A Phoenix from the Ashes, The Thompson Submachine Gun in World War II

Frank Iannamico

By 1920, the Auto-Ordnance Corporation, who under the leadership of John Thompson, had finalized the development of the Thompson submachine gun. However, Auto-Ordnance did not have the manufacturing capability for series production of the weapon. An agreement was made with Colt’s Patent Fire Arms Company to manufacture 15,000 of the weapons. Twenty years after the 1921 initial run of 15,000 Thompson Submachine Guns by Colt’s there were still several thousand unsold Thompsons remaining in Auto-Ordnance’s inventory. For all intents and purposes the weapon was a commercial and financial failure; it seemed the Thompson submachine gun was destined to become a mere footnote in history. However, as history would show, the Thompson wasn’t dead yet, it was all in the timing.

For Sale: The Auto-Ordnance Corporation

In the years following the manufacture of the Colt Thompsons, the Auto-Ordnance Corporation, had very few sales and was deep in debt. After Auto-Ordnance’s primary financial backer Thomas Ryan died in 1928, his heirs were anxious to sell off Auto-Ordnance. The Corporation had shown little potential for making a profit, and a great propensity for undesirable publicity from the Thompson gun’s illicit use by the underworld. John Thompson retired and left it up to his son Marcellus Thompson to find another source of funds to purchase the corporation from the Ryan estate.

J. Russell Maguire

J. Russell Maguire was a shrewd businessman who along with Marcellus Thompson believed that with the 1937 Japanese invasion of China and events unfolding in Germany, there soon would be a great worldwide demand for the Thompson submachine gun. Maguire decided to purchase the failing Auto-Ordnance Corporation from Fortune Ryan’s heirs. Through some financial dealings and last-minute ultimatums, Maguire was able to obtain controlling interest in the Auto-Ordnance Corporation, much to the dismay of Marcellus Thompson. When Maguire obtained the assets of Auto-Ordnance, there wasn’t much remaining except for some drawings, prints and a few thousand Thompsons.

Russell Maguire would eventually make millions of dollars off of the military contracts for the Thompson submachine gun during World War II. Both John Thompson and his son Marcellus, who had believed so strongly in the Thompson gun, would never live long enough to witness its eventual large-scale adoption by the U.S. and the Allies.

When Hitler’s Wehrmacht invaded Poland on the morning of September 1, 1939, it marked the beginning of World War II. Just two days later on September 3, 1939 France and Great Britain, who had previously agreed to come to Poland’s aid in the event of a German invasion, both declared war on Germany; however, neither country was prepared for a major conflict. Shortly thereafter there was a rush by those countries to purchase all the weapons they could. In 1939, France and Great Britain approached the Auto-Ordnance Corporation wanting to purchase Thompson submachine guns. In November of 1939, the French committed to purchase 3,000 weapons, followed by another order in March 1940 for an additional 3,000 guns. The French capitulated before the second order could be shipped. While the British order became mired in bureaucratic procedures, the Swedish government acted, purchasing 500 Thompsons on 26 January 1940. The guns shipped to Sweden were believed to be some of the last Colt-made Thompsons still in Auto-Ordnance’s inventory.

After the German invasion of Poland, a world-wide demand increased for weapons, and by 1940 the remaining stock of Colt manufactured Thompson guns had been sold. Both France and Great Britain were eager to buy whatever weapons were available without regard to price. Maguire tried to interest Colt’s in another production run of the Thompson, but they were already committed to manufacturing Browning machine guns and were not interested. Maguire eventually was able to negotiate a deal with the Savage Arms Corporation, to manufacture the Thompson for Auto-Ordnance. On December 15, 1939 Savage signed the first contract to manufacture 10,000 1928 model Thompsons, the guns would be made at Savage’s Utica, New York plant.

 After a brief engineering study, Savage began acquiring most of Auto-Ordnance’s tooling and gages from Colt and Remington. The National Equipment Company of Springfield, Massachusetts made additional tooling, which was unavailable. In 1940, after a 19-year hiatus, the first Model of 1928 Thompsons were rolling off the assembly line. Savage delivered the first completed guns to Auto-Ordnance in April of 1940. Although Savage manufactured many of their own parts, a number of them were sub-contracted to their J. Stevens Arms sister plant located in Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts. A letter “S” was stamped into all parts made by Savage. Parts manufactured by the J. Stevens’ company were marked with a block letter S that often looks a lot like a number “5.” All Stevens’ manufactured Thompson parts were inspected by Savage personnel when they arrived at the Utica, New York factory.

Savage would eventually complete a total of fourteen contracts for the 1928 model. Savage and Stevens also manufactured a large number of parts to supply Auto-Ordnance’s own factory in Bridgeport, Connecticut that began manufacturing the U.S. 1928 A1 model in August of 1941.

