[Dwight Gruber]

Originally posted by mauro
The P08 were used until 1970 by the French gendarmerie (Military police, it is possible to find information about this model in the Official Gendarmerie web site).

http://www.servicehistorique.sga.def...nt/centre1.htm

"Rearmament without standardization

"At the end of WWII, the national police force (Gendarmerie) has in its racks, in addition to its regulation weapons, a goodly number of both allied and enemy arms. It goes without saying that these include the American Thompson and the British Sten machine pistols, but one should not forget German Army weapons as well, such as the MP-38 and MP-40. The source of these weapons is easy to guess: they were either parachuted in as supplies, or captured as spoils of war.

"Of all these weapons only one continued officially in service, the Sten. But if this machine-gun came into service with the Gendarmerie in a 'traditional' way, it was not the same for two future regulation pistols of German origin. These are, of course, the legendary Luger P-08 and Walther P-38, which were in service from 1945 until the early 1970s. The official acceptance of these two pistols into the French army, and particularly the Gendarmerie, came as a result of the capture of weapons at the end of the war. In 1945 the army, under General De Lattre, took over the Mauser factory in Oberndorf.

"Before continuing this story, it is interesting to understand the history and operation of these two pistols.

"The P-08 is an improved version of the pistol designed by Hugo Borchardt. This weapon, in a total break with production of the end of the nineteenth century, was the first truly operational semi-automatic pistol. Among its innovations is its knuckle action, opening after a short recoil. Moreover, for the first time a removable magazine is included in the handle. In 1898, Georg Luger set to improve the model. This work was completed in 1908: in that year the Kaiser decreed that this pistol was to become the ordinance pistol for the troops of Imperial Germany. The knuckle-action of the pistol was retained, and a loaded indicator was included. On the other hand, the toggle lock, grip safety, and positive roller-action opening were eliminated.

"The P-08 was produced for the German army until 1942, the year the Walther P-38 definitively replaced it. The Waltherâ??s design features are simple, but terribly effective:
-double action trigger
-loaded indicator
-decocking safety

"By chance and allied victories, the French army took possession of the Mauser factory in 1945. They were soon disappointedâ??with the exception of a few weapons, the racks were empty. However, there remained cases of unassembled parts.

"The French government ordered the re-opening of the factory and resumption of production, with the profit going to the army under General De Lattre. No new weapons manufacture was undertaken, however; those in charge of the factory were satisfied to assemble guns from the available parts. Thus, thanks to the captured weapons and the lack of French weapons, the Gendarmerie officially used the P-08 and P-38."


If there are any French speakers out there who can improve this translation, particularly in the technical (gun details) and colloquial areas, it will be educational and appreciated.

The translation of the French term used to describe the toggle action is "knuckle", but sometimes is returned as "knee".

--Dwight