Lithuania’s foreign minister, Juozas Urbšys, objected that Soviet occupation would “reduce Lithuania to a vassal state,” Stalin replied brutally, “You talk too much.”
[…]
When Molotov summoned a Finnish delegation to the Kremlin on October 12th, 1939, Stalin made a personal appearance to heighten the intimidation factor, and he handed the Finns a brutal ultimatum demanding, among other things, “that the frontier between Russia and Finland in the Karelian Isthmus region be moved westward to a point only 20 miles east of Viipuri, and that all existing fortifications on the Karelian Isthmus be destroyed.” Stalin made it clear that this was the price that Finland had to pay to avoid the fate of Poland.
Aggressive and insulting as the Soviet demands on Finland were, Stalin and Molotov fully expected them to be accepted. As the Ukrainian party boss and future general secretary Nikita Khrushchev later recalled, the mood in the Politburo at the time was that “all we had to do was raise our voice a little bit and the Finns would obey. If that didn’t work, we could fire one shot and the Finns would put up their hands and surrender.” Stalin ruled, after all, a heavily armed empire of more than 170 million that had been in a state of near-constant mobilization since early September. The Red Army had already deployed 21,000 modern tanks, while the tiny Finnish Army did not possess an anti-tank gun. The Finnish Air Force had maybe a dozen fighter planes, facing a Red Air armada of 15,000, with 10,362 brand-new warplanes built in 1939 alone. Finnish Army reserves still mostly drilled with wooden rifles dating to the 19th century. By contrast, the Red Army was, in late 1939, the largest in the world, the most mechanized, the most heavily armored, and the most lavishly armed, even if surely not — because of Stalin’s purges — the best led.
One can imagine, therefore, Stalin’s shock when the Finns said no. Stunned by this unexpected resistance, Stalin and Molotov did not, at first, know quite what to do. With his highly placed spies in London, Stalin must have known that the mood in foreign capitals was becoming agitated by Soviet moves in the Baltic region. On October 31st, 1939, the British war cabinet took up the question of “Soviet Aggression Against Finland or Other Scandinavian Countries”. And earlier in the month, FDR had written to Moscow, demanding clarification of the Soviet posture on Finland. At this point, the Finnish cause seemed to have the potential to transform the so-far desultory and hypocritical British-French resistance to Hitler alone into a principled war against armed aggression by both totalitarian regimes.
On November 3rd, after yet another encounter in the Kremlin had gone sour with the Finns, Molotov warned the delegates that “we civilians can’t seem to do any more. Now it seems to be up to the soldiers. Now it is their turn to speak.” However, the truth was that, in November 1939, neither side was ready to wage war. Having expected the Finns to come around, Stalin had issued no orders to begin invasion preparations until after talks had finally broken down.
Sean McMeekin, “Stopped Cold: Remembering Russia’s Catastrophic 1939 Campaign Against Finland”, Quillette, 2021-04-20.
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January 30, 2022
Engineer’s Delight: Stemple 76/45 Becomes the Stemple Takedown Gun
Forgotten Weapons
Published 17 Sep 2021http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons
https://www.floatplane.com/channel/Fo…
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The saga of how the original Stemple 76/45 became the Stemple Takedown Gun is a fantastic story of engineering design choices.
Essentially, John Stemple began by building a rather crude copy of the Swedish K in .45 ACP in the mid 1980s, called the Stemple 76/45. He produced and registered 2,000 transferrable receivers for the gun (pre-1986), but only built them slowly, a few at a time. In the late 1980s he faced criminal charges from ATF, and transferred the receivers to a friend while he (successfully) fought the charges. When he went to get the receivers back, his friend refused, and the two entered into a nearly decade-long legal battle over them.
By the time Stemple eventually won the case, he recovered about 900 transferrable tubes. By this time (circa 2000) these tube receivers were much more valuable than when he first made them, as the machine gun registry was closed in 1986 and new ones can no longer be made. At this point, Stemple reached out to Brian Poling (BRP Corp) to act as a subcontractor to make the parts for the Stemple 76/45. But Poling had a better idea …
Poling’s thought was to instead design a new gun that would be much more desirable as a recreational gun than the 76/45. He envisioned something controllable, low recoil, and using large drum magazines. Such a gun would be a lot more fun at the range than the MACs and Uzis that tended to dominate the submachine gun market at the time. In addition, Poling’s gun would be designed specifically to protect the irreplaceable registered receiver tubes from wear or damage. The result was the STG-76 — the Stemple Takedown Gun.
