The MAB 38 (''Moschetto Automatico Beretta Modello 1938''), ''Modello'' 38, or Model 38 and its variants were a series of official
submachine guns of the
Royal Italian Army introduced in 1938 and used during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. The guns were also used by the German, Romanian, and
Argentine armies of the time.
History
![Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-307-0768-20A, Italien, italienischer Soldat](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/63/Bundesarchiv_Bild_101I-307-0768-20A%2C_Italien%2C_italienischer_Soldat.jpg)
Originally designed by
Beretta
Fabbrica d'Armi Pietro Beretta (; "Pietro Beretta Weapon Factory") is a privately held Italian firearms manufacturing company operating in several countries. Its firearms are used worldwide for a variety of civilian, law enforcement, and milita ...
's chief engineer Tullio Marengoni in 1935, the ''Moschetto Automatico Beretta'' (Beretta Automatic Musket) 38, or MAB 38, was developed from the Beretta ''Modello'' 18 and 18/30, derived from the
Villar Perosa
Villar Perosa ( Occitan ''Lhi Vialars''; French: ''Grand-Villars'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Turin in the Italian region Piedmont, located about southwest of Turin.
Villar Perosa borders the following municipal ...
light machine gun
A light machine gun (LMG) is a light-weight machine gun designed to be operated by a single infantryman, with or without an assistant, as an infantry support weapon. LMGs firing cartridges of the same caliber as the other riflemen of the sa ...
of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. It is widely acknowledged as the most successful and effective Italian small arm of World War II and was produced in large numbers in several variants.
Italy's limited industrial base in World War II was no real barrier toward the development of advanced and effective small arms, since most weapons of the time required large amounts of artisan and semi-artisan man-hours to be fine-tuned anyway. Italian specialized workers excelled at this, but the initial slow rate of production meant that the MAB 38 only became available in large numbers in 1943, when the fascist regime was toppled and Italy split between the Allied-aligned co-belligerent forces in the south and the German-aligned collaborators of the
Italian Social Republic in the north.
The MAB 38 was developed by
Beretta
Fabbrica d'Armi Pietro Beretta (; "Pietro Beretta Weapon Factory") is a privately held Italian firearms manufacturing company operating in several countries. Its firearms are used worldwide for a variety of civilian, law enforcement, and milita ...
to compete in the sub-machine gun market; it was a well-made and sturdy weapon, introducing several advanced features and was suitable for police and special army units. Presented to Italian authorities in 1939, its first customer was the Italian Ministry of Colonies, which purchased several thousands MABs to be issued as standard firearm of the ''
Polizia dell'Africa Italiana
140px, Badge
The Italian African Police (Italian: ''Polizia dell'Africa Italiana'', or PAI), was the police force of Italian North Africa and Italian East Africa from 1 June 1936 to 1 December 1945.
Characteristics
Towards the end of the war i ...
'' (Italian Africa Constabulary), the government colonial police force. Army orders were slow to come; although impressed by the excellent qualities and firepower of the weapon, the Italian military did not feel the MAB was suitable for standard infantry combat. It was judged ideal for police and assault units and in the beginning of 1941 small orders were placed for the ''Carabinieri'' (military and civilian police), ''Guardie di Pubblica Sicurezza'' (national state police), and paratroopers. The Italian Army requested minor changes to reduce production costs, notably changing the recoil compensator and the removal of the bayonet lug and magazine dust cover to create the MAB 38A. This was the standard army variant, used throughout the war and issued to elite Italian units, paratroopers, the Alpini "Monte Cervino" assault battalion, 10th ''Arditi'' Regiment, "M" Battalions of the ''
Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale
The Voluntary Militia for National Security ( it, Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale, MVSN), commonly called the Blackshirts ( it, Camicie Nere, CCNN, singular: ) or (singular: ), was originally the paramilitary wing of the Nation ...
'' (''MVSN'', Blackshirts) and military police.
The Italian Royal Navy also purchased the weapon and MAB 38As were given to the "''San Marco''" Marine Regiment and naval security troops; the ''
Regia Aeronautica'' (Italian Royal Air Force) issued the MAB 38A to its crack A.D.R.A. Regiment. Orders were still small and the Carcano M1891 rifle remained the standard weapon even in elite units. Until 1943, the MAB 38A (and since 1942, the MAB 38/42) was available almost exclusively to paratroopers,
Blackshirts
The Voluntary Militia for National Security ( it, Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale, MVSN), commonly called the Blackshirts ( it, Camicie Nere, CCNN, singular: ) or (singular: ), was originally the paramilitary wing of the Nation ...
