| The MP40 is descended from the MP36, prototype made of machined steel, of which only two examples remain. The MP36 prototype was developed independently by Erma's Berthold Geipel with funding of the German army. It was based on Heinrich Vollmer's VPM 1930 and EMP. Vollmer then worked on Berthold Geipel's MP 36 and submitted in 1938 a prototype to answer a request from the German Armament services for a new submachine gun. It was adopted as MP38. The MP38 was a simplification of the MP36, as the MP40 was later a simplification of the MP38, the differences being in cost-saving alterations, especially the use of more pressed rather than machined parts. The changes resulted from experiences with the several thousand MP38s in service since 1939, used during the invasion of Poland. The changes were incorporated into an intermediate version, the MP38/40, and then used in the initial MP40 production version. Just over 1 million would be made of all versions in the course of the war. The MP40 was often called the 'Schmeisser' by the Allies, after weapons designer Hugo Schmeisser. Hugo Schmeisser himself did not design the MP40 but held a patent on the magazine. He designed the MP41 which was a MP40 with an old-fashioned wooden rifle stock and a selector. The MP 41 was not a service weapon in Germany. | 
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