A British paratrooper wields a Sten gun during the D-Day invasion of Normandy. (U.K. Ministry of Defense photo)

It was a weapon that didn’t get any respect – at least as far as its nicknames are concerned.

In fact, some were downright insulting.  The more printable epithets include “The Woolworth Special,” “The Plumbers Delight” and “The Stench Gun.”

But there’s no doubt about it: The Sten gun was one of the most widely used submachine guns of World War II, even if it did look like it was made from leftover pieces of plumbing.

Alan Lee, a member of the Parachute Regiment during the war, said the weapon was best used for close-quarters combat.  In a section of 10 men in the Paras, Lee said, the sergeant and corporal always carried a Sten gun as did most of the officers.

“When you went into a village or went into a house, whatever it was, it was a reliable weapon,” he said in a video interview that is part of an oral history of World War II compiled by the National Army Museum in London. “It wasn’t a reliable instrument for anything over 100 yards, but for anything close-quarters, it was very reliable.”

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