Georgy Semyonovich Shpagin (russian: Георгий Семёнович Шпагин; 17 April 1897 – 6 February 1952) was a Russian weapons designer. He is best known as the creator of the famous

PPSh-41 The PPSh-41 () is a Soviet submachine gun designed by Georgy Shpagin as a cheaper and simplified alternative to the PPD-40. A common Russian nickname for the weapon is "''papasha''" (), meaning "daddy", and it was sometimes called the "burp gun" ...

submachine gun A submachine gun (SMG) is a magazine-fed, automatic carbine designed to fire handgun cartridges. The term "submachine gun" was coined by John T. Thompson, the inventor of the Thompson submachine gun, to describe its design concept as an autom ...

, as well as working with Vasily Degtyaryov on the DShK heavy machine gun.

Early life

Shpagin was born in 1897 to a peasant family in Klyushnikovo close to Kovrovo, in what was then the Russian Empire. He attended school for three years, before becoming a carpenter at the age of 12 (in 1909). He was drafted into the

Russian Army The Russian Ground Forces (russian: Сухопутные войска �В Sukhoputnyye voyska V, also known as the Russian Army (, ), are the Army, land forces of the Russian Armed Forces. The primary responsibilities of the Russian Gro ...

in 1916 to fight on the Eastern Front. He was assigned to repair artillery the following year.

Russian Revolution

After the October Revolution, he became a member of the Red Army, and worked as a

gunsmith A gunsmith is a person who repairs, modifies, designs, or builds guns. The occupation differs from an armorer, who usually replaces only worn parts in standard firearms. Gunsmiths do modifications and changes to a firearm that may require a very h ...

in Vladimir Oblast. After 1920, he worked in a workshop designing weapons in the same area, working with

Vladimir Grigoryevich Fyodorov Vladimir Grigoryevich Fyodorov (russian: Владимир Григорьевич Фёдоров) (3 (15) May, 1874, Saint Petersburg – 19 September 1966, Moscow) was a Russian and Soviet scientist, weapons designer, professor, lieutenant general ...

and Vasily Degtyaryov.

Creations

After a decade and a half of unsuccessful attempts, in 1938 his workshop released the DShK heavy machine gun. It is still in widespread use as an anti-personnel gun, an

anti-aircraft gun Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

, and a light anti-tank weapon. About 8,000 of them were made during the Second World War. In 1940, he came up with his most accredited design, the

sub-machine gun A submachine gun (SMG) is a magazine-fed, automatic carbine designed to fire handgun cartridges. The term "submachine gun" was coined by John T. Thompson, the inventor of the Thompson submachine gun, to describe its design concept as an autom ...

, which was the staple automatic weapon of the Red Army during the Second World War. It was cheap to produce and easy to maintain. He joined the

Communist Party of the Soviet Union "Hymn of the Bolshevik Party" , headquarters = 4 Staraya Square, Moscow , general_secretary = Vladimir Lenin (first) Mikhail Gorbachev (last) , founded = , banned = , founder = Vladimir Lenin , newspaper ...

in 1944. He, in competition with the

AS-44 The Sudayev AS-44 (Avtomat Sudayeva, ''Автома́т Суда́ева'') was an early Soviet automatic rifle that was designed in 1944 by Alexey Sudayev. It was produced in limited numbers and tested during 1945, but its development ended in 19 ...

, also created his own prototype assault rifle called the ASh-44 which was blowback operated. It was dropped from the trial due to being uncontrollable on full auto and lead to the mandate that all future rifles be locked breech.

Post-war

Shpagin was a member of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR from 1946 to 1950. He became seriously ill with

stomach cancer Stomach cancer, also known as gastric cancer, is a cancer that develops from the lining of the stomach. Most cases of stomach cancers are gastric carcinomas, which can be divided into a number of subtypes, including gastric adenocarcinomas. Lymph ...

, and died of it in early 1952.

Honours and awards

Shpagin was awarded the Stalin Prize, 2nd class, in 1941 and the title of

Hero of Socialist Labour The Hero of Socialist Labour (russian: links=no, Герой Социалистического Труда, Geroy Sotsialisticheskogo Truda) was an honorific title in the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries from 1938 to 1991. It repre ...

on 16 September 1945, for "creation of new types of weapons and raising the combat power of the Red Army". He received three Orders of Lenin during the war, in 1941, 1943 and 1945, in addition to the Order of Suvorov, 2nd class, in 1945 and the

Order of the Red Star The Order of the Red Star (russian: Орден Красной Звезды, Orden Krasnoy Zvezdy) was a military decoration of the Soviet Union. It was established by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 6 April 193 ...

in 1938.

Posthumous recognition

A street in Vyatka is named after him. In both Kovrov and Vyatka there are large public monuments to him.

References

Biography from warheroes.ru
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shpagin, Georgy 1897 births 1952 deaths People from Vladimir Oblast Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery Firearm designers Heroes of Socialist Labour Stalin Prize winners Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of Suvorov, 2nd class Soviet engineers 20th-century Russian engineers Russian inventors Soviet inventors