From the recently published book, Tank Action by David Render, we get troop leader Render's opinion of British small arms.
No better than a college kid, Render equips himself with a P-08 Parabellum as well as a MP-40. He uses the P-08 to shoot out streetlights and has matches with other troop leaders on shooting lights. He also gets a MP-40 and uses it to kill a German who wanted to throw a potato masher down his turret.
Render's squadron commander, Capt. John Semken, gets into a close range duel against a Tiger I. Knowing that the AP round was ineffective against the frontal armor of a Tiger, he instructed his squadron to use only HE and to smother the Tiger with them. If nothing else, it could break the periscopes and vision blocks and disable the Tiger. His gunner does just that and when the Tiger's driver is injured, the commander orders his crew to abandon their tank.
The book is a good read for anyone interested in WW II tank combat.
Unlike the infantry, where the .303 Bren light machine-gun and Lee Enfield bolt-action rifle were standard personal weapons, tank crewmen were issued with .38 Webley Mark VI revolvers and 9mm Sten submachine guns. The Sten was cheap and simple in both design and manufacture. Costing five shillings to produce, its simplicity also meant that it was prone to discharge accidentally. You only had to drop it on the ground, and it would fire off without the trigger being touched. Its horizontally fitted side magazine also made it awkward to handle from the hatch of a tank. As well as being dangerous, it also had a propensity to jam. The .38 revolvers were also standard issue throughout the army. Utterly reliable, they were also completely useless. Although it kicked like a mule and required you to fire it cowboy style with the aid of your left hand over the top for the weapon, the revolver lacked penetrating power. Additionally, it was high inaccurate and you would be lucky if you could hit a man-sized target from twenty paces. The characteristics of the weapons hardly made them conducive for use in the close confines of Shermans or in situations where they would need to be brought to bear quickly and effectively. Consequently, I was resolved to replace them as soon as possible and traversing ground that had previously been held by the enemy provided an opportunity, as the quality of their automatic small arms was much better than ours."
No better than a college kid, Render equips himself with a P-08 Parabellum as well as a MP-40. He uses the P-08 to shoot out streetlights and has matches with other troop leaders on shooting lights. He also gets a MP-40 and uses it to kill a German who wanted to throw a potato masher down his turret.
Render's squadron commander, Capt. John Semken, gets into a close range duel against a Tiger I. Knowing that the AP round was ineffective against the frontal armor of a Tiger, he instructed his squadron to use only HE and to smother the Tiger with them. If nothing else, it could break the periscopes and vision blocks and disable the Tiger. His gunner does just that and when the Tiger's driver is injured, the commander orders his crew to abandon their tank.
The book is a good read for anyone interested in WW II tank combat.