During the 1921 Thompson production, the Colt’s name and address was prominently roll marked on the left side of the receiver.  However, in accordance with their contracts with the Auto-Ordnance Corporation, Savage was not to put their name on the Thompson, but Savage manufactured 1928 and 1928A1 Thompsons are easily identified by a capital letter S prefix in the serial number on their receivers. The receiver serial number of every 1928 and U.S. 1928 A1 Thompson was also roll marked into the underside of the trigger frame. Some early production 1928 Thompsons were well-made, earning them the moniker “Savage Commercials.” However, fine aesthetics, are not needed or desired on military weapons. As production increased, embellishments like the adjustable Lyman rear sight and the radial-finned barrel were replaced by a simple L sight, a smooth barrel and eliminating the checkering on the actuator handle and control levers.    

The British ordered their first 450 Thompson guns from Auto-Ordnance on February 15, 1940. By the time the Lend-Lease Act was enacted in March of 1941, the British had initiated eleven contracts in which they purchased 108,000 Thompsons directly from the Auto-Ordnance Corporation. By the end of 1944, the British had also received approximately 406,000 additional U.S. 1928 A1 and M1-M1A1 Thompson submachine guns through the United States’ Lend-Lease Act. The Thompsons were issued to the British Home Guard, the Army, the RAF and the S.O.E (Special Operation Executive). An estimated 5,000 of the British Thompsons were sent to India.

Auto-Ordnance Bridgeport

On August 22, 1940 Auto-Ordnance acquired a facility in Bridgeport, Connecticut, to supplement Savage’s Thompson production. Auto-Ordnance was one of the first manufacturers to establish the widespread use of Ordnance subcontracting, using nearly 75 subcontractors to produce parts during peak production. In many cases the subcontractors had no previous experience in ordnance work.

The company procured a large number of old and well-used machine tools, and made all its tooling and fixtures, jigs, cutters and gages in-house. Auto-Ordnance also supplied many of its subcontractors with tooling they manufactured. The Auto-Ordnance Bridgeport facility prepared itself to go into mass production of the Thompson submachine gun without the use of government loans or factory construction costs. At first, Auto-Ordnance leased the buildings in Bridgeport. In April of 1941, the corporation bought the factory buildings. The following year adjacent property was purchased for further expansion of the facilities. The Bridgeport Thompson plant ran 22 hours a day in 11-hour shifts; the downtime was used for machine maintenance and repairs. By 1943, Auto-Ordnance Bridgeport had increased its workforce to approximately 3,000 employees, mostly women.    

Late in 1941, the U.S. Ordnance Department had several meetings with Auto-Ordnance officials and engineers to discuss the immediate need to increase production of submachine guns by nearly one-hundred percent. In January of 1942, production of the Thompson U.S. 1928 A1 model had reached over 40,000 per month. Two authorizations were given by the Ordnance Department to increase capacity. The first called for a planned rate of 60,000 per month and the second for a rate of 90,000 per month. The expansion plan called for the procurement of additional equipment and machine tools on the government’s account. Some $665,000.00 worth of machinery, mostly used, was purchased by Auto-Ordnance on government contract W-478-ORD-1456.

In November 1941, the engineering staff at Savage began conducting a study of how the U.S. 1928 A1 model Thompson could be simplified. The engineers were looking for ways to decrease the time it took to manufacture the gun, in order to increase production. Consuming much of the manufacturing effort was the receiver, more specifically, the rails inside of the receiver that the bronze lock traveled on. The three-piece bolt/lock/actuator of the 1928 model was also labor intensive to manufacture. The engineers at Savage doubted that the locking device was necessary for the relatively low power of the .45 Caliber cartridge.

In late February of 1942, a prototype of the Savage “simplified” Thompson submachine gun was ready to be submitted to the Ordnance Department for testing and approval. The Savage Company had just completed a 10,000 round endurance test, which the new weapon successfully passed. Savage shipped the new weapon to Russell Maguire at the Auto-Ordnance Corporation headquarters. The Savage Corporation told Auto-Ordnance that they were submitting the redesigned Thompson, “Without any claims for compensation, reimbursement, royalty or patent interest.” The Auto-Ordnance engineering staff examined the new design, and then submitted it to the Ordnance Department in March of 1942. The new Thompson was sent to Aberdeen Proving Ground for testing and evaluation. The Aberdeen trials of the new Thompson were rather brief and concluded on 21 March 1942. The Aberdeen report stated that, “The overall consideration of the mechanical functioning leads to the judgment that the gun as a mechanism is equivalent or superior to the U.S. 1928 A1.” After a few government recommended alterations to the prototype were made, the new Thompson was recommended for adoption as Submachine Gun, Caliber .45 M1, at an Ordnance Committee meeting held on 24 March 1942. At the same meeting it was recommended that the U.S. 1928 A1 be reclassified as Limited Standard. On 25 April 1942, the Ordnance Committee approved the recommendation for adoption of the new Thompson as the Submachine Gun, Caliber .45, M1.

