The Sten Gun

I was chatting with my pa (a British Sapper in the Korean war) the other day and he said whenever the sten wasn't being used for an extended period of time they had to remove some rounds from the clip because if it were to stay full for a long time it would make the spring weak.

He also said that if you jumped out of a truck you had to keep it on safety and point it away from your mates lest it discharge from the jolt. His opinion was that it was a piece of crap.

- Chris

 

It applies even to weapons made after the war. I was told the same when I was being taught to use the SLR. Max rounds would weaken the spring if left in the mag for a lenghty period of time which would be the case if you were on active service in a war zone. Better than getting a stoppage.

 

I will repeat what I said before the war time (WW2) Sten was utter crap and bloody dangerous to the user.
Sapper

 

I will repeat what I said before the war time (WW2) Sten was utter crap and bloody dangerous to the user.
Sapper

Sounds like the Uzi. What a piece of junk. Nothing compares to the MP-5.

Sapper,

What's your opinion of the MP-38/40?

 

A poem on the Sten.

The Sten Gun
by Harry William Hughes
1st Canadian Parachute Battalion B44322

Long ago in the isles of Great Britain
Lived a plumber of consummate skill.
Any intricate water conveyance
Out of pipe he could fashion at will.

He continued his ordered existance
Fixing toilet or tub here and there
When smack into Poland marched Hitler,
Beginning a nasty affair.

Now the war, it effected most prices,
And the cost of Scotch rose out of sight;
Then the plumber surveyed his equipment,
And his face lit with smiles of delight.

A great war is not just fought with weapons
There must be strength of purpose and will
And if you only to keep the morale up
The plumber would fashion a still!

When the still was deemed ready for testing,
With the valves and the tubing just right,
He was faced with a grave disappointment,
And a loud blast that shattered the night.

"Eee it's all come to nought" said the plumber
And I'll never sleep safe in me bed
And me neighbours won't be too pleased either
Wi' a weapon like that in my shed.

A weapon! Now that was the answer,
And in no time at all he was done,
And like old Tubal Cane in the Bible,
He had fashioned the first Sten Gun.

Now the gun as might well be expected,
Was made mostly of gas pipe and tin,
With a butt like a Stork's main appendage,
And a Block like an old rolling pin.

The magazine stuck out the West side,
And the trigger was where it should be;
But it gripped without due concentration,
Once could shoot off a finger or three!

The gun was deemed ready for testing,
And the tester too aim straight ahead;
But there weren't many holes in the target,
And the two men behind him were dead.

Now old Winston sat hunched at 10 Downing,
His cigar and his brandy a-reek.
"If we give this 'ere gun to the Germans
The will wipe themselves out in a week."

But the best schemes of man go asunder.
With the bad luck that Chiefs of Staff dread,
Some idiot mixed up the orders,
And we got the weapons instead.

The success of the gun was amazing
When first introduced to the fight,
For the Germans fell screaming and laughing
At such a ridiculous sight!

To round them up but a minute.
They arrived at the prison cage door
And reflected, between their convulsions,
On the strangeness of modern day war.

Now the Generals all wrote their memoirs;
And described each success - and each botch;
But the war - as they never will tell you -
Was won by the high price of Scotch!

EPILOGUE

There was quite a "to-do" at the Palace,
What with trumpets and uniformed men.
When old Alf Winterbottom the plumber
Was created "First Baron of Sten."

 

From "Ortona: Canada's Epic WWII Battle" - M. Zuehlke:

"When the Canadians had been preparing to deploy to Sicily, they had been provided with some 9-millimetre Sten submachine guns, a British-designed weapon that was stamped out like metal cookies from a cutter. Inexpensive to make and popular with the Commandos and European underground, the gun was held in disdain by the Canadians and was generally ditched as quick as possible. All too often it's primitive safety switch came off and the gun accidentally discharged causing friendly casualties. By the time the Canadians reached the Sangro River, hardly and Stens were in use by front-line units.

 

Hated by all, used by everyone.

It was a quick attempt to provide British troops with automatic fire, relying on vast stores of captured Italian ammo to feed it.

However, I have read that it could take weather and field abuse better than Thompsons, and guerrillas loved them because they were small, had only a few parts, and could thus be disassembled and reassembled quickly.

Other than that, it seems to have had no virtues.

 

My Father told me much the same things as sapper has described, basically crap and used as a last resort.

 

I think the best thing aboutthe sten is that it used the same ammunition as the MP40 so when you got hold of an MP40 you had a supply. I dont think I ever read a good word about te sten, I guess it was very cheap so could be given out in numbers, better then nothing?

 

However, I have read that it could take weather and field abuse better than Thompsons, and guerrillas loved them because they were small, had only a few parts, and could thus be disassembled and reassembled quickly.
Other than that, it seems to have had no virtues.

They could be even made by underground, like 700 made by Home Army's workshops.

 

What would you blokes say if you came face to face with one of the enemy round the side of a farmhouse. In this case both pulled the trigger, (Sten) both jammed and failed to fire. That was not the end of the story, but it happened. For another German let fly with a Panzerfaust. That showered our man with shrapnel, he dived into a fox hole beside a haystack that was on fire. The burning haystack fell on him and badly burned him, He made his way back to get aid and trod on a schu mine.

Lots of shrapnel wounds, badly burned, and lost a leg. A mate of mine that I knew in Normandy. I came across him again in Warwick hospital, where he was just learning to walk again. That was around Christmas time 1944.

More Tea Vicar?
Sapper

 

I wouldn't put any trust in a weapon which had a reputation for jamming.

 

As both the MK I and Mk V were actually quite good (as oppossed to the cheaper Mk II and III), I'm not surprised. And the theory behind the MP 3008 was exactly the same as the Sten - cheap, easy to produce, and easy to use. And the fact that it used the MP 40 magazine probably meant that it worked better too.

 

A little trivial anecdote:




My father determined there was flux residue on the welds (Sten guns were utilitarian weapons hastily assembled and shipped without niceties of finish due to the pressures of wartime production requirements). I had rubbed my eyes after handling the weapon and had transferred the chemical flux residue to them. My father rinsed the entire Sten gun with hot water and dried it well. I experienced no further problems when handling it.


James


Bloody hell. Imagine using that on the front line, getting a bit of debris in your eyes, then rubbing them to clear your sight?


Temporarily blinded by flux residue. Sounds nice.

 

let me say just this. The Sten gun was just about the worst weapon that has ever been invented.......No ifs or buts. It was lethal not to the enemy but to its user. Put on the ground and it will start firing. As my mate Harry Grey will testify as the burst from the weapon on the ground creased his hair.......straight through the centre. Ask any vet about the Sten Gun and stand back as the opinion is given.
IT WAS A BLOODY AWFUL THING. Sing its praises if you like, then pray that you never have to use it.
Sapper

 

Just finished reading Pegasus Bridge by Stephen Ambrose. He gave the Sten a bit of a slating and I thought here we go, another reason why the USA won the war! But after comming across this thread and reading later in Ambroses book that Howards men were keen to get their hands on the german schmeissers I guess it shatters the notion of the heroic para and his trusty Sten.

 

Anyone that seriously believes that the Germans admired the Sten, really lives in cloud cuckoo land. That is ridiculous.
Sapper