STEN
(sten)
1.
A light rapid-fire British submachine gun
2.
Anna Sten: Ukrainian-born Russian silent film actress and later a
Hollywood film star
Common
clues: British gun; Tommy's gun; WWII gun; Submachine gun;
British weapon; Gun introduced in 1941; Anna of “Nana”;
Actress Anna; Old-time actress Anna
Crossword
puzzle frequency:
6 times a year
Frequency
in English language:
77441 / 86800
Video:
Fun
with Old Guns
It's
men who make women whatever they are. – Anna Sten
The
Carbine, Machine, Sten
or Sten
gun
was a British submachine gun from World War II, notable for its
simple design and low cost of production, being made from only 47
different parts. It was even cheaper and more spartan than the
German MP38/MP40, the previous benchmark in the field of
mass-produced infantry weapons. The simplest version of the Sten
gun, the Mark III, required only five man-hours to produce. It
was distinctive for its bare appearance (just a pipe with a metal
loop for a stock), and its horizontally-orientated magazine. The
name Sten is an acronym, deriving from the names of the weapon's
chief designers, Major Reginald Sheperd
and Harold Turpin,
with the EN
derived from "ENfield", the location of the Royal Small
Arms Factory (ROF) at Enfield Lock in London.
The
Sten gun was chambered for the 9 x 19 mm Parabellum pistol
cartridge, in part so as to make use of captured German
ammunition supplies. The Sten was small and could be stripped
down into a set of innocuous components, and was therefore
particularly suited to partisan operations on the continent.
Guerilla fighters in western and Eastern Europe became adept at
repairing, modifying and eventually scratch-building clones of
the Sten (over 2000 Stens and about 500 of similar Blyskawica
SMGs were manufactured in occupied Poland). It was often
disparaged by soldiers for its inaccuracy, due to very basic
sights, and stoppages due to the design of its magazine.
Furthermore, it was prone to accidental discharge if dropped or
knocked. The design was continually improved throughout the war,
and the Mark V version, introduced in 1944, remained an issue
weapon in the UK until well into the 1960s. It was replaced with
the more conventional Sterling SMG which had also been introduced
in small numbers in 1944 (under the name of its inventor,
Patchett) and which started to be phased into service in quantity
in 1953.
The
Sten was a panic measure, designed at a time when Britain was
facing imminent danger of being invaded by the Nazis. Prior to
1941 the British army had purchased Thompson submachine guns from
America, but these were expensive and supplies were vulnerable to
U-Boat attack. In order to rapidly equip a sufficient fighting
force to counter the German threat, the Royal Ordnance Factory
Enfield was commissioned to produce a radically cheaper
alternative.
Anna
Sten (December 3, 1908 – November 12, 1993) was a
Ukrainian-born Russian silent film actress and later a Hollywood
film star.
She
began her career in stage plays and films in Russia, before
traveling to Germany, where she starred in several films. Her
success in German films was noticed by the producer Samuel
Goldwyn, who brought her to the United States with the aim of
creating a new screen personality to rival the popularity of
Greta Garbo. After a few unsuccessful films, Goldwyn released her
from her contract.
She
continued to act occasionally until her final film appearance in
1962.
This
article is licensed under the GNU
Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the Wikipedia
article "Sten"
and “Anna
Sten”.
STEN
(319) 75 We- >1 09 British gun BREN
23
Tu+ >1 07 Anna of "Nana"
20
Tu+ >1 08 British submachine gun
15
We- >1 06 British carbine
14
We- >1 09 Tommy's gun
13
We >1 07 British weapon BREN
11
Mo >1 98 "Nana" star Anna
10
We+ NYT 08 W.W. II gun
10
We >1 05 WWII gun
08
"Nana" star
7
Th- >1 00 WWII weapon
5
Th >1 09 British machine gun BREN
5
We+ >1 01 Light submachine gun
5
Th- >1 01 Submachine gun BREN
3
Th- >1 95 Actress Anna
3
We- >1 07 Anna of Nana
3
Th+ >1 03 Arm of the British military?
3
Fr- >1 06 British shooter
3
Th WSJ 09 Nine-millimetre gun
3
Th >1 01 Uzi relative
3
Th- >1 03 W.W. II weapon
3
We- >1 09 WWII submachine gun
3
We CSy 05 World War II carbine
2
We CSy 07 "Where Eagles Dare" carbine
2
We CSy 03 "Where Eagles Dare" gun
es
Dare" gun
|