An historical question.

unspellable · 04-30-2007, 11:39 AM

If I have it straight, officers were not issued side arms at all; they were expected to buy their own. For the top brass it was more a badge of rank than a practical weapon, hence the prevalence of mouse guns.

I seem to recall that there was a program that allowed non-coms to buy their issued side arm when promoted to officer ranks.

The Luftewaffe issued drillings to some aircrews in Africa as a survival weapon. I'm not sure what the thinking was on just how you would end up on foot with the drilling. These drillings had two 12 ga barrels and a 9.3x74R barrel so were suitable for protection against four legged critters.

As for capturing generals, my mother worked for a guy who was in the underground in the Baltic states and actually did capture a general at the tail end of the war. How ever, in this case the general had a sword and no pistol at all. The general came down the road on horseback at dusk and our guy jumped out of the bushes with a rifle. The general surrendered without a fuss. This was close enough to the end that things were getting pretty confused.

04-30-2007, 11:39 AM	#6
unspellable User Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Iowa Posts: 769 Thanks: 0 Thanked 20 Times in 12 Posts	Issue? If I have it straight, officers were not issued side arms at all; they were expected to buy their own. For the top brass it was more a badge of rank than a practical weapon, hence the prevalence of mouse guns. I seem to recall that there was a program that allowed non-coms to buy their issued side arm when promoted to officer ranks. The Luftewaffe issued drillings to some aircrews in Africa as a survival weapon. I'm not sure what the thinking was on just how you would end up on foot with the drilling. These drillings had two 12 ga barrels and a 9.3x74R barrel so were suitable for protection against four legged critters. As for capturing generals, my mother worked for a guy who was in the underground in the Baltic states and actually did capture a general at the tail end of the war. How ever, in this case the general had a sword and no pistol at all. The general came down the road on horseback at dusk and our guy jumped out of the bushes with a rifle. The general surrendered without a fuss. This was close enough to the end that things were getting pretty confused.