Very true that soldiers who weren’t issued handguns often wanted them. Back when the US military permitted soldiers to take souvenier weapons, captured handguns were highly sought after items. They were not only cool souveniers, but also a desirable weapon.
As I understand it, the rules on souveniers are now very strict and captured weapons are more-or-less completely forbidden.
IMHO officers were issued with pistols more for the risk of mutiny/refusal to obey an order then to actually use against the enemy.
As stated upthread inWW1 British officers after a while started carrying rifles in the big attacks because they looked more like the rest of the men.
They had previously suffered disproportionate losses on quite a heavy scale when they were identifiable as officers.
Ouch - The Longest Day is not always that bloody reliable in the first place. With the other cites here, I guess I’ll have to admit my faulty memory.
I’m sure that’s the case. The IDF has always had a practical outlook on things.
As souvenirs. The Luger has very highly in demand as a souvenir. My Dad told of a dude coming from the European front to New Guinia who had one, and being offered a samurai sword and a couple of Nambu’s for it. Samurai swords were the hot souvenir in the Pacific.
Note the Gen Omar Bradley routinely carried a M1 carbine for a good % of WWII, when he was out in the field.
At Normandy, there should have been quite a few dropped weapons from casualties, should a General need one.
My Dad was in a HQ unit in the Pacific front, and most dudes in his unit carried pistols, carbines or Thompsons. Dad had to scavenge for a Garand, he claimed it was the best infantry weapon the time. He claimed the Grease gun was a piece of crap, but the M1 Carbine was well-liked.
That shooting mutineers thing is something that has always puzzled me. I realize that it did, in fact, occur in many armies in both World Wars. The puzzling part is why a soldier with a rifle or submachine gun and possibly a couple grenades would allow himself to be shot down by a guy with a pistol…especially when you consider the pipsqueak handgun cartridges that many military issue pistols used at the time. Anything short of a brain-penetrating headshot from an officers pistol should have generated an immediate response in kind from a full-powered rifle or a burst from an smg.
The Smith and Wesson Model 59 was designed for a Navy spec and was issued briefly to SEAL’s as a suppressed, high-cap 9mm.
Of course, that was during the Vietnam conflict so please forgive my going slightly OT.
I don’t know what you’re talking about. For one thing, the standard U.S. pistol round at that time was the .45 ACP, which isn’t exactly a pipsqueak as those things go. Secondly, a submachine gun fires pistol ammunition. I have shot a Thompson submachine gun a few times - it uses that same .45 ACP cartridge.
In general, at close range, any of these bullets will leave you just as dead.
I wasn’t limiting things to just the US, especially since we weren’t known for shooting mutineers during the World Wars. The countries that did, like Italy, Japan, and the Soviet Union for example, didn’t issue .45 caliber pistols. The Italians used such “powerhouses” as the 9mm Glisenti, the .32 acp and the .380 acp. The Japanese used the feeble 8mm Nambu. The Soviets were still issuing the lackluster 7.62mm Nagant in large numbers.
Point taken. But I don’t know that mutiny was the danger here - desertion and cowardice was. And a man who was too afraid to fight the dreaded enemy would probably be too afraid to shoot a fellow countryman.
Didn’t the Germans execute any GI who was caught with a Luger? Or is that just a UL or propaganda?
I am guessing that’s mostly a UL.
My grandfather came home with a German Luger pistol. My sister has it now.
Apparently, sergeants in cavalry divisions had them in WWII…
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http://www.awon.org/willie/wj3.JPG
I can just picture her with it as one of her “accessories”. 
Definitely an Urban Legend; the only (combat) personnel the Germans would (officially) summarily execute were captured British Commandos, but war being what is there were a lot of “shot whilst trying to escapes” (on both sides) and so on, but generally it had nothing to do with the sidearms the captured soldiers had on their person.
The Germans made extensive use of captured handguns (and longarms) during WWII, and Lugers weren’t actually as common during WWII as popular culture and received wisdom would have you believe- the standard issue German sidearm during WWII was the Walther P-38, although they were still making Lugers, and later on in the war the Germans were using pretty much anything they could get their hands on. The Mauser C96 saw quite a bit of use with both the Germans and the Russians during WWII.
Also, Lugers are notoriously finicky guns, and not all that well suited to combat use.
I have joked about it. In WWII they plundered for souveniers, banged nurses and French broads two at a time, and had canteens full of whiskey. And we call them the Greatest Generation. Now you can’t drink, have sex or take trophies. How do they expect us to win a war?
I own a P-38. It is a factory refurbished model from 1964. It’s a nice solid gun. Fun to shoot. But the Lugar looks cooler.
They also jam if you use the wrong ammo or get them dirty.
The Luger does have a narrow range of ammunition that it likes. Ammo that duplicates German WWI-era military specs with respect to pressure, bullet weight, and bullet profile is to be preferred. The Luger isn’t a piece that lets you shoot whatever ammo you found for cheap. IME, the Luger is like the M-16 WRT cleaning. They do operate best when kept clean, but the amount of cleaning required is often overstated.
I will never_ever_forgive myself for not buying a WWI bringback Luger about 10 years ago. It was a long barrelled model with shoulder stock and drum magazine. I ran across it in an antiques shop. It was with a bunch of other stuff on consignment from an estate. I inquired about the price and the lady told me “the family said they can’t let pappy’s gun go for less than $1100.” I didn’t have that much cash in my pocket at the time and didn’t want to put it on a credit card so I passed. What a retard!:smack:
I know this has already been debunked here, but the legend doesn’t even make sense. A Garand en bloc clip is basically a molded piece of steel which can hold exactly eight rounds. If you take one round out, the clip loses tension and all the others fall out. And ammo was always issued to GI’s already loaded in clips, since loading one by hand is a giant pain in the ass, even when you’re not being shot at. So having 8 guys each pop one round out of a clip leaves 56 unusable rounds.