# What weapon is this? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 20, 2021, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-weapon-is-this/956366 "2021-12-20T15:09:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2021, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-weapon-is-this/956366/1 "2021-12-20T15:09:46Z")
Doper gun and WWII folks, please identify this firearm, carried by a German soldier during the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising: [Stroop Report - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stroop_Report#/media/File:Varsovia.jpg) Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2021, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-weapon-is-this/956366/2 "2021-12-20T15:19:37Z")
Looks like an [MP28](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MP_18#Evolution). ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2021, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-weapon-is-this/956366/3 "2021-12-20T15:59:14Z")
Thanks, I think you’re right. The same picture is even shown near the bottom of that Wiki article. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2021, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-weapon-is-this/956366/4 "2021-12-20T21:32:21Z")
Yes the MP28 was seemingly exclusively used by the SS iirc, the regular German army used the MP38/MP40. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2021, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-weapon-is-this/956366/5 "2021-12-20T21:38:26Z")
It looks to me to be a modified [Steyr MP34](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MP_34) but it doesn’t have the box magazine on the side. The action looks right though, as does the stock. Based on the photo, this weapon was in service at that time before the German army switched to the MP 40. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2021, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-weapon-is-this/956366/6 "2021-12-20T23:15:02Z")
The MP34 and the MP28 were both evolutions of the MP18, and have the same general lines, so that’s possible. I’m not that great a gun spotter, so I could well be wrong, but it looks more like the MP28 to me. All the photos I found online of the MP34 show a distinctive dual looped front sight post, while the MP28, and the weapon in question, have a simple, single front sight post. The MP34 also has a straight charging handle with a knob, while the MP28, and the weapon in question, have a crescent shaped charging handle, without a knob. Also, as @Elendil_s_Heir points out, the photo they are asking about is actually used as an example in the Wikipedia article on the MP28 and identified as such. But, as I said, I’m not that great a gun spotter, so I could be wrong. And, of course, the charging handle and front sight posts could be manufacturing variations, and there could be examples of MP34s with those features. But what makes you think it’s the MP34? ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2021, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-weapon-is-this/956366/7 "2021-12-20T23:20:34Z")
The action looked more like an MP34 to me, but I’m also not exactly a great gun spotter, though I’m familiar with many of the more iconic WWII weapons. The lack of box magazine on the side is what is throwing me, but that goes for both guns and it could simply be that the weapon is slung and not loaded for some reason (or, it could be that my old eyes simply can’t see the picture that well on my phone 😆 ). The MP28 and MP34 are very similar in appearance and both are possible for what I assume was the time period of this picture (i.e., I’m assuming '38-39…I only glanced at the link in the OP so it might have nailed it down) in Eastern Europe…my assumption was Poland. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2021, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-weapon-is-this/956366/8 "2021-12-20T23:26:57Z")
> [@XT](#): > > The lack of box magazine on the side is what is throwing me, ??? There’s very clearly a box magazine sticking out of the weapon’s left side, across the foregrounded soldier’s lower back. > [@XT](#): > > I assume was the time period of this picture (i.e., I’m assuming '38-39…I only glanced at the link in the OP so it might have nailed it down) in Eastern Europe…my assumption was Poland. The OP clearly states: > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > please identify this firearm, carried by a German soldier during the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising I’ve got to admit, I’m a bit confused. Are we seeing the same post, with the same linked picture? ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2021, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-weapon-is-this/956366/9 "2021-12-20T23:41:41Z")
lol, no, it’s not you it’s me…I missed that part of the OP. So, I was right about the Poland part at least. And I don’t see the box magazine, but I’m looking at this on my phone so must have missed it. Sorry, I’ll just hang my head and slink out at this point, having totally hosed up the thread. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2021, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-weapon-is-this/956366/10 "2021-12-21T14:23:01Z")
No worries, **XT**. ---
**Author:** ![Mavis\_Topholese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7feea3/32.png) [@Mavis\_Topholese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mavis_Topholese)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2021, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-weapon-is-this/956366/11 "2021-12-21T18:10:22Z")
related question for the sub-gun folks; are there any advantages to the side-mounted magazine seen here, as opposed to the vertical magazines we see on the Thompson, MP40, etc? Or are side-mounted magazines simply a design choice that never really caught on? ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2021, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-weapon-is-this/956366/12 "2021-12-21T19:53:57Z")
Important Caveats: I Am Not A Firearms Expert. I’ve personally handled a compartively small variety of firearms and have actually fired even fewer, and never one with a side-mounted magazine. With that being said, my (very amateur) understanding is that it’s basically all ergonomics. The side-mounted magazine allows the firer to drop to a prone position without the magazine getting in the way. Many firers find it easier to side-load a magazine - I’ve only ever used bottomfeed magazines, but I usually rotated the weapon to the side, without even really thinking about it, when I slapped in a new magazine. In many submachinegun designs, the magazine serves as a forward grip (or at least a lot of firers will use it that way), and some may prefer the side-mounted magazine to a bottom-mounted forward grip. But those last two only apply if you are “correctly” handed. For a right-handed firer with a left-mounted magazine (the most common arrangement), you’ll have the weapon held in your dominant hand, and the magazine easily accessible with your off-hand. If you’re left-handed, the magazine is projecting out of the “wrong” side, and it may feel difficult and awkward to access. A side-mounted magazine is also unsymmetrical, and even if it’s not heavy enough to truly unbalance the weapon, it will _feel_ unbalanced to a lot of firers, especially those with the “wrong” handedness.