Indiana Jones using an MP-40 in Castle Brunwald.
The MP-40 or Schmeisser MP40 is a submachine gun that was used by Nazi forces.
History[]
Indiana Jones had the weapon employed against him on occasion, and he himself used the weapon, albeit to little effect, against Albrecht Von Beck's drill vehicle while searching for the Heart of the Dragon in 1935.[1]
The MP-40 was one of the weapons used by the Nazi expedition led by Colonel Herman Dietrich and René Belloq to recover the Ark of the Covenant from Egypt in 1936. Large numbers of the MP-40 are seen in the hands of the German troops; in fact, the Germans had apparently brought along enough of these guns to arm their Arab thugs as well, as well as a Nepalese henchman in one instance. At one point, Belloq takes a soldier's MP-40 from him and uses it to threaten the German soldiers into backing away from the Ark, calling Jones's bluff when he threatened to destroy it with a rocket launcher.[2]
The MP-40 reappears in the hands of Nazi troops operating out of Castle Brunwald in 1938. At one point, Jones commandeered a Nazi officer's own MP-40 and used it against him and his fellow soldiers, but discarded it after Colonel Vogel held Elsa Schneider at gunpoint. Notably, the MP-40 is not brought along to the Hatay expedition, with the German soldiers using older Bergman MP35/I submachine guns instead.[3]
The MP-40 was used by the SS troops led by Colonel Weber, who were leaving the Nazi Stronghold as it was being bombed by RAF planes in 1944. It is later seen in the hands of Jürgen Voller's Nazi remnant forces in 1969, as they prepared to fly through a time fissure to 1939 Germany. These examples, presumed leftover from the war, were lost amidst the Siege of Syracuse in 214 BC, when their owners were dropped through the plane's bomb doors into the Aegean Sea.[4]
Behind the scenes[]
Appearances of the MP-40 prior to 1938 in the Indiana Jones franchise are anachronistic as they're before the weapon was even developed.
Appearances[]
- Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb
- Raiders of the Lost Ark
- Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
- Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings
- Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
Sources[]
- The World of Indiana Jones
- Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb: Prima's Official Strategy Guide
- Sideshow Collectibles (Pack: Dr. René Belloq 1:6 Scale Figure)
