Lanchester Mk I

[McCoy]

BEF stod more or less without weapons n’ equipment by june ’40 due to their rather hasty retreat from France as they had to leave most of it there. So the British needed to reequip the BEF n’ they were impressed with the Germans use of submachineguns n’ decided to start producing their own. They had allready ordered Thompson M1928 SMG’s from the USA but only in small quatitys but lacked a design of their own. So in order to get it going they started by copying a known n’ good design, the German SMG Bergman MP28 as they saw that one as a really good weapon. Just a few changes in the overall design (mainly adding a bayonetlug) n’ the Lanchester Mk. I was born.

But the British industry was still on peacetime production n’ that led to the fact that Lanchester Mk. I became one of the most expensive small arms that was produced during WWII. The finish n’ tolerances is excellent n’ that has to do with peacetime attention to the details on the weapon in it’s manufaturing during wartime, hence the big cost on this beautiful weapon that was produced with great care. This led to the insight that they couldn’t contiue the production for long on this stopgap weapon. The experiences from the Lanchester was used as a base when the British developed the various Sten guns. Hence the Lanchester Mk. I can be seen as the forebearer to the Sten gun but the trail leads all the way back to the German Bergman MP28.II, forebearer or not, the Lanchester Mk. I was a better weapon than the various Sten guns throughout the entire production of ‘em.

You could say that the most expensive small arm durin’ the entire WWII led to the cheapest small arm in production durin’ the same period.

Lanchester Mk I

[McCoy]

[McCoy]

On this pictures you can clearly see all the eyecandy on the beautiful weapon that the Lanchester Mk. I is. It’s easy to understand that it became to expensive to produce when you look at all the brass details n’ the overall finish on the weapon.

[McCoy]

The German design that was the start of it all. You can clearly see that more care n’ time was put to the finish n’ tolerances on the Lanchester Mk. I than Haenel ever did on their Bergman MP28.II. A weapon that from the beginning was a revision on the MP18 that was designed by Hugo Schmeisser by the end of the Great War.

Bergman MP28.II

[Panzermacher]

Ok putting Bayonets on SMGs is just Plain WRONG!!!!