, tank crews and
Carabinieri
The Carabinieri (, also , ; formally ''Arma dei Carabinieri'', "Arm of Carabineers"; previously ''Corpo dei Carabinieri Reali'', "Royal Carabineers Corps") are the national gendarmerie of Italy who primarily carry out domestic and foreign polic ...
military police, given their need of high volumes of firepower in prolonged actions or to maintain close-quarters combat superiority. The paratroopers of the
185th Airborne Division ''Folgore'' were armed exclusively with the weapon .
Blackshirt
The Voluntary Militia for National Security ( it, Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale, MVSN), commonly called the Blackshirts ( it, Camicie Nere, CCNN, singular: ) or (singular: ), was originally the paramilitary wing of the Nation ...
legions (one per infantry division) were regarded and used as elite assault units both for their fanaticism and their Beretta 38s.
After the Italian armistice of September 8, 1943, the Italian armed forces melted away and an Italian army was reconstructed in northern Italy under German control, the Beretta MAB equipping many units. The
Italian Social Republic (R.S.I.) army fought a guerrilla war against partisans from its inception, as well as against the Allies. For assault and counterinsurgency units, where firepower at close range was a vital asset, it was the ideal weapon. Production of the MAB became priority and it was supplied in great numbers to R.S.I. formations, especially elite units, and it became an iconic weapon symbolizing the Italian soldier in popular culture. Later in the war, a simplified variant known as the MAB 38/44 was introduced. Regardless of the tables of organization and equipment of a unit, the Beretta 38 was a popular weapon that could eventually find its way into the hands of virtually any soldier, especially amongst officers and senior non-commissioned officers, in any type of unit.
A magazine-carrying vest was designed for elite troops (Blackshirts, paratroopers) armed with the Beretta 38; these were dubbed ''"
Samurai
were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...
"'' due to the similarity of the stacked magazines to the feudal Japanese warriors' body armour. A special canvas holster was issued with the MAB with two magazine-carrier pouches sewn on, to be worn as a belt but only came into use during the brief life of the R.S.I. and by then could be seen in the employ of many different units whose "elite" status could have been reasonably questioned (such as
Black Brigades and other militias). The Beretta MAB was highly praised by
Italian resistance movement fighters as well, being far more accurate and powerful than the British
Sten
The STEN (or Sten gun) is a family of British submachine guns chambered in 9×19mm which were used extensively by British and Commonwealth forces throughout World War II and the Korean War. They had a simple design and very low production cos ...
which was common issue in partisan units, although the smaller Sten was more suited for clandestine operations. German soldiers also liked the Beretta MAB, judging it large and heavy, but reliable and well made.
The 1938 series was extremely robust and proved very popular with
Axis forces
The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were ...
as well as Allied troops, who used captured examples.
Many German soldiers, including elite forces such as the
Waffen-SS
The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscripts from both occup ...
and
Fallschirmjäger
The ''Fallschirmjäger'' () were the paratrooper branch of the German Luftwaffe before and during World War II. They were the first German paratroopers to be committed in large-scale airborne operations. Throughout World War II, the commander ...
forces, preferred the Beretta 38.
Germany manufactured 231,193 Beretta M38s in 1944 and 1945.
Firing a more powerful Italian version of the widely distributed
9×19mm Parabellum cartridge, the ''Cartuccia 9 mm M38'', the Beretta was accurate at longer ranges than most other submachine guns.
The MAB could deliver impressive firepower at close range, and at longer distances its size and weight was an advantage, making the weapon stable and easy to control. In expert hands, the Beretta MAB allowed accurate short-burst shooting up to and its effective range with Italian M38 ammunition was s, an impressive result for a 9 mm submachine gun.
