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Bergmann MP 18
The Bergmann MP 18 and variants can be seen in the following films, television series, video games, and anime used by the following actors:
MP 18/I
The Bergmann MP 18 is a German submachine gun, one of the first mass-produced submachine guns to ever see combat. The weapon was designed by Hugo Schmeisser between 1915 and 1917 at the Bergmann Waffenfabrik factory. It was designed to fulfill the requirements established by the German Rifle Testing Commission.
The original MP 18 was fed by box magazines, however the Commission wanted the weapon to utilize the existing high-capacity 32-round "snail" drum magazine used in the P08 Artillery Luger. Very little is known about the early development period of the MP 18, probably due to the fact that work was kept secret due to the war. Most sources agree that the design was completed by the end of 1917, and went into production in early 1918. When the weapon was completed, it was designated the Maschinenpistole 18/I or MP 18/I. The weapons were finished and the parts all fitted by hand, at near commercial-grade quality.
An unknown quantity of MP 18s were produced and issued in the final months of World War I; various sources refer to numbers from 3,000 to 10,000 (there is an opinion that allegedly 17,677 were issued before the end of hostilities on the basis of a "crowned C" acceptance stamp, but strictly speaking, all known MP 18s have this stamp, and the sample [1] with the "17,677" serial number is also equipped with a post-war Schmeisser receiver for box magazines). In total, about 35,000 (at least based on known serial numbers) MP 18/Is were made, and most of them were obviously produced after the end of the war, before the Treaty of Versailles put an end to this (and according to several opinions, also secretly produced for some time even after the ban).
![[1]](http://firearms.96.lt/pages/Bergmann%20magazines.png){kind=link}
The original factory production of the MP 18 was accordingly discontinued after about a year after it started, because, due to new restrictions, Germany simply could not mass produce weapons of the "assault" type, and the design was sold to Swiss company SIG, which started producing it with a number of changes as their Model 1920. The design was again improved upon and manufactured in Belgium for export as the MP 28/II.
The "I" index is most likely a design difference. MP 18/II and MP 18/III remained prototypes, never serial-produced (although the first of them eventually evolved into MP 28/II).
N.B. The MP 18's deployment as the first submachine gun used in combat led to Allied forces during World War II nicknaming the Wehrmacht's MP 40 submachine gun "the Schmeisser", an appellation that has endured in several novels, films, and television series. In fact, Hugo Schmeisser had no involvement in the MP 40's design or manufacture.
Specifications
(1918 - 1919)
- Type: Submachine Gun
- Caliber: 9x19mm Parabellum
- Weight: 9.2 lbs (4.2 kg)
- Length: 32.8 in (83.3 cm)
- Barrel length: 7.9 in (20.1 cm)
- Capacity: 32 rounds. ~60 rounds on Vollmer's experimental mag.
- Fire Modes: Fully Automatic
Film
| Title | Actor | Character | Note | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Land That Time Forgot | Declan Mulholland | Olson | 1975 | |
| Michael Collins | An IRA assassin | 1996 | ||
| The Water Diviner | A Greek soldier | 2014 | ||
| The King's Man | A German soldier | 2021 |
Anime
| Film Title | Character | Note | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade | A member of the "Sect" | . | 1998 |
Video Games
| Game Title | Mods | Notations | Release Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Battlefield: 1918 | 2004 | ||
| NecroVisioN | "MP 18/I" | 2009 | |
| The Great War 1918 | "Bergmann MP18" | 2013 | |
| Battle of Empires: 1914-1918 | "MP-18" | 2015 | |
| Verdun | "Maschinenpistole 18/I" | 2015 | |
| Hot Dogs, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades | 2016 | ||
| Battlefield 1 | "MP18" | 2016 | |
| Screaming Steel: 1914-1918 | "MP18,I" | 2018 | |
| Enlisted | Bergmann MP18/I | 2021 | |
| Beyond The Wire | "MP18, I" | 2022 |
MP 18/I "System Schmeisser"
The "System Schmeisser" is a later version of the MP 18/I that was converted in the 1930s to use straight box magazines rather than 32-round snail drums; the name comes from the "System Schmeisser" markings present on the weapons' converted magazine wells. These conversions are sometimes referred to as the "MP 18/Iv" (not "IV" or "II", as "v" for verbessert/"improved"). The "System Schmeisser" magazine feed is identical to that of the MP 28/II and takes the same 20 and 32-round magazines; the Schmeisser-pattern magazines were also later adopted for the MP 40.
The "System Schmeisser" conversions were undertaken by Haenel on behalf on the German police, who widely used the MP 18/I during the Weimar era. These guns were also fitted with bolt locks on the forward receiver, identical to the type also seen on the Erma EMP. It should be noted that not all police MP 18/I were converted, as there are examples of weapons marked "1920", which retain the original design, as the "1920" stamp was used to prove that marked weapons were not kept in secret, but in the official possession of the police.
Specifications
- Type: Submachine Gun
- Caliber: 9x19mm Parabellum
- Weight:
- Length: 32.8 in (83.3 cm)
- Barrel length: 7.9 in (20.1 cm)
- Capacity: 20 or 32 rounds
- Fire Modes: Fully Automatic
Film
| Title | Actor | Character | Note | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Richard III | Richard's soldiers | 1995 | ||
| Deathwatch | Jamie Bell | Pte. Charlie Shakespare | 2002 | |
| Anthropoid | A German soldier | 2016 | ||
| Jojo Rabbit | Sam Rockwell | Captain Klenzendorf | 2019 |
Television
| Show Title | Actor | Character | Note / Episode | Air Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Babylon Berlin - Season 1 | Ep. 03 - Misidentified as a MP 28/II | 2017 | ||
| Babylon Berlin - Season 2 | Schwarze Reichswehr soldiers | Ep. 13 | 2017 |