Who did Tommy steal the guns from? An Expert History of the Peaky Blinders‘ Infamous Gunrunning Raid

As any fan of the hit show Peaky Blinders knows, one of the most pivotal moments in the series comes when Tommy Shelby and his gang get their hands on a huge stash of illegal guns and ammunition. But where did these weapons come from originally? And how did the real-life Peaky Blinders operate on the streets of Birmingham?

As a history buff and weapons enthusiast, I decided to take a deeper dive into the fascinating true story behind the guns that helped turn the Shelbys into one of Birmingham‘s most formidable crime organisations. Here‘s the inside scoop friends, grab a pint and settle in!

The Real Peaky Blinders – Gangsters of Birmingham

First, let‘s rewind a bit and talk about the actual Peaky Blinders gang that inspired the show. Emerging in the late 1800s, the Peaky Blinders were one of many urban youth gangs that dominated England‘s streets back in those wilder days.

Getting their distinct name from the razor blades they stitched into their flat cap peaks, the Peaky Blinders terrorised working-class neighbourhoods in Birmingham through the 1890s to 1910s. Their members were largely sons of impoverished families, many of whom were immigrants or of Romani gypsy descent.

With factories booming during the industrial revolution, Birmingham rapidly expanded into one of England‘s largest and most overcrowded cities. Slum neighbourhoods sprouted up, and with them came poverty, disease, and plenty of disaffected youths turning to crime and violence.

Historical records show the actual Peaky Blinders were involved in everything from robbery, protection rackets, and street brawls to beatings, stabbings, and extortion of local businesses. Though romanticised on the show, make no mistake – the real Blinders were vicious hooligans!

Post-WWI Birmingham – A Criminal‘s Paradise

Fast forward to 1919, the period when the fictional Thomas "Tommy" Shelby (loosely based on a real Peaky Blinder of the same name) returns home after serving in World War I. With the war over, Birmingham is now a hotbed of unemployment, unrest, and uncertainty.

UK unemployment surged over 10% in the war‘s aftermath. Birmingham was especially hard hit, with many of its metalworking and arms factories shutting down. This left thousands offormer soldiers like Tommy Shelby jobless and disillusioned.

Crime rates spiked in Birmingham in the early 1920s. Police reports from the time show arrests for robbery and assault doubled from pre-war years. The streets were flooded with firearms previously used in the war. With many men turning to crime to get by, gangs like the Peaky Blinders thrived.

For someone like Tommy Shelby looking to establish control over Birmingham‘s underworld, the lawless chaos of the city in 1919-1922 was a criminal‘s paradise. All that was needed was a steady supply of weapons to ensure the Peaky Blinders could conquer rival gangs.

The Devastating Lewis Light Machine Gun

Now onto the centrepiece of Shelby‘s arsenal – the Lewis light machine gun. When Tommy‘s men accidentally stole 25 of these from the BSA factory, it was a monumental development for the gang.

Weighing under 30 pounds, the gas-operated Lewis gun provided high mobility and could be fired from the hip when fitted with a sling. Fed by a large 47-round pan magazine, it could spit out up to 600 .303 rounds per minute in fully automatic mode.

This gave the Lewis far more firepower than standard rifles and pistols of World War I. A single Lewis gun could mow down dozens of enemies in seconds with suppressive automatic fire. Their formidable stopping power and range up to 800m outgunned anything rivals could muster.

With devastating Lewis guns in hand, the Peaky Blinders could now effectively wield the dominant firepower needed to conquer the criminal underworld of Birmingham.

Tommy‘s Tools of the Trade

In addition to the stolen Lewis machine guns, Tommy Shelby‘s crew used a variety of pistols and shotguns typical of the early 20th century urban gangster. These included:

• Webley Revolvers – .455 caliber six-shot British service revolver. Standard sidearm of British forces in WWI. Packing a punch at close range.

• Browning 1903 Hammerless – Sleek American .32 ACP semi-automatic pistol. Favored compact concealed carry sidearm of the era.

• Winchester 1897 Trench Gun – Pump-action 12 gauge shotgun with five-round tube. WWI trench broom used for devastating stopping power.

• Mauser C96 "Broomhandle" – German 7.63mm semi-auto pistol with 10-round box magazine and very high muzzle velocity for the time.

With this deadly arsenal at their disposal, the Peaky Blinders became one of the best-armed criminal gangs in Britain.

Hiding the Stolen Guns in Danny Whizz-Bang‘s Grave

When the authorities came hunting for the stolen guns, Tommy arranged for them to be secretly buried in the grave of his friend and comrade Danny Whizz-Bang. This was a clever tactic used by gangs and smugglers of the time to stash contraband.

Only Tommy‘s most trusted men knew the location of the guns cache, keeping it safely hidden right under the noses of the police as they frantically searched Birmingham. This allowed the Blinders to recover them at will when needed to battle rivals.

The IRA – Birmingham‘s Other Notorious Gun Runners

As highlighted in the show, Birmingham‘s munitions factories were also targeted by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) to procure guns to send back to Ireland.

This reflected real IRA operations that took place, especially during the Irish War of Independence (1919-1921). With Birmingham a hub for arms production, both for WWI and the British Empire, IRA operatives saw its factories as ideal places to raid for firearms to smuggle back home.

While not shown directly, the IRA likely used tactics similar to the Peaky Blinders by recruiting local Irish sympathisers working in the factories to identify opportunities to steal weapons and smuggle them out of the facilities. The IRA gun running operations through English factories like BSA sought to supply Irish guerilla fighters with firearms as they intensified their resistance against British rule.

Tommy Shelby – Ruthless Gang Lord of Birmingham

While the real Thomas Shelby was just one of many Peaky Blinders gang members, the fictional Shelby brothers have become the criminal kings of 1920s Birmingham.

With razor-sharp intelligence and strategic cunning, Tommy Shelby built an underworld empire by seizing control of the city‘s gambling, prostitution and protection rackets. His master stroke was acquiring those Lewis machine guns, which enabled the Shelbys to swiftly eliminate rivals like Billy Kimber.

Yet Tommy Shelby is more than just a cold-hearted gangster. As a decorated WWI veteran haunted by PTSD, he displays moments of empathy and complexity amidst his violent criminal deeds. This combination of brutality and humanity, flaw and virtue make him one of the most riveting anti-heroes I‘ve seen.

The Guns That Built a Crime Empire

As a Peaky Blinders fan and military historian, I find the storyline around Tommy Shelby‘s BSA gun heist and rise to power in Birmingham‘s 1920s underworld especially fascinating. That one robbery granted his gang an overwhelming firepower advantage over their rivals.

Access to automatic Lewis guns, pistols, shotguns and ammunition catapulted the fictional Shelbys from a street gang into a paramilitary organised crime outfit. The stolen BSA guns directly enabled them to defeat the racetrack gangs, conquer the city‘s underworld districts, and expand their criminal empire.

So in Tommy‘s expert hands, those illicit weapons stolen on the sly from an unguarded Birmingham factory became the tools that allowed his ambitions of underworld domination to be realised. A chilling example of how access to the right guns at the right time can radically transform the balance of power!

Well chums, I don‘t know about you, but dissecting the riveting gun-running exploits of the Peaky Blinders has me ready to rewatch some episodes! Getting to analyze this fascinating blend of fact and fiction has been quite the little history lesson. Hopefully you feel like you learned a thing or two about Britain‘s criminal underworld in the early 1920s. So until next time, cheerio!