>>The Luger is more of a high-end target shooter's firearm than a soldier's sidearm. The K98 rifle is another example of the irrational nostalgia for traditional, out-dated weapons the Germans harbored. What a contradiction: the modern blitzkreig coupled with antiquated and expensive small arms.<<
It is very important to remember that the German Nazis were the most hopeless romantics of the 20th century. Their chosen weapons reflected this. Look at the endemic romantic nature of the leading National Socialists: They loved to wear swords and daggers, as well as march around in capes while bearing medieval banners. Goering once showed up for a staff meeting dressed as a medieval warrior bearing a spear. They also had to of been the most hardcore conservatives of the century, pining for the time of the romantic knights and overlords of Medieval Europe. Even with modern machinery available, they insisted that the laborers of the Autobahn for the first year used “good old fashioned manual labor” such as with picks and shovels. I have often speculated that this is one of the reasons that the Nazis were so messed up in the head: they were romantic fools who lived in another age.
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