Essentially, a submachinegun is a mid-sized, easily portable fully automatic weapon with a two-handed grip to allow for control and a magazine of sufficient capacity to allow for rapid firing without reloading. The Germans were responsible for the initial experiments in creating such a weapon. In 1925, the Germans have an evil version of the weapon which they use to oppress innocents, and the Russians have a similar gun which they gloriously use to defend the proletariat. The British make no version of the gun; the rather stodgy British military decided not to adopt the new design, much to their cost in World War I (before snickering too hard, however, remember that in the '20's the British still made what was inarguably the best rifle in the world, the Lee Enfield #1, which in open terrain could pick off a troop armed with submachineguns before they got anywhere near close enough to use their weapons effectively.)
The best submachinegun of the 1920's, however, is the smallish, drum-fed American Thompson/Center version, introduced in 1921, available with either carbine or pistol grip, and affectionately known as the Tommy gun. It had several innovative features which make it a fantastically effective weapon; it is most known for being popular among Chicago gangsters and the federal agents who opposed them, but it was originally designed as a military weapon and serves its purpose in that regard with notable success, as well.
Perhaps the cleverest innovation in the gun is a replaceable barrel which essentially allows the firing of practically any kind of ammunition; switch to a different barrel and you can fire a different bullet. This effectively turned the weapon into a multipurpose armament; you could practice in your basement with quiet, cheap .22 rounds on Friday night, blow away rival mobsters and federal agents with .45 ACP shells Saturday morning, and then go hunting woodchucks with your kids by putting on the .223 barrel Sunday afternoon. The barrels came in sizes ranging from 0.17 Remington to 45-70 government; special barrels were manufactured that could accommodate foreign calibers such as 6mm and 9mm (8mm didn't work very well), so that captured enemy ammunition would not go to waste. A 30-30 barrel combined with Winchester soft points made the weapon into a handy brush gun. Probably most popular was the .45 long Colt barrel, which could also chamber 0.410 shotgun rounds. A fifty-round drum loaded with alternating .45 hollowpoints and 0.410 00 buckshot loads was widely available, perfect for use against, for example, cultists, and was known as the "wall of lead". This would also, incidentally, be a perfect configuration to use in, say, a raid on the British Embassy or government offices.
The submachinegun is considered a high fire-volume weapon for short range combat (it's pretty much ineffective at long range.) It is most effective, therefore, in situations where the enemy can or must be in short or medium range before firing, such as fighting in the interior of a building, surprise attack, close terrain . . . or night raids. The high volume of fire it produces can also make it more effective against a large enemy force than a longer-range weapon, such as a rifle, might be. The proper technique for a surprise night attack against a large moving group would therefore be to wait until they get fairly close, then spray them with massive amounts of gunfire in the hopes of killing as many of them in as short a time as possible - because of course, if you're that close to them, then they're that close to you . . .
Pleasant dreams.
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