The Thompson. The signature weapon of Hollywood’s gangsters. And of the lawmen sent to extinguish organized crime.

汤普森。 好莱坞黑帮的标志性武器。 并派出了律师来扑灭有组织犯罪。

Designed for the dreary trenches of World War I, the Thompson submachine gun endowed with its iconic 50-round drum magazine was brutality incarnate. While most remember the gun as a mainstay in films that deal with excessive amounts of violence and bravado, few know of the role it played in World War II. The man behind the machine, General John Taliaferro Thompson chose the .45 ACP cartridge for his arsenal by performing tests on live cattle and human corpses. Those were desperate times.

汤普森冲锋枪是专为第一次世界大战中沉闷的战而设计的，它拥有标志性的50发子弹弹匣，是残酷的化身。 尽管大多数人都记得枪支是处理过多暴力和虚张声势的电影的Struts，但很少有人知道它在第二次世界大战中扮演的角色。 机器背后的人约翰·塔利亚费罗·汤普森将军(John Taliaferro Thompson)通过对活牛和人体尸体进行测试，选择了.45 ACP弹药筒作为其武器库。 那是绝望的时代。

General Thompson worked on the Springfield M1903 rifle and pushed for the adoption of the Colt 1911 pistol in his time. He retired from the military in 1914 to work as a chief design engineer at the Remington Arms Company. But when the Germans came knocking on the Western Front during the First World War, he knew America needed a new form of mobile firepower. A “trench broom.”

汤普森将军从事斯普林菲尔德M1903步枪的工作，并在当时推动采用柯尔特1911手枪。 他于1914年从军队退役，在雷明顿武器公司担任首席设计工程师。 但是，当第一次世界大战期间德国人来到西方阵线时，他知道美国需要一种新型的移动火力。 “ tre帚”。

In two years, Thompson’s company had prototypes ready to go. The Auto-Ordnance Corporation doubled down on Thompson’s vision for a portable slaughter machine. One “that will fire 50 to 100 rounds, so light that one can drag it with him as he crawls on his belly from trench to trench, and wipe out a whole company single-handed.”

两年后，汤普森的公司已准备好原型。 汽车兵器公司加倍了汤普森(Thompson)对便携式屠宰机的愿景。 一个“可以发射50至100发子弹，如此轻便，一个人就可以随他拖着它从腹部trench到另一只地爬行，然后单手抹掉整个公司。”

“On The Side of Law and Order.”

“在法律和秩序方面。”

-Motto of the Auto-Ordnance Corporation

-汽车兵器公司的座右铭

肌力背后的大脑 (The brain behind the brawn)

Thompson built his submachine gun around the Blish principle, an idea he bought from Commander John Blish, a former U.S. officer who served in the navy. He used this principle to design a breech block for small arms to act as a shock absorber and slow the bolt’s recoil. The Blish principle, patented in 1915, referred to the enhanced capabilities of two different metals to handle massive changes in pressure in comparison to two pieces of the same metal. This is why the Thompson featured an H-shaped block of bronze fitted into the weapon’s steel bolt.

汤普森(Thompson)是根据布利什(Blish)原理制造冲锋枪的，这是他从曾在海军服役的美国前军官约翰·布利什(John Blish)那里买来的。 他使用此原理设计了用于小臂的后膛块，以用作减震器并减慢螺栓的后坐力。 Blish原理于1915年获得专利，它指的是与两种相同金属相比，两种不同金属处理压力变化的增强功能。 这就是汤普森(Thompson)将H型青铜块装在武器的钢螺栓中的原因。

The only problem was that the Blish principle didn’t exist.

唯一的问题是Blish原则不存在。

When engineer Eickhoff broke the news to Thompson, he wasn’t deterred. “Very well. We shall put aside the rifle for now and instead build a little machine gun. A one-man, hand-held machine gun. A trench broom!” Thomspon then rose from his chair and sprayed the room with imaginary bullets. He fired from the hip, like a movie gangster of the future. A vision that was almost prophetic.

