Bone_Vulture Posted January 20, 2005 Share Posted January 20, 2005 Now, I'm aware that the Half-Life mod "Day of Defeat" certainly isn't the best source for realistic history reference, but I have to be sure. Dear grogs, I assume the pistols were generally issued only to higher officers. Were these sidearms ever given to front troops to serve as a backup weapon? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tarkus Posted January 20, 2005 Share Posted January 20, 2005 Earlier versions of DoD were more realistic on that count. IIRC, only machinegunners and snipers had them. Now everyone carries one, for gameplay reasons. Regulations tends to vary from one army to the next, and in the case of WWII, from one month/year to the next. I'd say the official distribution of handguns was restricted to officers, MP and crews, while picking one up on the battlefield was common practice. Bringing a personnal pistol/revolver is also a common occurence, like 101st troopers prior to D-Day. For specific TO&E though, which is what your question is all about, I can't say . Cheers 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bone_Vulture Posted January 20, 2005 Author Share Posted January 20, 2005 Thanks, that's what I though. DoD needs a secondary firearm for balancing reasons, obviously attempting to arm even a fraction of the on duty infantry with sidearms would've been a waste of resources, when compared to the actual benefit gained. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philippe Posted January 20, 2005 Share Posted January 20, 2005 What I want to know is how common were Mausers as opposed to Lugers or Walthers. I had always been under the impression that Walthers were the most common, followed by Lugers, followed by Mausers. Can anyone comment on this ? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bone_Vulture Posted January 20, 2005 Author Share Posted January 20, 2005 Good question. Any historical sidearm afficianados here? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyD Posted January 20, 2005 Share Posted January 20, 2005 Mauser pistol? Do you mean that ungainly pre-WWI contraption, the broomhandle Mauser 1896? I was under the impression that that pistol was long obsolete by WWII, though occassionally showing up because so many had been made for the Great War. One confusing bit of info - the classic 'Luger' was also a Mauser product so mention of 'Mauser' in the text wouldn't necessarily mean the model 1896. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philippe Posted January 20, 2005 Share Posted January 20, 2005 Juju's small arms mod, of course, shows all three. The Mauser is useful to make sure you've got the mod working correctly because you can tell without looking closely whether it's been installed or not. But I was under the impression that it was a bit of an antique by WWII, and that most officers were armed with Walthers. There were a few Lugers around, and they are very popular in movies with German villains because you can tell at a glance that the weapon is too foreign to be a Browning. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admiral Keth Posted January 20, 2005 Share Posted January 20, 2005 My dad, who landed at Utah beach on D-Day with the 90th ID, picked up a couple of 9mm broomhandle Mausers when he captured a medic and a sergeant in France near Metz. Both weapons are in excellent condition, and even included the wooden holster which attached to the butt of the pistol to act as a shoulder stock. The only deterioration is the inside of the muzzles. According to dad, the materiels used in making primers in Germany at the time were highly corrosive, and it definitely shows. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyD Posted January 20, 2005 Share Posted January 20, 2005 Interesting. But I wonder if 'Atlantic Wall' weaponry would be equivalent to standard-issue German weaponry. The Atlantic Wall also had a fair number of French gun emplacements! German arms inventories could be quite a hodge-podge of scrounged and obsolescent equipment sometimes. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bone_Vulture Posted January 20, 2005 Author Share Posted January 20, 2005 Nah, by the time the Normandy landings took place, all quality German equipment had been shipped to the eastern front. Yeah... I just figured it myself that there was some sort of Luger / Mauser connection, although I previously thought it was by a different manufacturer. And no, I definitely didn't mean the broomhandle models. Quite a clunky sidearm that'd make, eh? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emar Posted January 20, 2005 Share Posted January 20, 2005 The smaller Mauser HSC 7.65 model was used by ranking officers but probably not as often as the Walther PPK. Would not think that too many of these guns ended up in the hands of the common soldier. The broomhandle did crop up from time to time, sometimes in its full auto version which had a detachable 20 round box mag and much too high of a rate of fire. The ammo for the 7.62 version is interchangable with the ammo used by the PPSH submachinegun (although the Soviet round is loaded a little hotter). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Dorosh Posted January 20, 2005 Share Posted January 20, 2005 The P-38 was the intended replacement for the P-08 (Luger) but like the replacement of the MG-34, there was never enough to go around and the two served concurrently to the end of the war. I thought the Mauser was associated with artillery units. There was also an "artillery Luger" with an 8 inch barrel (I think!) as opposed to the normal 4 inch Luger? [ January 20, 2005, 05:21 PM: Message edited by: Michael Dorosh ] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyD Posted January 20, 2005 Share Posted January 20, 2005 Ah, the little effeminate Mauser! Ah yes, you usually see these in war movies being waved around by some rotund Nazi staff officer. Usually meant as a comment on his masculinity 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David I Posted January 20, 2005 Share Posted January 20, 2005 One of the most famous users of the broomhandle Mauser was Winston Churchill. He bought one prior to shipping out with the 21st Lancers to the Sudan. He swore it saved his life when he particpated in the 21st's charge at Obdurmon. It was a "hot numba" in 1898. DavidI 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Streak Posted January 20, 2005 Share Posted January 20, 2005 Hi all, Can someone tell me if they know what pistol Hungarian or Austrian solders would have carried. My Grandfather fought for both sides and i know it was a very small pisol. If anyone could tell me that would be great!! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emar Posted January 20, 2005 Share Posted January 20, 2005 Steyr model 1911 was often used by both Austria and Hungary. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrrich0000 Posted January 20, 2005 Share Posted January 20, 2005 Ah, the little effeminate Mauser! Ah yes, you usually see these in war movies being waved around by some rotund Nazi staff officer. Usually meant as a comment on his masculinityUnless I'm mistaken, the pistol in the illustration in your post is a Walther, not a Mauser. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philippe Posted January 21, 2005 Share Posted January 21, 2005 There's a site on the web that has photographs of most of these things. The link to a Mauser HSc that looks just as effiminate is http://world.guns.ru/handguns/hg103-e.htm and most of our other favorite suspects can be found in the index down the left side of the page. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bone_Vulture Posted January 21, 2005 Author Share Posted January 21, 2005 Now, if someone could come up with the WW2-era production numbers (plus figures of pre-war stockpiles)? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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