Bechowiec-1 was a Polish

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 machine pistol

Machine pistol

A machine pistol is a handgun-style, often magazine-fed and self-loading firearm, capable of fully automatic or burst fire, and normally chambered for pistol cartridges. The term is a literal translation of Maschinenpistole, the German term for a hand-held automatic weapon...

 developed and produced by the underground Armia Krajowa

Armia Krajowa

The Armia Krajowa , or Home Army, was the dominant Polish resistance movement in World War II German-occupied Poland. It was formed in February 1942 from the Związek Walki Zbrojnej . Over the next two years, it absorbed most other Polish underground forces...

 resistance organisation. It was designed in 1943 by Henryk Strąpoć and was being produced in several underground facilities, mostly in the area of Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski

Ostrowiec Swietokrzyski

Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski is a town in south-central Poland with 74,211 inhabitants .Main industry is metallurgy. Ostrowiec is the capital city of Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski County, part of Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship , previously it belonged to Kielce Voivodeship .- History:The oldest testimonies of...

 and Opatów Kielecki. Its name was coined after the Bataliony Chłopskie organization members who were informally called bechowiec (plural: bechowcy).

Design

The weapon was designed for use in underground operations and as such it had to be small, light yet accurate and easy to handle. It used standard German 9mm Parabellum magazine which could be easily obtained either by purchase from the German soldiers or through armed actions. The weapon used a slide, much like an automatic pistol and fired from a closed breech, which added to its accuracy in single-shot mode. The trigger itself was also used as firing mode selector.

History

Between Summer of 1943 and July 1944, approximately 11 were built. All were used in combat during the Operation Tempest

Operation Tempest

Operation Tempest was a series of uprisings conducted during World War II by the Polish Home Army , the dominant force in the Polish resistance....

.

There is only one gun still in existence, currently on exhibition in the Polish Army Museum in Warsaw

Warsaw

Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...

.