当工程师Eickhoff向汤普森发布消息时，他并没有感到震慑。 “很好。 我们现在暂时将步枪放在一边，改为制造一挺机枪。 一人手持机枪。 trench帚！” 汤普森然后从椅子上站起来，用假想的子弹向房间喷射。 他从臀部开火，就像未来的电影大佬一样。 几乎是预言的愿景。

The only reason why Thompson’s mechanism worked was because the new lock weighed down the gun’s bolt, slowing travel. By the time World War II hit, British troops began to remove the cumbersome lock before engaging in firefights. It was abandoned during the creation of the Thompson M1 in 1942. It effectively worked like a blowback submachine gun, using the energy expelled by the cartridge case moving to the rear by the ignited propellant’s expanding gas to load the next bullet. The Thompson’s mechanism was no different from contemporary weapons like the British STEN and the Soviet PPSh-41 submachine guns.

汤普森的机械装置起作用的唯一原因是因为新的锁压住了枪的螺栓，减慢了行程。 到第二次世界大战爆发之时，英军开始进行战斗之前，先将繁琐的锁取下。 它在1942年汤普森M1的创建过程中被废弃了。它有效地像反冲冲锋枪一样工作，它利用了弹药盒向燃烧室推进的膨胀气体向后方移动所产生的能量来装载下一枚子弹。 汤普森的机制与英国STEN和苏联的PPSh-41冲锋枪等现代武器没有什么不同。

芝加哥打字机的诞生 (The birth of the Chicago typewriter)

Thompson’s prototypes had names that spoke of their results. Persuader and Annihilator. One of these early models had the power to dispense 1500 rounds a minute — unstoppable but uncontrollable. The gun was almost going to be named the Payne Machine Gun at one point, but Thompson’s military caliber as a general was a better fit. By 1919, the gun began to resemble the classic shape and form we’ve come to love. Two years later, it was ready for duty. Unfortunately, World War I ended in 1918. But this remnant of history refused to become obsolete. Thompson decided to shift focus to a different niche altogether: the civilian market. It’s ironic to note that the weapon was first sold as an “anti-bandit gun.”

汤普森(Thompson)的原型所用的名字说明了它们的结果。 说服者和歼灭者。 这些早期模型中的一种具有每分钟分配1500发弹的能力-不可阻挡但不可控制。 该枪几乎一度要被命名为Payne机枪，但汤普森将军的军事能力更适合。 到1919年，这把枪开始模仿我们喜欢的经典形状。 两年后，它已经准备好当值。 不幸的是，第一次世界大战于1918年结束。但是，这种历史遗迹拒绝被淘汰。 汤普森决定将重点完全转移到另一个利基市场：民用市场。 具有讽刺意味的是，该武器最初是作为“反强盗枪”出售的。

Thompson went on a sales tour across Europe to publicize his novel weapon: potent firepower in a small package. The British were impressed, but they had little use of it after the first World War. Thompson demonstrated an improved model to the French, who dismissed him without a second thought. But during the 1920s and 1930s, his gun found a different band of clients. The mafia.

汤普森(Thompson)进行了一次欧洲巡回销售，宣传他的新颖武器：小巧的枪械。 英国人留下了深刻的印象，但第一次世界大战后他们很少使用它。 汤普森向法国人展示了一种改进的模式，法国人不加思索地解雇了他。 但是在1920年代和1930年代，他的枪找到了不同的客户群。 黑手党。

The submachine gun’s high rate of fire and large magazine found fans among those on the business end of law enforcement. Al Capone’s infamous St. Valentine’s Day massacre in 1929 saw 70 rounds punch through seven Moran Gang members in seconds. Back in those days, Machine Gun Kelly was no rapper. Thompsons soon became notorious among gangsters, entering the vernacular of pop culture as tommy guns. Or Chicago typewriters, since firing one resembled the sound of a typewriter clicking away in the distance through south-side Chicago.

