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42-673: The Suomi KP/-31 is regarded by many as one of the most successful submachine guns of World War II. It also had a profound effect on the conflict beyond Finland as the Soviet authorities, who had been dismissive of submachine guns, were persuaded of their fatal efficiency by the Finnish forces in the Winter War of 1939–1940. Though a relatively early design, the Suomi was a formidable weapon: highly controllable and with accuracy similar to that of

84-471: A few dozen were built before production was canceled due to the outbreak of the Winter War. Production never resumed, as captured Degtyaryov machine guns proved far superior in this role. Like the bunker version, the tank version had a pistol grip and no buttstock, and it could be quickly removed from the tank and fitted with a standard barrel shroud for infantry use if needed. The tank version remained in

126-592: A naval base. It was handed back to Finland in 1956, for Kaliningrad had become a better place for the Soviet Navy . The Army is organised into eight Peacetime brigades. Two of these brigades, the Army Academy and the Utti Jaeger Regiment do not have subordinate regional offices. The six other brigades have one or more subordinate regional offices and a deputy commander. During a crisis,

168-587: A number of small independent battalions and companies at the beginning of the Winter War in 1939. The Army was organised into three corps. The II and III Corps were organised into the Army of the Isthmus which was located on the Karelian Isthmus , the likely location for the main Soviet attack. The IV Corps defended the area north of Lake Ladoga . The defence of the rest of the border up to Petsamo by

210-594: A rear-slanting magazine well. It used a 56-round four-column "coffin" magazine designed by Linde AB and manufactured by the Carl Gustav State Rifle Factory. They later adopted the redesigned Husquarna Kpist M37/39 chambered in 9mm Parabellum with a standard-length barrel [314mm] and 50-round "coffin" magazine. The Danish adopted it as the Madsen Maskinpistol M/41. It has distinctive protective metal “ears” on either side of

252-597: A result, the Finnish Army lost large areas of the Karelian Isthmus , most importantly Viipuri , a major city, and was forced to retreat from Eastern Karelia. However, in the decisive Battle of Tali-Ihantala , the Soviet advance was halted. The Soviet Union concentrated its forces on the battles in Central Europe, and Finland made a separate peace in September 1944. The Lapland War (Finnish: Lapin sota )

294-1355: Is organised operative forces which consists of approximately 61 000 men and territorial forces which consist of 176 000 men. The following list is the wartime organisation of the Finnish army from 1.1.2008 Operative forces: Territorial forces: Major weapon systems used by the army include: Carl Gustav m Look for Carl Gustav m on one of Misplaced Pages's sister projects : [REDACTED] Wiktionary (dictionary) [REDACTED] Wikibooks (textbooks) [REDACTED] Wikiquote (quotations) [REDACTED] Wikisource (library) [REDACTED] Wikiversity (learning resources) [REDACTED] Commons (media) [REDACTED] Wikivoyage (travel guide) [REDACTED] Wikinews (news source) [REDACTED] Wikidata (linked database) [REDACTED] Wikispecies (species directory) Misplaced Pages does not have an article with this exact name. Please search for Carl Gustav m in Misplaced Pages to check for alternative titles or spellings. You need to log in or create an account and be autoconfirmed to create new articles. Alternatively, you can use

336-541: The Continuation War with the Swedish-designed 50-round "coffin" magazine and improved 71-round drum. The "coffin" magazine carried more ammunition than the box magazine and was lighter than the 40-round drum. However, it was complicated and prone to jamming or failure if it was damaged, reassembled incorrectly, or the springs gave out. It would also fail to fire or feed unless it was properly seated in

378-662: The Finnish Army since 1 January 2022 is Lieutenant General Pasi Välimäki . The duties of the Finnish Army are threefold. They are: In addition to these tasks, the Army is responsible for conscription and personnel management of reserve. Because Finland is not under direct military threat, the current Army is, as it has been since the end of Second World War , in peacetime training formation. This means that its brigades (Finnish: joukko-osasto ) are not meant to be operational combat units but training formations. According to

