Military News Today

From Home Alone, to Michael Jacksons ‘Moonwalker’ to Saving Private Ryan. The Thompson Submachine-Gun, nicknamed the ‘Tommy Gun’. From gangster movies to WW2 movies, this famous weapon has been just as much a star of the films as the actors using it. 

A trailblazer for automatic weapons, the Tommy Gun’s history dates back a couple of decades prior to WW2. Developed by General John T. Thompson in 1918, this submachine gun was a blowback operated selective fire weapon which was originally designed to brake the stalemate of the trench warfare of WW1. The Great War ended in 1918, so did not see service.

The Tommy Gun first saw combat in the Banana Wars with the US Marine Corps, the Tommy in its early days was also favoured by the US Postal Inspection Service, the IRA, Republic of China and the FBI following the Kansas City Massacre. 

During 1920s America, the Tommy Gun was a common sight in the media used by both criminals and law enforcement. 

In the movie Saving Private Ryan, Captain John Miller, played by Tom Hanks used the Thompson Submachine Gun on the beaches of Normandy and on into the interior of France (1944) on his squads search for Private Ryan.

Brig Gen Thompson, a retired Army Ordnance officer filed his patent on 2nd December 1920 and received the patent number US1425810A almost two years later. Originally designed for the trench warfare of WW1, he named the submachine gun the ‘Trench Broom’ or ‘Trench Sweeper’ but militaries weren’t interested due to concerns about its range and accuracy due to concerns that the rapid rate of fire would throw off accuracy.

The Thompson wasn’t a light weapon considering its size, weighing in at over ten pounds when fully loaded with its stick magazine. The stick magazines (also known as straight box magazines) came in two sizes, 20 rounds and 30 rounds capacity of .45 APC ammunition. The Thompson also had available, 50 and 100 round drums for later models.

A prototype belt-fed version of the Thompson submachine gun was worked on, but the belt’s bolt feed rate was too fast, and frequent stoppages occurred. So, the prototype known as the “Persuader” didn’t make the cut. 

Despite the early concerns about the Tommy Gun, the weapon was widely used in WW2 by the US forces and its allies. Ask any WW2 veteran still alive and you will find proudly defended its capability as an instrumental weapon of war that helped the US & Allied forces achieve victory. 

The Thompson wasn’t the first submachine gun, but it is without a doubt the most famous of them all and still very popular today in the 21st Century. 

Its notoriety and infamous reputation as the preferred choice of early 20th Century gangsters and bank robbers in the US, a weapon with a huge history behind it will be found in almost ever gun club in the States and often found ‘historical’ auctions.

The Thompson Submachine Gun in Hollywood:

Michael Jackson rocked the Thompson submachine gun in the 1988 blockbuster movie “Moonwalker.” Gangsters toted the infamous firearm throughout the 2009 movie “Watchmen,” and you can’t watch a WWII movie or series without seeing at least one Tommy gun in action.

“Saving Private Ryan” is one of the most famous movies you’ll see the Thompson submachine gun in. Tom Hanks plays Capt. John Miller, who, in the movie, led Rangers from the beaches of Normandy on D-Day into the heart of France in search of a missing soldier.

Hanks totes his trusty Tommy gun, letting loose a burst of .45 ACP into armored vehicles, clearing bunkers, or leading a charge against an entrenched Nazi force. But it’s not the first or last time the Thompson has been in the hands of Hanks.

In the 2002 movie “Road to Perdition,” Hanks plays the role of Mike Sullivan, a mob enforcer for the infamous John Looney. We won’t spoil the movie, but you can use your imagination on what a “mob enforcer” might need a Tommy gun for.

The US military’s most significant issue with the Thompson submachine gun was the cost of building it, and the skilled craftsmen needed to machine it. So when the grease gun came around, it was a much cheaper and faster SMG to build and deliver to the front lines. 

The Tommy guns remained in service up until the 1970s. The U.S. Navy used them as a means to defend ships, while infantry forces carried them during both the Korean War and the Vietnam War. Both American troops and their allies utilised the firearm. 

The Thompson was finally phased out with the introduction of the M14 and M16 which like the Tommy Gun, the M16 was to gain its own huge success as a favoured weapon of choice in militaries across the globe as well as a notoriety in movies often found in the hands of Action Heroes such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone & Chuck Norris.