冲锋枪的高发火率和大型杂志在执法部门的商业活动中引起了球迷的注意。 1929年，阿尔·卡彭(Al Capone)臭名昭著的圣瓦伦丁节大屠杀，使70发子弹在几秒钟内击穿了7名Moran Gang成员。 那时，机枪凯利(Machine Gun Kelly)还不是说唱歌手。 汤普森很快在徒中臭名昭著，以汤米枪响成为流行文化的主流。 或者说是芝加哥打字机，因为发射的声音类似于打字机发出的声音，它从芝加哥南侧的远处发出咔嗒声。

从被冰变成偶像 (From being iced to becoming an icon)

Bootlegging and rum-running (the smuggling of alcohol) ran rampant in those times, making the Thompson a necessity not only for the mob but also for the lawmen who intended to shut them down. By the time it took some time for law enforcement to catch up with outlaws, popular films began to portray the law-thwarting gangsters as charismatic wrongdoers who derived pleasure by living on their terms. Gangsters were more often than not seen spraying lead with Thompsons. But by 1935, things changed.

在那个时期，走私和走私(走私酒)猖，汤普森不仅成为暴民的必需品，而且对于打算将其关闭的律师来说也是必不可少的。 到了执法部门花一些时间来追赶违法行为时，流行电影开始将挫败法律的黑帮描绘成具有超凡魅力的不法分子，他们通过按自己的条件生活而获得快乐。 匪徒经常被汤普森喷铅。 但是到1935年，情况发生了变化。

The Motion Picture Production Code forced filmmakers to film gangster films only from the perspective of those upholding the law. This took away the elegant rifle from the hand of the outlaw and placed them firmly in the grip of the FBI agent on-screen. While this attempt at injecting glamour into law enforcement did alter the tone of these films, the weapon remained, elevating it to a heroic instrument of serving bullet-shaped justice.

《电影制作法》迫使电影制片人只能从维护法律的人的角度拍摄黑帮电影。 这从the徒手中夺走了优雅的步枪，并将它们牢牢地固定在屏幕上的FBI特工手中。 尽管试图向执法部门注入魅力确实改变了这些电影的色调，但武器仍然存在，将其提升为服务子弹状正义的英勇工具。

While films cemented the Thompson’s notoriety, sales were down the drain. 1934's National Firearms Act stopped civilians from using automatic weaponry and without war, military contracts were scarce. By 1929, the Auto-Ordnance Corporation was neck-deep in a $2.2 million sinkhole of debt.And then, World War II happened. The rest is history.

虽然电影巩固了汤普森的声名狼藉，但销售却步履维艰。 1934年的《国家火器法》禁止平民使用自动武器，而且由于没有战争，军事合同稀缺。 到1929年，自动兵器公司陷入了220万美元的债务困境，然后发生了第二次世界大战。 剩下的就是历史了。

“The deadliest weapon, pound for pound, ever devised by man.”- Time Magazine on the Thompson

“最致命的武器，是人类曾经设计过的一磅一磅的武器。”-汤普森时代杂志

战争改变了一切 (War changed everything)

In 1939, the US sent out enormous orders for General Thompson’s masterpiece. The French scrambled to order Thompsons that were sitting in a warehouse since 1922. 1942 saw over 100,000 Thompsons show up in Britain after the Fall of France. Elite British commando units soon began to appreciate the weapon’s tenacity in combat. 500,000 Thompsons had been manufactured by February 1942, guns that were soon commonplace in hostile shooting galleries from Europe to North Africa. This number would rise to a staggering 1.75 million before new assailants replaced it.

1939年，美国向汤普森将军的杰作发出了巨额订单。 法国人争先恐后地订购了自1922年以来就一直坐在仓库中的汤普森。1942年法国沦陷后，在英国出现了超过10万汤普森。 英军精锐的突击队很快就开始欣赏这种武器在战斗中的坚韧。 到1942年2月，已经制造了50万汤普森，这种枪很快在从欧洲到北非的敌对射击场中司空见惯。 在新的袭击者取代之前，这个数字将达到惊人的175万。

General Thompson’s vision came to pass, albeit with both sides of the law brandishing a weapon built primarily to restore order. Be it a squad of gangsters or the limbs of the law, the image of marksmen toting Thompsons is a relic that refuses to be buried anytime soon.

汤普森将军的愿景得以实现，尽管法律双方都挥舞了一种主要用于恢复秩序的武器。 不管是黑帮还是法律的四肢，举着汤普森的神枪手的形象都是遗物，它很快就不会被埋葬。