420-571: The Finnish Defence Forces . The Finnish Defence Forces were equipped with about 4000 Suomi KP/-31 submachine guns when the Winter War started. During the course of the war, the design was altered in February 1942 with the addition of a muzzle brake , which increased the submachine gun's overall length by 55 mm and weight by half a pound. The revised version was designated KP/-31 SJR ( suujarru , or "muzzle brake"). Aimo Lahti

462-787: The Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) , after which it gained the status of Old Guard of the Russian Emperor. The Finnish army was gradually broken up during the " oppression years " just after the turn of the century. As Finnish conscripts refused to serve in the Russian Imperial Army, conscription ended in Finland and it was replaced with a tax paid from the Finnish Senate to the Imperial treasury. At

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504-721: The Swedish military organization. However, for several decades, Russian rulers did not require military service from Finland; operations and defence were mostly taken care by Russian troops based in the Grand Duchy. As a result, officer benefits of the allotment system became practically pensions, as payment was based on passive availability, not on actual service. During the Napoleonic Wars three 1200-man regiments were formed in Finland and Topographic Corps in Hamina . In 1821

546-468: The article wizard to submit a draft for review, or request a new article . Search for " Carl Gustav m " in existing articles. Look for pages within Misplaced Pages that link to this title . Other reasons this message may be displayed: If a page was recently created here, it may not be visible yet because of a delay in updating the database; wait a few minutes or try the purge function . Titles on Misplaced Pages are case sensitive except for

588-422: The "troop production" doctrine (Finnish: joukkotuotanto ), peacetime units will train each batch of conscripts they receive for a specific wartime unit. After the end of training, the conscripts are demobilised into reserve. During regular refresher exercises and in case of a crisis, the reserve unit will be activated and deployed in the formation it trained in during conscription. Thus, the peacetime structure of

630-402: The 20-round staggered-column magazine and early 40-round sissilipas ("ranger magazine") drum. The magazine's capacity was found to be too small for sustained fire. Up to 5 additional rounds could be loaded into it, but it was found that this damaged or over-compressed the springs and caused it to fail. The drum was found to be hard to reload in action because the backplate had to be taken off and

672-594: The Arctic Ocean was given to the North Finland Group which consisted of a handful of independent battalions. In order to organize replacements for the units a Field Replacement Brigade (Finnish: Kenttätäydennysprikaati , KT-Pr) of nine battalions was formed. But due to the severity of the Soviet attack the battalions had to be used as combat troops. Also three Replacement Divisions or Home Replacement Divisions (1.Koti.TD – 3.Koti.TD) were formed from

714-644: The Army does not give any meaningful information about the mobilised structure or about the areas where the units would be used. Between 1809 and 1917 Finland was an autonomous state ruled by the Russian Empire as the Grand Duchy of Finland . Between 1881 and 1901 the Grand Duchy had its own army. Before that several other military units had also been formed while Finland belonged to Sweden . The Grand Duchy inherited its allotment system (Swedish: indelningsverket ; Finnish: ruotujakolaitos ) from

756-531: The Baltic States. It was sold to both sides during the Spanish Civil War ; about 300 were confiscated by France from interned Republican troops in 1939. Estonia, France, and Poland bought some before World War Two that were later captured. Germany and their Axis allies Bulgaria and Croatia bought some after the war began. The German Armeeoberkommando Norwegen and Finnish SS Troops were issued

798-641: The Finnish Army re-conquered the areas lost to the Soviet Union in the Winter War and pushed deep into Soviet territory in Eastern Karelia . In winter 1942, the Finnish political leadership ended offensive action and the front stagnated for over two years. The relatively inactive period of stationary war ended abruptly in June 1944, as the Soviet Union started its Fourth Strategic Offensive . As

840-466: The Finnish Army's inventory through the 1980s, despite the tank it was designed for being retired in 1959. Finnish Army The Finnish Army ( Finnish : Maavoimat , Swedish : Armén ) is the land forces branch of the Finnish Defence Forces . The Finnish Army is divided into six branches: the infantry (which includes armoured units), field artillery , anti-aircraft artillery, engineers , signals , and materiel troops. The commander of

882-722: The First World War activists secretly travelled to Germany to receive military training and to be trained as Jäger troops (Finnish: jääkärit , Swedish: jägare ). After independence and the beginning of the Finnish Civil War the White government declared the White Guards as government troops, and the war was fought between the Red Guards , assisted by Communist Russians, and White Guards added with