Specifications
MAB 38, in its first variants, was a fine weapon by any standard, crafted with high quality materials, flawlessly finished and with carefully machined parts. Models 38/42 and 38/44 were easier and faster to build, the finish was sacrificed for speed of production but the quality remained high. The mechanism was a traditional simple
blowback recoil but with a novel floating firing pin, an automatic safety on open bolt (both later removed to save production costs), a recoil compensator on the muzzle, a bolt cocking handle with sliding dust cover and a striking trigger gear with no fire selector but with two triggers instead; the fore trigger was for semi-automatic fire and rear trigger for full-auto. The user could shift quickly between methods without switching levers or safety catches, which proved useful in combat. The full-auto trigger had a safety catch on left side, which was eliminated from 1942 and the rear sight was adjustable up to in the MAB 38 and 38A, the 38/42 and 38/44 variants had fixed rear sights. The MAB 38 had a wooden stock, was about long and weighed about when loaded, with an effective range of about .
Variants
![Beretta M1938 submachine gun](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Beretta_M1938_submachine_gun.JPEG)
The ''Model 1938'' can be recognized by its machined steel receiver, fine craftsmanship and finish and by the perforated cooling jacket over the barrel.
It was produced from 1938 to 1950 and fired
9×19mm Parabellum ammunition at 600 rounds per minute. It used 10, 20, 30 or 40-round magazines; the short 10-round magazine, when used in conjunction with the fixed bayonet, was popular with Allied and Axis forces for guarding prisoners or internal security.
In combat, the 30-round magazine was the most common. The original MAB 38, first issued to Italian police in 1939, had a bayonet mount and stock rest for the Carcano M91/38 folding bayonet.
In compliance with Italian army requirements, bayonet mount and rest were eliminated and the recoil compensator was redesigned, the two horizontal muzzle slots substituted by 4 transversal cuttings, judged more effective. This standard army variant was renamed MAB 38A and issued in 1941. Despite its undeniable effectiveness, the Beretta ''Model 38'' proved too time-consuming and expensive to produce during wartime. Marengoni designed a simplified model made from sheet steel, in which the cooling jacket and bayonet mount were eliminated and the separate firing pin mechanism replaced by a fixed firing pin machined on the face of the bolt. The barrel and wooden stock were also shortened to save weight and cost.
[''Small Arms of the World'', pp. 482-483] This new model, the ''Model 38/42'', had a fluted barrel to aid cooling and save weight. It also had a slower rate of fire (550 rpm). The ''Model 38/43'', was an intermediate production stage between the 42 and 44 patterns.
The 38/42 and 38/43 were adopted by the ''
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...
'' as the ''Maschinenpistole 738(i)'', abbreviated as ''MP.738''.
Models produced for the German army received German acceptance marks.
The ''Model 38/44'' was a minor revision of the 38/43, in which the bolt was simplified and a large-diameter recoil spring used in place of the operating spring guide.
It also eliminated the fluting to save time and increase production.
The 38/44 was also adopted by the German army as the ''MP.739''. A variant of the Model 38/44 was fitted with an MP40-style under-folding stock as the ''Model 1''.
After World War II, the 38/44 continued in production in slightly revised form as the ''38/49'' series: the ''Model 2'' or ''MP 38/44 special'' with an MP 40-style under-folding stock and extended magazine well,
the ''Model 3'' with an extended magazine well and telescoping steel-wire buttstock and the ''Model 4'' with a standard wooden rifle stock. All of these models have a push-button cross-bolt safety catch at the middle of the stock
After Marengoni's death, Beretta engineer Domenico Salza revised the safety system of the Model 38/49 series as the ''Model 5'', identified by a large rectangular grip-safety button located in the stock's finger groove.
[''Military Small Arms of the 20th Century'', pp. 224-225] The Model 5 was produced for the Italian Army, police and the armed forces of several other nations until 1961, when production ceased in favor of the compact, modern
Beretta M12
The Beretta M12 (Model 12) is a 9×19mm Parabellum caliber submachine gun designed by Beretta. Production started in 1959, the first users were the Italian Carabinieri, Italian State Police and the Guardia di Finanza, though in limited number, ...
.
Unusually, it ejects to the left because of the non-reciprocating cocking-charging handle and slot cover being in the way on the right side.
In the 1950s the Dominican Republic issued the
Cristóbal Carbine
The .30 Kiraly-Cristóbal Carbine, also known as the San Cristóbal or Cristóbal Automatic Rifle was manufactured by the Dominican Republic’s Armería San Cristóbal Weapon Factory.
History and development
Although called a carbine, the gun ma ...
carbine in American .30 Carbine (7.62x33) designed by
Pál Király
Pál Király (1880–1965) was a Hungarian engineer and weapons designer.