In order to remain legal, the STG-76 had to leave the original 76/45 receiver tube cutouts unmodified, so as not to change the configuration of the receiver itself. Poling designed a replaceable internal trunnion and slip-over magazine well, allowing multiple different calibers and magazine configurations. The internals were closely based on the Finnish kp31 Suomi, for which parts kits became readily available in the early 2000s. This also facilitated the use of Suomi 71-round drum magazines. The original STF-76 design also included a bipod for easy shooting, and a grip and stock from an HK91 or CETME Model C for comfortable handling (instead of the terrible metal strut stocks common to most budget SMGs).
Several other interesting configurations would follow (stay tuned for those videos), and the guns remain available brand new to this day. The original supply of receivers is sufficient for production until about 2023 …
Contact:
Forgotten Weapons
6281 N. Oracle 36270
Tucson, AZ 85740
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January 12, 2022
Soviet PPD-40: Degtyarev’s Submachine Gun
Forgotten Weapons
Published 28 Aug 2017Degtyarev’s PPD-40 was the first submachine gun adopted on a large scale by the Soviet Union. Its development began in 1929 with a locked breech gun modeled after Degtyarev’s DP light machine gun, but evolved into a much simpler blowback system. It was accepted as the best performing gun of 14 different submissions in Soviet trials of 1931/2, and first entered production in 1934. In this form, it used a 25 round curved stick magazine, and was chambered for the 7.62x25mm cartridge. In 1938 Degtyarev made a number of changes, most importantly developing a drum magazine based on the Finnish Suomi m31 drum. The PPD-38 drum had a short section of feed tower to allow the gun to use either drums or stick magazines, and this was dropped with the final iteration in 1940 when the gun was again changed, this time to accept only 71-round drum magazines of the m31 type.
The PPD-40 finally entered serious production in 1940, with just over 81,000 made. This production would continue into early 1941 with another roughly 6,000 made before it was replaced by the faster-to-produce PPSh-41 submachine gun. The PPD-40 was a relatively heavy SMG at 12 pounds (5.45 kg) unloaded, and with a rate of fire of approximately 900 rounds per minute. This particular example was captured and used by the Finnish military, and appears to have a PPD38 bolt in it.
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December 28, 2021
The Bubblegum History … of Chewing Gum
TimeGhost History
Published 27 Dec 2021Ancient Finns, angry Ottomans, a one-legged Mexican general, and scouring soap — that’s the story of modern chewing gum in a nutshell!
Hosted by: Indy Neidell and Spartacus Olsson
Written by: Indy Neidell
Director: Astrid Deinhard
Producers: Astrid Deinhard and Spartacus Olsson
Executive Producers: Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson, Bodo Rittenauer
Creative Producer: Maria Kyhle
Post-Production Director: Wieke Kapteijns
Edited by: Karolina Dołęga
Sound design: Marek KamińskiSources:
– Birch Bark photo courtesy of Jerzy Opioła https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi…
– Mastic tears photo courtesy of פארוק https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mastic_…
– Mexican Cession map courtesy of Kballen https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi…
– Peter Gabriel, Chateau Neuf, Oslo, Norway courtesty of Helge Øverås https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pe…
– Promotional Chiclets courtesy of Coolshans https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi…Soundtracks from Epidemic Sound:
– “Ancient Saga” – Max Anson
– “Master of the Hurricane” – Rockin’ For Decades
– “Home on the Prairie” – Sight of Wonders
– “Cocktail Hour” – The Fly Guy FiveArchive by Screenocean/Reuters https://www.screenocean.com.
A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.
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October 22, 2021
L-34 Sampo: Aimo Lahti’s Rejected Masterpiece
Forgotten Weapons
Published 30 Jun 2021http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons
https://www.floatplane.com/channel/Fo…
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Finland’s standard light machine gun going into the Winter War was the LS-26, a gun which did not succeed in field use. It was complex and cumbersome, and Finnish troops quickly replaced it with captured Russian DP-27 LMGs. Part of the problem of the LS-26 was its recoil-operated design. Finnish military authorities specified a recoil-operated mechanism for their LMG in light of the success of the recoil-operated heavy Maxim guns in Finnish service. Gas operation was quickly recognized as a superior system for light machine guns, but too late to stop adoption of the LS-26.
In the early 1930s, Aimo Lahti did design a gas-operated LMG, heavily influenced by the Czech ZB-26 system. A handful of prototypes were made by VKT, looking for both Finnish military acceptance and international sales. The gun was made in several calibers, most notably 7.62x54R for Finland and 7.92x57mm Mauser for export. However, bureaucratic issues prevented its consideration by the Finnish Army, and the timing was too late for exports. The L-34 was significantly lighter and simpler than the LS-26, and it was performed quite well in Finnish trials — which did not happen until the 1950s. By that time, the Finnish military was looking for an intermediate-caliber belt-fed gun, and the L-34 was not suitable regardless of its performance.