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924-548: The German army to leave Finland. The German forces retreated to Norway, and Finland was, therefore, able to uphold its armistice promise to the Soviet Union. During the Cold War, Finland was neutral but maintained close ties to the Soviet Union. The Finnish Army was in a difficult situation as it bordered the Soviet Union. Porkkala was a Soviet naval base taken from Finland in 1944. Construction for it finished in 1945 and became

966-738: The Jägers and assisted by the German Empire. After the war in 1919, the Protection Guards became a separate organization. Therefore, strictly speaking, there is no continuity between the White Guards, which became a voluntary organization , and the Finnish army, which was a cadre army based on conscription. However, Jägers gained important positions in the army, and German tactics and military principles were adopted. The Finnish Army consisted of 9 field divisions, 4 brigades and

1008-667: The KP/-31 from Finnish stores. A weld-on magazine adapter was created by the Germans to convert MP38/MP40 magazines to feed in the KP/-31 to simplify logistics. The Suomi KP was also manufactured under license. It was made in Sweden as the Husqvarna Kulsprutepistol Kpist M37 with a shorter 8.4-inch [213 mm] barrel. It was chambered for the weak 9mm Browning Long [9×20mmSR] cartridge, which required

1050-403: The KP/-31. The M-22 and KP/-26 were made by Konepistooli Oy, founded by Master Armorer Aimo Lahti , Captain V. Korpela, Lieutenant Y. Koskinen and Lieutenant L. Boyer-Spoof. The Suomi KP/-31 was designed by Koskinen and Lahti. The Suomi KP/-31 went into serial production in 1931 by Tikkakoski Oy which was owned by German arms dealer Willi Daugs and most of these weapons were bought by

1092-757: The Topographic Corps was transformed into the cadet officers school. In 1829 one of the training battalions was transformed into the Young Guard Battalion, the Finnish Guards . During the Crimean War , 1854, Finland set up nine sharpshooter battalions based on a rota system. Conscription was introduced in Finland in 1878. The Finnish Guard took part in fighting to suppress the 1830 November Uprising in Poland and participated in

1134-608: The available reservists. As the situation became more alarming the 1st and 3rd Replacement Divisions were reformed into the 21st and 23rd Divisions and sent to the front on 19 December. The 2nd Replacement Division was deployed as individual regiments to Northern Finland. Finland ceded 9% of its territory via the Moscow Peace Treaty , but prevented the Soviets from annexing the whole country. Four delaying groups, named for their location, were stationed immediately by

1176-529: The best effect. By the time of the Continuation War, Finnish doctrine had been altered to include both a KP/-31 and a light machine gun (usually a captured Degtyaryov ) in every infantry squad. By 1943 this had been expanded to two KP/-31s per squad. KP/-31 production continued with the intention of adding a third submachine gun to each squad, but this plan was shelved in 1944 when the Continuation War ended. Finland focused on sales to South America and

1218-624: The border on the isthmus. The Army of Karelia was formed on 29 June 1941 soon after the start of the Continuation War . There were seven Finnish corps in the field during the war: the I, II, III , IV, V, VI and VII. During the war the Finnish Army was responsible for the front from the Gulf of Finland to Kainuu . The front in Northern Finland was the responsibility of the German AOK Norwegen . During summer and autumn 1941,

1260-447: The bullets loaded inside tip-downwards. The drum also had an open "shot count window" in the bottom of the drum; the numbers 1 to 40 were stamped on the feed plate and lined up with the window to indicate the shots remaining. However, it naturally let in dirt and debris that led to jams. Aimo Lahti experimented with a 60-round Thompson-type spring-loaded clockwork drum to replace it, but it was never adopted. They were later replaced during

1302-556: The end of the 19th century the Russian empire was weakening, and this was reflected in a reduced capacity of the Russian troops to keep public order. Voluntary defence organizations disguised as fire brigades were formed by the Finnish people, especially during the strikes during and after the Russo-Japanese War. There were socialist Red Guards and conservative, anti-socialist Protection Guards (or White Guards). Also, during

