While the rifle proved worthy of ranged warfare, it was of little value in the confined spaces of the trench networks dotting the European countrysides. The infantryman was generally issued a long bolt-action rifle (that is, every round had to be manually prepped into the chamber before firing through use of a bolt lever) with attached bayonet.
General Thompson, son to an Army Lieutenant Colonel, took to heart the hard lessons being learned in 'trench warfare' tactics of World War 1. Some 1.7 million copies of this fine weapon have been produced with production beginning in 1921 and continuing to this day. Since then, the weapon system went on to make its mark in the Prohibition era (fighting for both gangsters and police forces alike), found tremendous combat successes in World War 2 and saw use in the Arab-Israeli War of 1948, the Korean War, the 1st Indochina War, the Vietnam War, the Chinese Civil War and the Bosnian War to name a few conflicts. It was the creation of one General John Taliaferro Thompson (December 31st, 1860 - June 21st, 1940) who started work on early forms as early as 1917. The Thompson series of submachine guns (not quite a pistol yet not a full-fledged machine gun) began life in 1919 following World War 1.
