How many soldiers did carry handguns?

08-01-2001, 02:14 PM

According to my calculations (mainly from Jan Still's "Axis Pistols") the Germans had approx 2.2 million 9mm pistols during the course of WWII. In addition they had approx 1.3 million 7.65 mm pistols during the war for a total of 3.5 million service pistols. I have seen published the figure of a total of about 15 million men under arms for the Germans during the war (this would include police,para-military and all armed services...volkstrum etc...) That would translate to roughly 25% of Germans under arms carrying or at least owning a pistol. Every officer (including and Doctors and at least in some cases Chaplains!) by regulation owned a pistol (or if they simply did not want buy one, they were issued one). Most all NCO's, crew served weapon personnel, mounted vehicle personnel and some other positions. Hope this helps in gaining some perspective on pistol use and extent.

08-01-2001, 02:14 PM	#13
BCC Guest Posts: n/a	Some Numbers may help According to my calculations (mainly from Jan Still's "Axis Pistols") the Germans had approx 2.2 million 9mm pistols during the course of WWII. In addition they had approx 1.3 million 7.65 mm pistols during the war for a total of 3.5 million service pistols. I have seen published the figure of a total of about 15 million men under arms for the Germans during the war (this would include police,para-military and all armed services...volkstrum etc...) That would translate to roughly 25% of Germans under arms carrying or at least owning a pistol. Every officer (including and Doctors and at least in some cases Chaplains!) by regulation owned a pistol (or if they simply did not want buy one, they were issued one). Most all NCO's, crew served weapon personnel, mounted vehicle personnel and some other positions. Hope this helps in gaining some perspective on pistol use and extent.