Suomi KP/-31 - Misplaced Pages Continue

1344-515: The front post sight and used the 20-round magazine. The Swiss adopted it as the Hispano-Suiza Machinenpistole MP43 and issued it with the "coffin" magazine. The later MP43/44 had a fixed square notch rather than adjustable rear sights and the barrel jacket was modified to take a bayonet mount. The Suomi KP/-31 incorporated a few new design features. It had a quick-detachable barrel system and an arrangement whereby

1386-425: The magazine well. The "coffin" magazine was withdrawn from service in 1943 in favor of the 71-round drum. The larger drum was a design by the weapon's less-well-known co-designer, Lieutenant Y. Koskinen, that was an improvement of the 40-round drum. It had a removable front-plate that was quicker to reassemble and was cocked by rotating the mainspring for up to four detents, allowing the drum to be partially reloaded. It

1428-519: The mass-produced PPSh-41 but at the cost of a significantly higher mass to absorb recoil, with a lower rate of fire and an equally large magazine capacity. Its major disadvantages were its higher weight, high maintenance requirements and high production cost, which led to the later introduction of the KP/-44 , a close copy of the Soviet PPS-43 but accepting the existing magazines and drums for

1470-404: The regional offices form provincial local battalions and the brigade headquarters form the regional command level. During normal operation, the regional offices are responsible for conscription, organising voluntary national defence work and planning crisis-time activities. The brigades are: Army logistics is part of the joint Finnish Defence Forces Logistics Command. During war time the army

1512-514: The spring was mounted inside the bolt in order to make the gun shorter. The Carl Gustav 50-round quad-column "casket" box magazine was lighter and more reliable than the original Lahti 40-round "ranger" drum magazine. Similar applications were used on the Argentinian Hafdasa C-4 and Italian SITES Spectre M4 submachine guns. The Russian company PUFgun makes a 5.45×39mm 60-round AK-74 -compatible all-polymer coffin magazine that

1554-451: The weapon would overheat in sustained automatic fire, requiring the barrel to be changed. This was effected using a mitten or piece of thick cloth to secure, rotate, and remove the barrel jacket. Then the user would use the point of a puukko knife or a cleaning rod to loosen and remove the hot barrel. It was easy to then slide in and lock a fresh new barrel, secure the jacket, and resume firing. The Finnish military initially issued it with

1596-413: Was also produced in very small numbers (a total of 500 built) in 1941, the barrel shroud end of which was thinner and flattened to allow firing through the narrow ports of defensive bunkers. This version had no shoulder stock and was equipped with a pistol grip . An even rarer version "900 kp 31 psv" was produced for use as a secondary gun in the firing ports of Vickers Alt B Type E 6-Ton tanks, but only

1638-451: Was based on an abandoned Izhmash prototype. A number of different options and variations were offered through the export market. Two of those were a vertical front pistol grip and a folding bipod, which could be included together or independently. The Finnish police actually bought a small number of each type, and something like 50 to 100 guns were produced and sold with both features together – like this example. A specialized bunker version

1680-556: Was displeased with this revision, believing that it decreased muzzle velocity and reduced the weapon's reliability, and even sought in vain to have the unknown designer of the brake court-martialed. Ultimately, roughly half of the KP/-31s in Finnish service were of the SJR version. The KP/-31 was unusual in that it had a replaceable barrel secured with four lugs rather than threads. Soldiers were issued at least one spare barrel. In close combat

1722-658: Was first released commercially in 1935 ( eponymously named the M/Koskinen drum) and entered into Finnish service in January, 1936. In the 1950s the magazine wells on the KP/-31s were modified in order to use the Swedish Carl Gustav m/45b's 36-round double-column magazine. Initially the KP/-31 was issued as a substitute for a light machine gun , however, it proved inadequate in that role. Instead, soldiers learned by trial and error how to use submachine guns to

Suomi KP/-31 - Misplaced Pages Continue

1764-546: Was the hostilities between Finland and Nazi Germany between September 1944 and April 1945, fought in Finland's northernmost Lapland Province. While the Finns saw this as a separate conflict much like the Continuation War, German forces considered their actions to be part of the Second World War. A peculiarity of the war was that the Finnish army was forced to demobilise their forces while at the same time fighting to force

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