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Description of  ERMA Submachine Guns (Small Arms Profile 8)

If any firm has exhibited the continued development of a weapon type it is the firm of Erma. They have developed the MP (Machinen-Pistole) series of submachine guns for over 40 years and as a result the weapon range displays the advances in material and in technique of manufacture which have taken place. Erma, ERfurt MAchinen = ERMA, was founded in 1924 by Berthold Geiupel, who had been the Director of the main arsenal at Erfurt which had been disbanded alter World War I in 1919. Although the first submachine guns had been demonstrated in prototype form during the first World War, it was not until 1927 that an efficient weapon was developed. Once again, as with many weapons of this era, the early submachine gun developments were put to their initial tests during the Spanish Civil War.