Many thanks to Sako for providing me access to film this L-34 from their reference collection!
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Forgotten Weapons
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October 6, 2021
Let’s Visit Finland (1935) – Helsinki Liinakhamari Lapland Arctic Ocean Highway
PeriscopeFilm
Published 2 Aug 2020Love our channel? Help us save and post more orphaned films! Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PeriscopeFilm Even a really tiny contribution can make a difference.
This travelogue film shows Finland in the 1930’s. It was presented by Joseph Harris and Martin Ross. Finland is in northern Europe bordering Sweden, Norway and Russia. The capital city of Helsinki as well as the Arctic Ocean Highway running to the port of Liinakhamari which once touched the Arctic Ocean will be shown. It refers to Helsinki as Helsingfors which is the former Swedish name of the capital. The Arctic Ocean Highway was rerouted after WW2. Finland had long been a battleground due to the imperial ambitions and growing pains of Sweden and Russia. Finland was absorbed by the Russian Empire in 1807 (:32). A 1917 revolution overthrew the Czarist regime (:38). Due to wars and fires, few remnants existed of historical value in Helsinki (:47). Some of the old wooden houses have managed to remain (:53). Granite columns and entryways of the city point to early architects’ desire to use the country’s reserve of granite (1:14). Russian influence is exemplified in a Russian style church (1:35) and the cathedral of St. Nicholas (1:38). Architects sought to stray from the influences of foreign domination (1:45). The red granite railway station in the Market Square (1:59), the parliament building (2:05) and white factory buildings show no allegiance to former occupiers (2:08). A newly erected suburb consisting of flats constructed with reinforced steel (2:26) lay encircled by forests and lakes. Roads are lined with trees and intermittent flower beds (2:49). Helsinki harbor follows (2:59). Town parks and gardens were erected with artistic sculptures throughout showing Finland’s growing appreciation for the arts (3:22). The capital is also the terminus of the road leading northward for over a thousand miles to the port of Liinakhamari (3:34). A map is provided which still has USSR on it as this was before the fall of Soviet Russia (3:35). The port of Liinakhamari lay about 300 miles beyond the polar circle (3:43). The film follows this road which remains concrete for 20 miles after leaving the capitol (3:58). Land alongside had been cleared for agriculture (4:06). A farmer reaps hay with a scythe as modern farm machinery had not yet reached the area (4:34). A striking feature of the Finnish countryside are the impaled corn husks on wooden poles for drying (5:03). A double arched bridge of granite follows crossing one of the waterways along the route (5:09). A close up shot of the farm houses show they are crudely erected structures reminiscent of the middle ages (5:28). Corn fields dissipate and the countryside becomes hilly and wooded (6:03). Finland is known as the land of a thousand lakes, though it should be known as the land of 60,000 lakes (6:11). The route continues on for 300 miles until hitting another agricultural district (6:44) sprinkled with one-story windmills. It continues around the Gulf of Bothnia (6:54). The only important town along the way is Oluu where the Oulujoki River cuts the city into three (7:28). Uneven cobblestone roads (7:38) and wooden buildings with elaborate ornate facades. Rivers float timber out from the forests (8:18). Finland’s timber industry racks in 80 million pounds annually (8:28). The timber is sent to sawmills along the coast (9:35). Stacks along the road await trucks (9:40). A car heads to be taken across a river by ferry as bridges become less frequent (10:27). The pulley system is operated by the ferryman, his young daughter and by the passengers (10:45). The government auctioned the ferries to those who would operate them at the lowest cost (11:02). Further on, another farm area appears with small white wooden churches (11:33). Most of the water for homes are sourced by well (11:49). The road then re-enters the wilderness (12:03). A sign with “Arctic Circle” in four different languages (12:05) follows as the road crosses the imaginary line marking the Arctic circle. Cattle are wandering through the road (12:31), hay farms (13:08), and stacks of wood to heat the homes in the winter (13:24). A housewife washes her clothes using water from a brook (13:32). The road hits Lapland (13:54) and turns into a dirt road (14:01). Reindeer feed on the lichen in winter (15:05). A log hut has reindeer antlers placed on top (15:22). Laplanders with their colorful handcrafted headdresses and pointed toe tall boots (15:43). Vegetation becomes stunted while approaching the northern coastline (16:29). The film wraps up as the road reaches the deep-water port of Liinakhamari (16:40).
This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
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June 11, 2021
Is Finland an Ally of Nazi Germany? – Carl Gustaf Mannerheim – WW2 Biography Special
World War Two
Published 10 Jun 2021Carl Gustaf Mannerheim is a national hero after his service in everything from the Finnish Civil War to the Winter War. But did he plan a war of aggression with Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union? And if so, did Hitler and Stalin even give him any choice in the matter?
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