Work & designs
He is best known for development of lever-delayed blowback firearms, and being employed by the Danuvia company in the 1930s and 1940s to design and prod ...
. Visually and internally, several features of the Model 38 carried forward in the San Cristóbal.
Users
*
* : captured by the
Albanian Partisans
The National Liberation Movement ( sq, Lëvizja Nacional-Çlirimtare; or ''Lëvizja Antifashiste Nacional-Çlirimtare'' (LANÇ)), also translated as National Liberation Front, was an Albanian communist resistance organization that fought in World ...
in vast quantities during the war
* : Used by
Armée de Libération Nationale
The National Liberation Army or ALN ( ar, جيش التحرير الوطني الجزائري, translit=Jaīš al-taḥrīr al-waṭanī al-jazāʾirī; french: Armée de libération nationale) was the armed wing of the nationalist National Libe ...
* :Used by
Mukti Bahini
The Mukti Bahini ( bn, মুক্তিবাহিনী, translates as 'freedom fighters', or liberation army), also known as the Bangladesh Forces, was the guerrilla resistance movement consisting of the Bangladeshi military, paramilitary ...
.
* : MAB38A
* :
Models 38/44 and 38/49
[''Small Arms of the World'', p. 487]
* :
Model 38/49
*
* : 350 ordered and 50 MP38/43 delivered in 1943; some were captured by Allied forces in the South Pacific.
* : Models 38/42 and 38/49
*
* : Italian surplus MP38s bought in 1958.
*
*
* : MP38/49 (Model 4) and Model 5, identified as the MP1. Used by
Bundeswehr
The ''Bundeswehr'' (, meaning literally: ''Federal Defence'') is the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. The ''Bundeswehr'' is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part con ...
(until 1959) and
Bundesgrenzschutz (replaced at the end of the 1960s)
* : MP1938/49 variant.
Deployed during the
United Nations Operation in the Congo
The United Nations Operation in the Congo (french: Opération des Nations Unies au Congo, abbreviated to ONUC) was a United Nations peacekeeping force deployed in the Republic of the Congo in 1960 in response to the Congo Crisis. ONUC was the ...
.
*
* : Model 38/44
*
**
Italian Social Republic
**
Italian Resistance
The Italian resistance movement (the ''Resistenza italiana'' and ''la Resistenza'') is an umbrella term for the Italian resistance groups who fought the occupying forces of Nazi Germany and the fascist collaborationists of the Italian Socia ...
**
Italian Co-belligerent Army
* : Used by the
Lebanese Army,
Lebanese Gendarmerie and rebel pan-Arabist militias during the
1958 Lebanon Crisis
The 1958 Lebanon crisis (also known as the Lebanese Civil War of 1958) was a political crisis in Lebanon caused by political and religious tensions in the country that included a United States military intervention. The intervention lasted for aro ...
.
*
*
* : Used by
Western Somali Liberation Front
The Western Somali Liberation Front ( so, Jabhadda Xoreynta Somali Galbeed; abbreviated WSLF) was a separatist rebel group fighting in eastern Ethiopia to create an independent state. It played a major role in the Ogaden War of 1977-78 assisting ...
rebels during
Ogaden War.
* Model 38/44
* : 5,000 ordered in 1941 and delivered during 1942.
Received both Model 38A and Model 38/42.
*
**
* : Model 38/49
* : Model 38/49
* :
Model 38/49
* : Captured in vast quantities.
See also
*
List of Italian submachine guns
The Villar Perosa is often technically regarded as the first submachine gun. The Villar Perosa was somewhat odd, and had sort of a heavy double automatic pistol configuration, with two 25-round box magazines feeding each barrel and a rate of fir ...
References
Further reading
* Dunlap, Roy F., ''Ordnance Went Up Front'', Samworth Press, (1948)
* Hogg, Ian V. and Weeks, John, ''Military Small Arms of the 20th Century'', 6th ed. DBI Books, Inc. (1991),
* Smith, Joseph E., ''Small Arms of the World'', 11th ed., Harrisburg, PA:
The Stackpole Company (1969),
* G. Rosignoli, ''RSI: uniformi, equipaggiamento ed armi'', Albertelli Ed., 1985
*
External links
The Beretta M38A
{{WWIIItalianInfWeapons
World War II submachine guns
World War II infantry weapons of Italy
Model 38
9mm Parabellum submachine guns
Submachine guns of Italy
Military equipment introduced in the 1930s