With the Germans, usually as you went up in rank, the pistols got smaller. "Officers" didn't want to carry a heavy gun. Many GI's thought a German was an "Officer" because the Huns wore their Medals/Decorations on their combat uniforms, and most German ranks were hard to distinguish, compared to Allied ranks. (Obersturmbannfuhrer?Hauptbereitschaftsleiter?)Plus, of course, it makes a better story than "I took it off a big pile of surrendered/captured weapons", not very exciting. But we have a number of photos of heaps of captured weapons with GI's/Tommies rooting through them. In some cases, they have multiple pistols. (That must have been fun for a guy that liked guns.)
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