Savage engineer John Pearce and the Stevens Company’s designer Nicholas Brewer were credited with designing the new Thompson. While some parts of the original weapon remained unchanged, the primary modifications involved the receiver and bolt. The trigger frame was also redesigned, but most of the internal parts were identical. The M1 used the same box type magazine as the U.S. 1928 A1 model. On 24 February 1942, Savage agreed to a contract to manufacture the M1 model for Auto-Ordnance at a cost of $36.37 per unit, providing Savage with a profit of $12.93 per gun. Auto-Ordnance then charged the U.S. Government $43.00 for an M1 model and $42.94 for the M1A1 version, although the prices and profits varied slightly from contract to contract.

One of the major design differences between the M1 Thompson and the earlier U.S. 1928 A1 model was the M1 used a straight blowback design and did not use the actuator or controversial bronze “Blish” lock system. The M1 bolt assembly was a very simple rectangular block of steel. This allowed the receiver to be redesigned for easier manufacturer and its width reduced. The inside of the M1 receiver simply had a rectangular channel milled into it to accommodate the bolt. The cocking handle and slot were moved from the top of the receiver to the right side. Since drum type magazines had proven unsuitable for military use, the M1 series receivers eliminated the lateral slots on the sides of the magazine well for accommodating them. The length and width of the magazine well was reduced in size, and the receiver tapered at the top.

The simplified M1 Thompson was conceived to increase production and reduce cost. Savage and Auto-Ordnance were both aware that the Ordnance Department was seeking a less expensive submachine gun to replace the Thompson. The U.S. Government had on several occasions voiced concern over the Thompson’s high price. Additionally, newly developed foreign and domestic submachine guns, many made from simple sheet metal stampings, were becoming available, all at a fraction of the cost of the U.S. 1928 A1 Thompson.

The M1A1 Model

The Savage Arms Company, who originally developed the M1 version of the Thompson, continued attempts to further simplify the design by experimenting with a fixed firing pin model they designated as the M42. The prototype M42 was originally fitted with an M1 type bolt with a separate firing pin, but the firing pin was secured in the bolt in a manner that made it a non-movable part. The firing pin was fixed in an extended or “in battery” position. The firing pin, spring, hammer, and hammer pin were omitted. Less than 100 M42 Models were produced before the “fixed” separate firing pin was eliminated and replaced by a protrusion machined directly on the bolt face.

In January of 1943, the Ordnance Department announced to the Auto-Ordnance Corporation that the Thompson was going to be replaced by the newly developed U.S. M3 submachine gun. After the Ordnance Department’s official adoption of the U.S. M3, Thompson production was scheduled to be concluded in July of 1943. Plans were made to begin tapering off production of the weapon. In April 1943, 62,948 M1A1 guns were manufactured, this was reduced to 55,000 in May and 51,667 in June. This left only 5,000 guns remaining to be manufactured in July 1943 from existing contracts. Authority was then received from the Ordnance Department in June to procure an additional 60,000 weapons by the end of August. Before the end of August, more orders for the Thompson gun were received from Washington. A total of approximately 119,091 additional Thompson M1A1 models were to be manufactured, providing continuance of production through December of 1943. At the end of December there were enough parts remaining to assemble approximately 4,500 additional guns. In January of 1944 authorization was granted to complete the remaining guns by 15 February 1944. Production briefly resumed in February, completing a total of 4,092 additional guns. On February 15, 1944, the very last M1A1 Thompson submachine gun was accepted by the government via contract W-478-ORD-1949. After the Thompson production was terminated, Auto-Ordnance was awarded a contract to manufacture spare Thompson parts for Field service requirements. The parts would be used to maintain and repair weapons already in service. By the time of the last procurement of the M1A1 Thompson, the price charged to the United States government had been reduced to $42.94 per weapon. M1A1 Thompsons were manufactured by Savage in Utica, New York and at Auto-Ordnance’s Bridgeport, Connecticut plant.  

After the production of the World War II Thompson was terminated in February of 1944, the Auto-Ordnance Corporation was subcontracted to manufacture other material for the war effort. The company manufactured a variety of parts for the M1 carbine program, including receivers, bolts and slides. In October of 1944, the Auto-Ordnance Corporation became a division of Maguire Industries. Maguire Industries (Auto-Ordnance) manufactured 40,270 barrels for the M1918A2 Browning Automatic Rifle under contract W-19-059-ORD-316 in May and June of 1944. Maguire Industries also made a number of other miscellaneous small parts for the BAR and the 1919A4 Browning machine gun.

Although John T. Thompson’s vision of his submachine gun was originally a failure, the twenty-year old design was resurrected to serve the U.S. and her Allies during World War II. The original run of 15,000 Colt Thompsons in 1921, paled in comparison to World War II production, which exceeded 1.5 million Thompsons.

Ecerpted from American Thunder III, the Military Thompson Submachine Gun