Skoda SMG in use by the French Army 1940?

[peeved]

According to https://conflictuel.pagesperso-orange.f ... s_1940.pdf :
ALL the SMGs used by the French Army in May/June 1940 :
French origin :
• PM MAS Mle38 : 1,958 (19,500 ordered)
• PM STA Mle1924 : 1,000 (8,500 ordered)
• PM Petter Mle1939 : 50 (3,000 ordered)
• PM ETVS : 50 used from a total of about 100 produced
Foreign origin :
• MP 18-1 and MP 18-2 : very few
• MP 28-2 : 1,000 ordered for the police but not all delivered
• MP 34 : 200
• Erma-Vollmer MP : 3,250 but only 1,540 magazines available (only about 1,000 SMGs really used)
• Steyr : about 50
• Suomi M/31 : 300 available and 150 used on the front
• Thompson Mle1921 (and perhaps Mle1928) : 3,000 available but only several hundreds used in 1940
Then again the text "Nonetheless, in 1939/1940, except the German one, no army [but the French] had a high number of SMGs" is erroneous since e.g. the Finnish army had more than the French.

Steyr seems geographically closest to Skoda which too had been a major arms manufacturer in the Austro-Hungarian empire.

Markus

[nuyt]

Great info, Markus!

Nevertheless I think we should go for a "sounds like" option, not geographic/Czech connection, when identifying the "Skoda" smg.
So options are:
- Erma - ends with an "a" like Skoda;
- Suomi - starts with "s" like Skoda and sounds very exotic;
- STA - starts with "s" and ends with "a" - like Skoda;
- SACM (Manufacturer of the Petter design) - starts with an "s" and has a "k" sound in the middle.

[peeved]

Why not Steyr especially if the Frenchman was a germanophone and said "Staija" or so.

Markus

[nuyt]

Haha, yes of course! But at that point any French officer was problaby Germanophobe...

[keith A]

For no other reason than it comes from the eastern part of europe I am going for the Steyr/Solothurn S.100/MP34 as the most likely. This SMG pops up in small numbers all over the place in the 1930s. Again I have no actual information other than the quote. The Steyr MP34 was a very good SMG so it would be odd for the French officer to let them go, but...

[keith A]

Of course the French officer would not have had much ammunition (9mm or 7.63 probably)and so these weapons had a limited shelf-life.

[keith A]

Of course the French officer would not have had much ammunition (9mm or 7.63 probably)and so these weapons had a limited shelf-life.