The PPD is a submachine gun

Submachine gun

A submachine gun is an automatic carbine, designed to fire pistol cartridges. It combines the automatic fire of a machine gun with the cartridge of a pistol. The submachine gun was invented during World War I , but the apex of its use was during World War II when millions of the weapon type were...

 originally designed in 1934. The PPD had a conventional wooden stock, fired from an open bolt

Open bolt

A semi or full automatic firearm is said to fire from an open bolt if, when ready to fire, the bolt and working parts are held to the rear. When the trigger is pulled the bolt goes forward, feeding a round from the magazine into the chamber and firing it...

, and was capable of selective fire.

History

Developed in the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 by arms designer Vasily Degtyaryov, it was a near direct copy of the German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 Bergmann MP 28. The PPD was designed to chamber the new Soviet 7.62×25mm Tokarev pistol cartridge, which was based on the similar 7.63×25mm Mauser

7.63×25mm Mauser

The 7.63×25mm Mauser round was the original ammunition of the Mauser C96 service pistol. This cartridge headspaces on the shoulder of the case. The basis of this cartridge was the 7.65×25mm Borchardt cartridge of 1893, the only successful automatic pistol cartridge in production at the time...

 cartridge used in the Mauser C96

Mauser C96

The Mauser C96 is a semi-automatic pistol that was originally produced by German arms manufacturer Mauser from 1896 to 1937...

 pistol. The PPD utilized a large ammunition drum

Drum magazine

A drum magazine is a type of firearms magazine that is cylindrical in shape, similar to a drum. Instead of rounds being stored flat, as in a more common box magazine, rounds in a drum magazine are stored in a spiral around the center of the magazine, facing the direction of the barrel.There are...

, a copy of the Finnish

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

  M31 Suomi

Suomi M-31 SMG

The Suomi KP/-31 was a submachine gun of Finnish design that was in service during World War II. It was a descendant of the M-22 prototype and the KP/-26 production model, which was revealed to the public in 1925...

 drum magazine as well as a more conventional 25-round box-type magazine.

The PPD first went into military service with the Red Army

Red Army

The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...

 in 1935 as the PPD-34, although it was not produced in large quantities. It saw use with the NKVD

NKVD

The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....

 internal forces as well as border guards. In 1938 and 1940, modifications were designated PPD-34/38 and PPD-40 respectively, and introduced minor changes. Nevertheless, the PPD-40 was too complicated and expensive to mass-produce, and although it was used in action in the initial stages of 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...

, it was officially replaced by the superior and cheaper PPSh-41

PPSh-41

The PPSh-41 was a Soviet submachine gun designed by Georgi Shpagin as an inexpensive, simplified alternative to the PPD-40. Intended for use by minimally-trained conscript soldiers, the PPSh was a magazine-fed selective-fire submachine gun using an open-bolt, blowback action...

 by the end of 1941. Approximately 90,000 PPDs were manufactured.

PPDs captured by Finnish forces during the Winter War

Winter War

The Winter War was a military conflict between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet offensive on 30 November 1939 – three months after the start of World War II and the Soviet invasion of Poland – and ended on 13 March 1940 with the Moscow Peace Treaty...

 and Continuation War

Continuation War

The Continuation War was the second of two wars fought between Finland and the Soviet Union during World War II.At the time of the war, the Finnish side used the name to make clear its perceived relationship to the preceding Winter War...

 were issued to coastal and home guard troops and kept in reserve until approximately 1960. PPD-34/38 and PPD-40 submachine guns captured by the Wehrmacht

Wehrmacht

The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...

were given the names MP.715(r) and MP.716(r) respectively.