Sten Mark II submachine gun

History, technical sheet and photo

Image : Sten Mark II

Sten Mark II sbumachine gun history

On the 1940 battlefields, British soldiers were handicapped by the lack of submachine guns in their armed forces. They are endowed with a very small quantity of the American Thompson submachine guns.

After the creation of a new PM by Major RV Sheffield and HJ Turpin (who were largely inspired by the excellent German submachine gun, the MP 40), these engineers decided to give a name to their weapon. They took the initials of their names and add the first two letters of Enfield: S-T-EN.

The Sten fire baptism took place in Dieppe as part of Operation Sledgehammer, in August 1942, in the hands of Canadian soldiers. Generalized in the British army from 1944, it is parachuted in large quantity to the resistants in Europe, and in particular to those of the Free France, because of its simple use and maintenance.

His small size allows him to enter the British parachute troops, especially during Normandy’s landing and airborne operations, and to arm officers, non-commissioned officers and crew members.

Sten Mark II submachine gun specification

Creator: Britain
Denomination: Sten Mark II submachine gun
Produced: 2,000,000 (during World War 2)

Fire mode: Automatic
Caliber: 9×19mm Parabellum
Feed system: 32 round-magazine
Effective firing range: 145 m
Rate of fire: 550 rounds/min

Weight: 3,26 kg
Length: 756 mm