Nothing new, Luger accidental death
 

Just sort of thought those folks would have been more careful:

KNIEP, Walter (RK; DKiG)
(1909 - 1944)
SS-Sturmbannf�¼hrer:
Born: 13.12.1909 in Lorenzen/OstpreuÃ??en.
Died: 22.04.1944 after being hit by an .08 Luger pistol round being unloaded by another soldier during firing practice near Thouars, France.
NSDAP-Nr.:/SS-Nr.:
Promotions:
SS-Stubaf.: ; SS-Hstuf.: ;
Assignments:
Kdr. Sturmgesch�¼tz-Abt./SS-Pz.Gren.Div. "Das Reich": 10.1942 - 22.04.1944.
IIa/IIb SS-Division "Reich" (mot.): (03.1942) -
Notes:
According to official reports detailing the peiord 5.07.43 to 17.01.1944, Kniep's Abteilung destroyed 129 Soviet tanks, while itself sustaining only two casualties. Decorations & Awards:
Ritterkreuz des E.K.: 14.08.1943 as SS-Stubaf. u.Kdr. Sturmgesch�¼tz-Abt./SS-Pz.Gren.Div. "Das Reich"/AOK "Kempf"/Heeresgruppe S�¼d, Eastern Front;
Deutsches Kreuz in Gold: 11.11.1941;
1939 EK I: 22.07.1940; 1939 EK II: 3.06.1940;

http://www.geocities.com/~orion47/SS...tubaf_J-L.html
rk

"Died: 22.04.1944 after being hit by an .08 Luger pistol round being unloaded by another soldier during firing practice near Thouars, France."

Well, yeah........ I guess that could be termed "unloading".

Anybody with any combat experience or just service time can tell you stories like this all day--GIs are as dangerous to themselves and each other as any enemy.
Even real professionals have accidents-I know of a SF 03 who dropped a Swedish K and was killed by the discharge. Same-same an E8 with a Thompson
This kind of stuff is not uncommon. "A GI could screw up an iron ball"
I saw somebody who knew better kick a dud M 79 round which wsn't a dud-took his foot off.
I gave him a bad time for doing it so close to where I was standing.

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">Originally posted by MikeP:
<strong>This kind of stuff is not uncommon. "A GI could screw up an iron ball"</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">We always said that if you give a GI an anvil and a 9 pound rubber hammer, he'd either break the anvil or steal it.

I was up close and personal with several "accidents" in Vietnam, first was on a mine clearing operation, a grunt security squad was on our left flank, one was carrying his rifle like a squirrel hunter, it went off and hit the searchlight between the tank commander and me. Second time a M79 dude slipped in the mud climbing up on a rice paddy dike, it went off and hit a SSG in the hip, didn't explode but broke the guy's leg. Third time we set up in the dark in the woods, heard movement, one of McNamara's 100,000 threw a grendae, it hit a bamboo thicket and bounced back, two wounded. Add the slam fires, grenades pulled off LBE, etc. You could get hurt.

rk