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Prompted to look at this well known photo from March 1944. Churchill shooting a Thompson submachine gun; in the background you can see General Eisenhower doing the same. Churchill had been inspecting US forces prior to invasion of France.
© @I_W_M H 36960
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205195511
© @I_W_M H 36960
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205195511
Looking at higher res version, I noticed two details. The first is for fellow firearms nerds - Churchill is shooting an M1928, but it's been modified with a non-standard foregrip - M1 style, but with pistol grip also. Perhaps a US officer's personal weapon, modified to his taste.
The second detail is quite endearing - Churchill has got both his eyes closed!
In the background you can see Supreme Allied Commander General Eisenhower shooting the later simplified M1 version of the Thompson, with a long 30-round magazine.
This was not Churchill's 1st encounter with a Tommy Gun, being photo'd with one in July 1940, while inspecting coastal defences. Famously popular with American gangsters, the gun had a pugnacious image that Churchill was happy to use himself.
© IWM H 2646
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205197236
© IWM H 2646
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205197236
Ironically, the Nazis were equally keen to portray Churchill as a gangster, using the same image, for his conduct of the air war over Europe, and the bombing of cities.
Image by kind courtesy of the fine folks at @PHrarebooks https://www.peterharrington.co.uk/blog/wanted-for-incitement-to-murder-winston-s-churchill/
Image by kind courtesy of the fine folks at @PHrarebooks https://www.peterharrington.co.uk/blog/wanted-for-incitement-to-murder-winston-s-churchill/
The original image is quite ironic. While suggesting Churchill's determination to fight, the threat of invasion was looming. And for the British Army, Thompson guns were extremely rare, being an expensive American import for an Army reeling from equipment losses at Dunkirk.
Interestingly, Churchill's Tommy gun may have later become part of the MoD's Donnington Collection of firearms, now displayed at the Combined Military Services Museum at Maldon in Essex. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/museum-finds-churchills-gangster-gun-9t0qxjbwv8s
And also this, which suggests that Churchill later sent the Royal Family a Thompson, with which they practiced in Buckingham Palace's gardens, in case of German invasion. https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/queen-used-churchills-tommy-gun-14997130
Most British troops who were armed with a submachine gun would be issued a Sten gun. A cheaper, nastier substitute, but much more economical. This example unusually well finished, because it was issued to an unusual soldier; King George VI.
© IWM FIR 6283 https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30035938
© IWM FIR 6283 https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30035938
And, of course, Churchill fired a Sten gun too. Here he is at Shoeburyness in June 1941. The orig caption remarked '[Mr C] tried his hand w/an automatic gun. He fired a no. of rounds at targets some distance away & fairly peppered them'.
© IWM H 10688
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205197596
![And, of course, Churchill fired a Sten gun too. Here he is at Shoeburyness in June 1941. The orig caption remarked '[Mr C] tried his hand w/an automatic gun. He fired a no. of rounds at targets some distance away & fairly peppered them'.© IWM H 10688 https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205197596](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EVtrw8LXgAAziMl.jpg "And, of course, Churchill fired a Sten gun too. Here he is at Shoeburyness in June 1941. The orig caption remarked '[Mr C] tried his hand w/an automatic gun. He fired a no. of rounds at targets some distance away & fairly peppered them'.© IWM H 10688 https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205197596")
© IWM H 10688
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205197596
Yet even here, there's still a Thompson of a sort in the image - Churchill's long-serving bodyguard Inspector Walter Thompson, in the pinstriped suit. The bowler-hatted Secretary of State for War, Captain David Margesson, looks on over Churchill's shoulder.
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