The Orița is a

9×19mm Parabellum The 9×19mm Parabellum (also known as 9mm Luger, 9mm NATO or simply 9mm) is a Rim (firearms)#Rimless, rimless, Centerfire ammunition, centerfire, tapered cartridge (firearms), firearms cartridge. Originally designed by Austrian firearm designer ...

submachine gun A submachine gun (SMG) is a magazine (firearms), magazine-fed automatic firearm, 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 descri ...

that was manufactured in

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and for several years afterwards. It was named for Captain Marin Orița (Military Technical Corps,

Romanian Army The Romanian Land Forces () is the army of Romania, and the main component of the Romanian Armed Forces. Since 2007, full professionalization and a major equipment overhaul have transformed the nature of the Land Forces. The Romanian Land Forc ...

), who is credited in Romania with its design. (Other sources describe the Orița as a joint

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

-Romanian project;Axworthy & al (1995), p. 75 the Czech Leopold Jašek and the Romanian Nicolae Sterca are also considered to have contributed to its design).

Design and production

The design of the Orița uses an

open bolt A firearm is said to fire from an open bolt or open breech if, when ready to fire, the bolt and working parts are held to the rear of the receiver, with no round in the chamber. When the trigger is actuated, the bolt travels forward, feeds a car ...

firing mechanism which has a floating firing pin and lever system instead of a fixed firing pin. The

rifling Rifling is the term for helical grooves machined into the internal surface of a firearms's barrel for imparting a spin to a projectile to improve its aerodynamic stability and accuracy. It is also the term (as a verb) for creating such groov ...

of the barrel is six-groove right-handed. In 1948, several changes were made to the design: the manual safety was replaced with a grip safety lever, a reinforced metal wrist was added to the

stock Stocks (also capital stock, or sometimes interchangeably, shares) consist of all the Share (finance), shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided. A single share of the stock means fractional ownership of the corporatio ...

and the semi-automatic selector was removed with the gun remaining at fully automatic only.

Mass production Mass production, also known as mass production, series production, series manufacture, or continuous production, is the production of substantial amounts of standardized products in a constant flow, including and especially on assembly lines ...

was made by CMC Uzinele Metalurgice Copșa Mică and Cugir. With a production rate of 666 pieces per month as of October 1942, 6,000 were produced until October 1943.

Service

The first version, Model 1941, entered operational service with the

in 1943. Two later improved models were the Model 1948, with a fixed wooden stock, and the rare paratrooper Model 1949, with a folding metal stock. It remained in service with the Romanian Army until it was replaced in the 1960s by the more powerful Pistol Mitralieră model 1963/1965, a Romanian version of the

AK-47 The AK-47, officially known as the Avtomat Kalashnikova (; also known as the Kalashnikov or just AK), is an assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian small-arms designer Mikhail Kala ...

assault rifle An assault rifle is a select fire rifle that uses an intermediate cartridge, intermediate-rifle cartridge and a Magazine (firearms), detachable magazine.C. Taylor, ''The Fighting Rifle: A Complete Study of the Rifle in Combat'', F.A. Moyer '' ...

. The Orița remained in service with the Patriotic Guards ("Gărzile Patriotice") until the 1970s. A small quantity of these Romanian weapons was also used by the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

during the last two years of the Second World War. During

Vietnam war The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

, the

North Vietnamese Army The People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), officially the Vietnam People's Army (VPA; , , ), also recognized as the Vietnamese Army (), the People's Army () or colloquially the Troops ( ), is the national Military, military force of the Vietnam, S ...

was supplied with Orița submachine guns by Romania. The Vietnamese continued using the Orița in the Sino-Vietnamese war of 1979 as well.

Orița Carbine

A carbine version of the Orița was designed, chambered in

9×23mm Steyr The 9×23mm Steyr, also known as 9mm Steyr, is a centerfire pistol cartridge originally developed for the Steyr M1912 pistol. History Adopted in 1912, the 9mm Steyr was the service ammunition for most branches of the military in Austria-Hung ...

. Only one prototype was built; it is preserved in the National Military Museum in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

Users

Former users

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References

Sources

* * Axworthy, Mark, Cornel I. Scafeș, and Cristian Crăciunoiu. (1995) ''Third Axis, Fourth Ally: Romanian Armed Forces in the European War, 1941–1945''. London: Arms and Armour . * König, Carol. ''Căpitanul Marin Orița—Inventator român de prestigiu din al doilea sfert al secolului al XX‑lea.'' Muzeul Militar Central, Studii și materiale de muzeografie și istorie militară, 10 (1977): 229–33. * .

External links

Orița Model 1941
Technical drawing.
Orița submachine guns
Photograph from the National Military Museum of Romania.
Romanian Orita Model 1941/48
{{DEFAULTSORT:Orita M1941 World War II submachine guns 9mm Parabellum submachine guns Submachine guns of Romania World War II military equipment of Romania