Vertical Grip Military Thompsons

[maverick4440]

I was talking to My uncle who was in the 6th Engineer Special Brigades amphibious combat engineers durining WWII in the ETO. I brought up Thompsons and he said that he carried "An old topcocker" as he called it with the vertical foregrip that had a sling mount on the side of the grip that kind of got in the way. He said he doesn't remember exactly where he aquired it but he carried it all through france and still had it at the end of the war. He said he really liked that gun and contemplated trying to smuggle it home but was afraid of being caught so he left it in europe. My question is, did the US issue 28-m1s with the vertical foregrip? If not where would he have found such a gun? He said his issue gun was actually an M1 but he carried the Thompson almost exclusively. He said no one ever asked him where he got it and didn't seem to care. He was a sergeant so no one really questioned him about it.

Dave

[Hawkeye_Joe]

Side sling mounted Thompsons were used by British Forces during the war. He probably acquired it as a battlefield pick up or traded for it with a Brit.

[Ron Mills]

The Brit side-mount sling is "rather curious", and I can see how it could get in the way of things. I can see carrying the gun slung, "muzzle toward enemy", but to do that all day is no picnic. Anyhoo, this subject (to me at least) brings to mind the continuous unearthing of variations in grips, slings & mounts, lack of buttstocks, etc. used in WWII. Frank's books have many great examples of these.

 

Hey, whatever gets you through a firefight and beyond, yes?