Georgy Semyonovich Shpagin (russian: Георгий Семёнович Шпагин; 17 April 1897 – 6 February 1952) was a Russian

weapons A weapon, arm or armament is any implement or device that can be used to deter, threaten, inflict physical damage, harm, or kill. Weapons are used to increase the efficacy and efficiency of activities such as hunting, crime, law enforcement, s ...

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 The DShK 1938 (Cyrillic: ДШК, for russian: Дегтярёва-Шпагина Крупнокалиберный, Degtyaryova-Shpagina Krupnokaliberny, links=no, "Degtyaryov-Shpagin large-calibre") is a Soviet heavy machine gun with a V-shaped but ...

heavy machine gun A heavy machine gun (HMG) is significantly larger than light, medium or general-purpose machine guns. HMGs are typically too heavy to be man-portable (carried by one person) and require mounting onto a weapons platform to be operably stable or ...

Early life

Shpagin was born in 1897 to a peasant family in Klyushnikovo close to

Kovrov Kovrov (russian: Ковро́в) is a city in Vladimir Oblast, Russia, located on the right bank of the Klyazma River, a tributary of the Oka. Kovrov's population as of the 2021 Census was 132,417, down from 145,214 recorded in the 2010 Cens ...

o, in what was then the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War ...

. 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 �ВSukhoputnyye voyska V}), also known as the Russian Army (, ), are the land forces of the Russian Armed Forces. The primary responsibilities of the Russian Ground Force ...

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

artillery Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during si ...

the following year.

Russian Revolution

After the

October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key mom ...

, he became a member of the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian language, Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist R ...

, 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 ...

Vladimir Oblast Vladimir Oblast (russian: Влади́мирская о́бласть, ''Vladimirskaya oblast'') is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its closest border 66 km east of central Moscow, the administrative center is the city of Vladimir, w ...

. After 1920, he worked in a workshop designing

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 gener ...

and Vasily Degtyaryov.

Creations

After a

decade A decade () is a period of ten years. Decades may describe any ten-year period, such as those of a person's life, or refer to specific groupings of calendar years. Usage Any period of ten years is a "decade". For example, the statement that "du ...

and a half of unsuccessful attempts, in 1938 his workshop released the

. 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 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 opposi ...

. 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 automat ...

, which was the staple automatic weapon of the

during the

. 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 , newspape ...

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 1 ...

, 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. Ly ...

, 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 The Order of Suvorov () is a military decoration of the Russian Federation named in honor of Russian Generalissimo Prince Alexander Suvorov (1729–1800). History The Order of Suvorov was originally a Soviet award established on July 29, 1942 ...

, 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

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