Sgt. Alvin York and the Luger
 

His is a great story and the movie is one of my favorite movies.

From "Classic Handguns of the 20th Century" by David Arnold:

"There is an unsubstantiated claim that the American World War I hero Sgt. Alvin York used a liberated Luger in his final shootout with a German squad of soldiers instead of a 1911 45 Pistol."

If true, now that's a gun I would pay anything for. Funny some guy probably has it as a shooter somewhere and no one even knows it is the gun York used.

Clark

I believe that claim is the result of a movie made many, many years ago. They had problems getting a blank-firing 1911 to work, so they substituted it with a luger in the movie. I guess that image stuck :)

that would sound about right, but who knows.

Vlim is correct.

"Originally, Sgt. Alvin York used his M1911 sidearm while taking cover in a crater, gunned down six Germans with his M1911 pistol, firing back to front like he hunted turkeys but M1911 Pistols were difficult to covert to blanks at the time of filming so they simply had Cooper liberate Luger P08 off of a dead German soldier. Cooper having met York initially refused to shoot the scene with the Luger, but was told because of timing they needed to shoot the scene with the weapon, and was promised they'd re-shoot the scene with the M1911, but this never happened."

http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Sergeant_York

Very cool clarifications, gentlemen. Glad I didn't run out and buy a fake! LOL

Gary, That's quite a Website. This page:

http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Luger_P08

lists all the "appearances" of the Luger P.08!

Marc

Did you guys know that York wasn't carrying a M1903 Springfield rifle, but a M1917 American Enfield Rifle?

CavScout,

I've heard before that his weapon was not an '03; but, - and I don't know, just asking - was it an Enfield or a M1917 Remington? In any case, great hero, great story, and Mr. Cooper did a great job in the movie. :thumbup:

Regards,

John

I was just watching a TV program this morning on the History Channel called "10 Greatest Shootouts". It was hosted by Will from "Sons of Guns" and Rich from "American Guns".
Pretty interesting,they talked about the Sgt York story. I think they claimed he used a Springfield till he ran out of ammo and then switched to the 1911.
The info I thought was fascinating was about the "Little Bohemia" shootout. This was between the Dillinger gang and the FBI in the 1930's. They where claiming that "Baby Faced Nelson" used a Colt 1911 pistol that had been converted to a submachine gun! It had a Thompson fore grip attached with a 30 round mag. Nelson was one bad dude!
I also liked the segment about "Bonnie and Clyde" Clyde had bobbed his BAR's and used to wear them under his long coat hanging from a shoulder strap. I saw one of these guns at a "Bonnie and Clyde" museum display in San Diego awhile back. Will and Rich claimed this weapon was the reason they escaped from a trap the police had set for them at a motel. They even shot up a armored car to get away! At that same display they also had the Ford"Death Car" that they both died in. Not a pretty sight, it looked like it had been used for a machine gun demo at a SOF convention.
Bob

that bonnie and clyde shoot out was in Joplin Mo. I now live about an hour from the bonnie and clyde ambush site, near gibsland La. . I have visted it an there is just a small marker on the site stating that bonnie and clyde were killed there. They were just small time crooks robbing gas stations and small grocery stores for the most part. never ever scoring much more that a few hundred dollars . Still the were one of texas most sought after murders. Any one in law enforcement , especialy texas dps knew about the parker barrow gang. Years ago i had some dealings with some of the barrow decendents, i will just say they have not changed much over the years. There are several fakes of the ford death car, the certified original is at the texas ranger musem in waco texas, I did get a look at the death certificate on them both, it reads "found in car dead" about as simple as it gets.

I don't think it would have mattered which one he used it would still have been a bad day for the Hun.

That's quite a cool website, but they don't cover it "all." We have them beat in several directions :) http://forum.lugerforum.com/showthre...t=movie+lugers

--Dwight