Linz Fallschirmjagers had acquitted themselves well during the recent conquest of the Low Countries.
Now they formed the backbone of the largest airborne assault in military history to date.
The jumpmaster had Linz and his men up and ready before the planes cleared the coastline.
German Fallschirmjagers and Waffen SS troops coveted the Model 38A for its controllability, prodigious magazine capacity and innate accuracy.
Flak erupted all around the plane, sounding like so much gravel thrown against the Ju 52s corrugated skin.
The jump light flashed from red to green and Hauptmann Linz leapt headfirst into hell.
They jumped without reserve chutes.
The long ventilated barrel shroud/bayonet lug is one of the gun’s most distinctive features.
At these altitudes, there would be no time to deploy one anyway.
This equipment necessitated a dive out of the aircraft and a harsh face-first landing.
It also meant Linz and his men had to jump without their primary weapons.
The Italian Model 38A was an elegant and effective 9mm submachine gun. German Fallschirmjagers and the Waffen SS used thousands of the weapons during WWII.
They called it jumping naked, and it left them utterly vulnerable once they hit the drop zone.
Linz carried a gravity knife, his Luger pistol, and a pair of stick grenades.
This was the weapons canister that was dropped from the belly of his Junkers alongside his stick of paratroopers.
The well-designed muzzle brake helps keep recoil and muzzle climb in check.
Linz popped fire up the canister and retrieved his 9mm Italian Model 38A submachine gun.
Though a bit longer and bulkier than the more common German MP38 orMP40, Linz loved his 38A.
He had traded a drunken Italian officer out of it during a joint training exercise six months earlier.
The charging handle on the Model 38 is located on the right and includes a sliding dust cover.
In clots of ones, twos and threes, the surviving paratroopers rallied to his position.
Regardless, he reached over the top of his subgun and jacked the bolt to the rear.
Ready or not, this war started right here.
The safety on the Model 38A is a pivoting lever on the left.
The exhaustive list of modern Italian war heroes is undeniably brief.
However, the 38A submachine gun in 9mm shines on its own as a stellar exception.
Ive run them all, and the 38A is my favorite WWII-era subgun.
The 40-round double column, double-feed magazine on the Model 38A is one of its strongest attributes.
The Model 38A was originally designed in 1935 by famed Italian small arms designer Tullio Marengoni.
The 38A also includes several uniquely superb features.
The safety on the gun is a sliding lever on the left aspect of the receiver.
While the MP40 got all the press, the Italian Model 38A was a popular weapon among specialist troops.
This appendage is readily manipulatable by the left hand when shooting right-handed.
The fire control system is built into the dual trigger assembly.
Pulling the forward trigger produces semi-auto fire; the rear, full-auto.
The front trigger provides semi-auto fire. The aft triggeris full-auto.
Oddly, the weapon charges on the right and ejects to the left.
This knob does not reciprocate with the bolt and includes a sliding sheet steel dust cover.
The leather sling attaches on the left side of the weapon as it should.
At 20 meters the Beretta 38A groups beautifullyon full-auto.
How Does She Run?
In a word, swimmingly.
The long 12.4 barrel yields superlative accuracy in semiauto mode.
For reasons known only to its designer, Tullio Marengoni, the Model 38A ejects out the left.
Switch to the rear trigger, and the gun runs at a published rate of 600 rpm.
In my experience, it seems slower than that.
The magazine release is small but is located behind the magazine for easy access with either hand.
The Model 38A runs much like the rifles of its day.
The Rest of the Model 38A Story
Operation Mercury was an unprecedented slaughter.
One of its subordinate companies had 112 killed out of a total of 126 on the rolls.
The Fallshirmjagers fought on until the bitter end as elite Infantry.
TheFG42 paratroop riflerepresents the golden ring for the most rarefied of military weapons collectors.
Additionally, the German paratroops were fairly prolific users of the Italian Model 38A submachine gun.
Special thanks toWorld War Supplyfor the cool-guy gear used in the preparation of this article.
