Adolf Meissler

Knight Adolf Hugo Meissler CC OC (July 19, 1899 – February 2, 1981) was a Yonderian military officer and self-taught small arms designer. Fascinated with toggle-lock design, of the more than 50 weapons Meissler personally designed, he is best known for his MM-26 submachine gun, PM-30 pistol, FA-36 heavy anti-tank rifle and FC-43 rifle all of which saw extensive and succesful employment with the Yonderian Defence Force and abroad. Meissler served 45 years with the Yonderian Defence Force, 23 of which were as an officer of the Army Procurement Command. Meissler retired from the YDF aged 62 in 1961 as a Major General and lived out his remaining life in Toubourg authoring a number of books on small arms design and mechanical engineering.

Biography
Adolf Hugo Meissler was born July 19, 1899 in Sainte-Catherine, Yonderre, to machinist Alfred Meissler and his wife Martine. The eldest of the Meisslers' five children, Adolf left school aged thirteen in 1912 and began working in the same tinsmithing machine shop as his father. Meissler was conscripted by the Yonderian Army in 1916 and signed a contract to remain with the army following his mandatory service in 1918. Serving with the 3rd Infantry Division, Meissler trained for and served as a small arms engineer due to his background as an experienced machinist. Meissler began drawing up blueprints for new small arms in his spare time and even created some prototypes during this time. Meissler married three times in this period, first to Anne Graustein in 1917 with whom he divorced in 1919, then Marie Charpenteuer in 1921 whom he also divorced in 1924 and finally Simone vom Berg with whom he was married until her death in 1978.

Meissler presented a working prototype of what would become the MM-26 submachine gun to Army Procurement Command in 1924. Meissler was awarded a research grant to continue his work on the submachine gun that was subsequently accepted for service in 1926. In 1929 Meissler and the Ministry of Defence signed two important contracts regarding Meissler's economic compensation for his work and other benefits, employing him effectively to work exclusively for the Yonderian state. It also gave the government the rights to produce, use and sell his designs as it saw fit. A pistol design Meissler had been working on since the early 1920s was adopted by the Yonderian Defence Force in 1930 as the PM-30. In 1935 Meissler was entasked with developing a cheaper alternative to the 47mm Carneaux anti-tank gun, the result of which was accepted into service in 1936 as the FA-36 heavy anti-tank rifle. Meissler submitted his design for a roller-delayed gas-operated semi-automatic rifle for YDF trials in 1942 which was accepted into service as the FC-43 after some minor tweaking.

Meissler served as an officer of the Army Procurement Command from 1938-1961 when he retired as a Major General. Meissler and his wife Simone retired to a large cottage outside Toubourg in Amarre County, Yonderre, where she died in 1978. Adolf Meissler died February 2, 1981, in Toubourg University Hospital.

Awards

 * Yonderre Knight's Cross of the Order of Joanus
 * Yonderre Order of the Kestrel
 * Yonderre Order of the Shield
 * Yonderre Order of the Sentinel
 * Yonderre Dutiful Service Award for 12 years (1928), 25 years (1941), 35 years (1951), 45 years (1961)