In Literary, common usage, usage up through the forty's, Europeans referred to multi round pistols as revolvers; that is to say, more than the standard single or double shot of an earlier era.
As for war trophies, I grew up in the 50's the son of a career army officer. What I learned was that R.E.M.F'ers and occupatioon troops gathered the trophies...witness the percentage of full matched rig police lugers to army pistols. It's because the police didn't go to the front. They were local and followed the dictates of the military governor; they turned in their arms. These arms dumps (which included sporting guns), were subsequently made available to occuping troops prior to rotation, to shop.
My father fought the Japs in the Phillipines, New Guinea and again the Phillipines and mailed only two trophies home. The first was a personal studio photo of a Jap officer, on the back of which he noted to my grandmother "he's a good jap now" and the second, a Jap officer's stamp album, which he sent to FDR, who was a stamp collector. My mother was mortified that Dad would send anything to FDR (she was a Republican and still trying to deal with the trauma of income tax). Dad brought nothing back except himself. All his friends, who got me started collecting guns, collected all their booty,not when in combat, but rather as occupiers. These guys were West Pointers, VMI types and mustangs.
I just wanted to vent my spleen here. I have come across too many old geezers, supposed combat troops, who say they took this or that off a German officer they killed. As I learned from those who knew, when I was in the army 69-73, combat troops seldom strip the dead.
To demonstrate my point, I once was directed to a seventy-some year old vet in West Virginia who had a luger to sell. When I found him, he offered a super ac41 P-38 in a luger holster which had been embellished with a Nazi Police hat eagle mounted on the flap. He affirmed to me that that was the way the officers carried them and that was how you knew it was an officer's pistol. He also had a super PP which had remained loaded since 45 or 46 and the mag spring was shot as well as the load indicator pin.
When some achieve or sacrifice, others perhaps due to unwarrented guilt, find it neccessary to pretend.
By the way, when I was in the Army 69-73, I was stationed in the FRG defending the other frontier of freedom.
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