Object Title

Centrefire automatic submachine gun - Sten Mk.III

Date

about 1943-1944

Object Number

PR.7575

Provenance

Gifted with the Pattern Room by the Ministry of Defence, August 2005.

Dimensions

Overall	Length	780 mm
Overall	Weight	2.92 kg

Firearms/Artillery

Serial Number G75643

Calibre

9 mm

Associations

Places Britain

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When war broke out in 1939 the British army had no 'Machine Carbine' (submachine gun). Initially, Thompson guns were purchased from the United States, but these were expensive and not enough could be obtained to equip everyone that needed a short-range automatic weapon. This included a range of specialist and support troops but, most importantly, every Section Leader in the army needed a submachine gun, meaning one gun per every ten infantrymen. With enough guns, some could also be dropped to resistance fighters behind enemy lines. The answer was a radically different approach to existing designs, made from simple steel tube and sheet metal. The Mark II was even more basic, lacking a wooden stock.

These guns were cheap and quick to churn out. However, the problem was now a lack of available factories to make the gun, and so contracts were given to civilian facilities. Walter Lines of Lines Brothers, famous for its 'Tri-ang' range of 'tinplate' toys, personally redesigned the Mk. I Sten to create the Mk. III, taking advantage of Lines' expertise with sheet metal manufacture. By spring 1943 enough of the superior Mk. II guns were available that production at Lines was stopped after only one year, but 876,886 Mk. IIIs had been produced a significant contribution to the war effort.

Read the story of the Sten and Lines Bros on our website: https://royalarmouries.org/stories/our-collection/from-toys-to-sten/

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