How many soldiers did carry handguns?

08-02-2001, 04:27 PM

What an interesting topic - there are some great posts here, especially Kyrie's. For my 2 cents. The general rule of thumb is officers make up about 10% of an Army. The German Army has historically been a little light on officers because of its strong reliance upon NCO's. So the 25% -30% count for officers is way out of line.

Not mentioned yet is the fact that a lot of individuals carry both a pistol and another weapon. In most Armies Senior NCO's in combat usually manage to acquier both a side arm and rifle or sub-machine gun. And how many Company Commanders did you see in "Nam who carried just a .45? All of them had M-16 and most, but not all, had a pistol as well.

The point about partisans is well made. In reaction the Germans armed all their own nationals who were working in Occupied Europe with pistols - railroad workers, construction crews, etc. The question is how many pistols did these para-miltary organizations draw off?

08-02-2001, 04:27 PM	#22
Roger Seymour Guest Posts: n/a	Re: How many soldiers did carry handguns? What an interesting topic - there are some great posts here, especially Kyrie's. For my 2 cents. The general rule of thumb is officers make up about 10% of an Army. The German Army has historically been a little light on officers because of its strong reliance upon NCO's. So the 25% -30% count for officers is way out of line. Not mentioned yet is the fact that a lot of individuals carry both a pistol and another weapon. In most Armies Senior NCO's in combat usually manage to acquier both a side arm and rifle or sub-machine gun. And how many Company Commanders did you see in "Nam who carried just a .45? All of them had M-16 and most, but not all, had a pistol as well. The point about partisans is well made. In reaction the Germans armed all their own nationals who were working in Occupied Europe with pistols - railroad workers, construction crews, etc. The question is how many pistols did these para-miltary organizations draw off?