Bechowiec-1

Bechowiec (aka Bechowiec-1) was a Polish World War II submachine gun developed and produced by the underground Bataliony Chłopskie (BCh, ''Peasants' Battalions) resistance organisation. It was designed in 1943 by Henryk Strąpoć and was produced in underground facilities in the area of Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski. Its name was coined after the Bataliony Chłopskie organization members who were informally called bechowiec (plural: bechowcy'').

Key facts

Weapon.is_ranged: yes
Weapon.name: Bechowiec
Weapon.image: 250px|Bechowiec SMG
Weapon.caption: Bechowiec SMG as seen in the Museum of the Polish Army
Weapon.origin: Poland
Weapon.type: Submachine gun
Weapon.designer: Henryk Strąpoć
Weapon.design_date: 1943
Weapon.service: 1943-1945
Weapon.cartridge: 9×19mm Parabellum7.62×25mm Tokarev
Weapon.action: blowback, closed bolt
Weapon.velocity: ca.
Weapon.weight

Article

5 sections

Contents

History
Design
See also
References
External links

==History== The gun's designer was Henryk Strąpoć (born 1922), a blacksmith and self-taught amateur gunsmith in the village of Czerwona Góra, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship. Between 1936 and 1939 he illegally built four semi-automatic pistols of his own design. During the German occupation of Poland he became a gunsmith for the local Bataliony Chłopskie underground organization. In the spring of 1943 he completed a working prototype of his own submachine gun, later named Bechowiec. He later improved the design with a help of Jan Swat, who formerly worked as a mechanic in the metalworks in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski.