The Bergmann Maschinenpistole 18 or Bergmann MP18, was the first "real" submachine gun to be used militarily in large quantities. Designed during the First World War by Hugo Schmeisser, it was distributed to frontline troops (including the Sturmtruppen, German assault troops). By the end of the war, the firm Bergmann produced about 30,000 pieces. The MP18 was specially designed for trench warfare, where a machine gun is too bulky and where a rifle does not offer sufficient cadence. Unlike the Allies who developed light machine guns at the end of the war (Browning Automatic Rifle, Lewis Mark I, Chauchat), the MP18 was designed as a real handgun, which means that it could easily fire bursts on the move, without the need for firing adjustment. It outclassed in every respect the other weapons used on the German side for trench fighting, the "Langen P08" or the "Ari-08". The MP18, nicknamed "Grabenfeger" (literally "trench cleaner"), was one of the reasons why the Treaty of Versailles banned Germany from producing automatic weapons.
It inspired most of the European models produced between 1920 and 1940. Its modernized versions, the SIG 1920 and MP28, saw many battlefields, from South America to China.
* Caliber:9 mm Parabellum, magazine of 32 cartridges
* Rate of fire:approximately 400 rounds/min
* Range:200 meters
* Weight:4.2 kg
The snail magazines were the weak point of this submachine gun, they were indeed very impractical to handle and required very specific paraphernalia to load it.