Błyskawica submachine gun (original) (raw)

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This article is about the firearm. For the ship, see ORP Błyskawica.

Submachine gun

Błyskawica
BłyskawicaBłyskawica with its stock folded
Type Submachine gun
Place of origin Poland[1]
Service history
In service 1943 to 1945
Used by Poland
Wars World War II
Production history
Designed 1943[2]
Produced 1943 to 1944
No. built c. 740
Variants none
Specifications
Mass 3.22 kg
Length 556/730 mm
Barrel length 197 mm
Cartridge 9×19mm Parabellum
Action Blowback
Rate of fire 600 round/min
Muzzle velocity 400 m/s
Effective firing range 200 m
Feed system 32-round box magazine

Polish insurgent weapons, including the Błyskawica sub-machine gun, at the Warsaw Uprising Museum.

The Błyskawica (Polish: 'lightning') was a submachine gun[1] produced by the Armia Krajowa, or Home Army, a Polish resistance movement fighting the Germans in occupied Poland.[1] Together with a Polish version of the Sten sub-machine gun, with which it shares some design elements, it was the only weapon mass-produced covertly in occupied Europe during World War II.[2]

Shoulder rest.

In September 1942, engineer Wacław Zawrotny proposed to the Armia Krajowa command that he and his colleagues prepare a project of a cheap, home-made machine pistol for use by the Polish resistance. Its main feature was its simplicity, so that the weapon could be made even in small workshops, by inexperienced engineers. The idea was accepted, and Zawrotny, together with his colleague Seweryn Wielanier, prepared a project of a sub-machine gun, soon afterward named Błyskawica (Polish for 'lightning').[3] To allow for easier production, all parts of the weapon were joined together with screws and threads rather than bolts and welding, which were commonly used in firearm production since the 17th century. It is noteworthy, that neither of the designers were gun constructors.[4]

The design was based on two of the most popular submachine guns of the era. The external construction with a retractable butt and magazine mounted below the gun was borrowed from the successful German MP 40. The internal design of the mechanism was modeled after the British Sten. The blowback action with an open bolt offered good performance and high reliability. Unlike the Sten, and its Polish clone called the Polski Sten, it employed a free-floating firing pin and two springs behind the bolt – one served as the return spring and the other as the buffer spring (similar to the later Sterling submachine gun). The weapon was designed in this fashion so that resistance army members could use any captured stocks of German MP40 ammunition cartridges.[5]

The documentation was ready by April 1943, and by September a prototype was ready. After extensive tests in the forests outside of Zielonka near Warsaw, the weapon was presented to the commanding officer of the KeDyw, August Emil Fieldorf, who found the design acceptable.[6] In November the plans were sent to a number of workshops spread throughout occupied Poland and a serial production run was initiated. The name was coined after the three lightning bolts carved on the prototype by its designers, pre-war workers of the Elektrit company that used a similar logo.

Polish soldier firing a Błyskawica during the Warsaw Uprising

The final assembly took place in a workshop officially producing metal fence nets in Warsaw at Grzybów Square, and the guns were tested in a cellar.[4] After the tests of a prototype series of five pistols, the KeDyw ordered 1000, and later an additional 300.[7] Until July 1944 and the start of Operation Tempest roughly 600 pieces were built in Warsaw. During the Warsaw Uprising an additional 40 were built. Around 740 were manufactured in total.[7] It is also possible that the Błyskawica was also produced in small quantities outside of Warsaw.

  1. ^ a b c Polish Underground Sten Gun Production During World War Two. Archived 2008-06-09 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ a b Błyskawica SMG: Forgotten Weapons
  3. ^ Błyskawica: The Polish Home Army's Clandestine SMG. Forgotten Weapons. December 23, 2022. Archived from the original on July 15, 2023. Retrieved July 15, 2023 – via YouTube.{{[cite AV media](/wiki/Template:Cite%5FAV%5Fmedia "Template:Cite AV media")}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  4. ^ a b Erenfeicht 2023, p. 82-83.
  5. ^ Caleb Larson (May 26, 2020). "World War II Guns: The Homemade Submachine Gun that Armed the Polish Resistance". The National Interest. Archived from the original on February 6, 2023.
  6. ^ Leszek Erenfeicht (August 24, 2011). "Blyskawica: Poland's First Successful SMG Design". Small Arms Defense Journal. Archived from the original on March 21, 2023.
  7. ^ a b Erenfeicht 2023, p. 83-84.