Patton 1911

Well, General Douglas MacArthur didn't carry firearms even while touring the battlefield or wading in the surf upon landing in Lingayen Gulf in 1945 and even in Korea.

It was always those faded khakis, 'crushed' cap, Raybans and corncob pipe. Somehow, these made the man and added to his myth.
 
bloodysam:

Well, General Douglas MacArthur didn't carry firearms even while touring the battlefield or wading in the surf upon landing in Lingayen Gulf in 1945 and even in Korea.

It was always those faded khakis, 'crushed' cap, Raybans and corncob pipe. Somehow, these made the man and added to his myth.
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Gen. MacArthur was know to carry a Remington double deringer in .41 R.F.

Bob Wright
 
Mike Irwin:
"The box I have is of Dominion manufacture, dated 1944, and is marked "For use in Colt's New Service Revolver." And they are indeed .45 Colt, loaded with what appears to be 230gr. FMJ. The H/S reads "DC 44" and ".45 Colt" and the box is stamp dated "Jul. 1944" and is the typical twelve round box."

Pictures, please!
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So be it:






Note the crimped "creases" to hold the bullet against recoil in the cylinder.

Bob Wright
 
IMHO, the chances that Patton or any other American had Canadian or British-made .45 Colt FMJ ammunition is so remote as to be impossible.

If the captions on the pictures of Patton are wrong in other aspects, can we assume that the location (Tunisia) is correct? Or did some editor just pull a file photo shot in, say, Texas, and put on the "Tunisia" caption to make it more up-to-date? Would the press do that? Surely not! :rolleyes:

Jim
 
The Tunisia part might very well have been added by military censors as a means of faking out the Germans and Italians.

Not an uncommon occurrence that both hides the true location of the forces in question but also to screw with enemy troop estimates. That was the entire point of FUSAG in the days leading up to the Normandy invasion.

You make a good point about .45 Colt ammo.

But... (isn't there always a but? :) )

A few years ago here someone asked about some old, weird American-made .44 Special ammo he had. Eventually he removed the bullet from the case and melted the lead, and was left with a hard metal cap into which the lead portion of the bullet had been poured during manufacture.

Was that kind of ammo available at this time? I don't know, but it may well have been.

That said, though, I'm still going with my premise that Patton was such the gun guy that he never would have gone into a combat operations area with a .22 as his sidearm.
 
he never would have gone into a combat operations area with a .22 as his sidearm.
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I agree that is a completely reasonable assumption. Patton had been in personal combat in Mexico, and in France before WWII, so I think he would have made a logical choice for a combat sidearm.

Also he was an Olympic class shooter, who was probably robbed of a medal by a judge's decision that he missed a shot, rather than accept what likely happened, two bullets went through the same hole.

SO, yes, I'd think he knew what it was all about.

On the other hand, if I'm in an assembly area, 40 miles behind the front, or if I'm in Texas, and there are rabbits, or other small game about, I might just pack a .22 for that trip. And, might even be wearing it when some photographer wanders by....

Rommel, and some aides, on at least one occasion hunted gazelle with an 8mm rifle while in Afrika. I could find no details on the specific rifle or ammo used, other than the mention of its caliber.

During the opening of the Battle of the Bulge, some senior Army commanders (not looking it up right now) weren't at their HQs, a couple were in Liege, getting "fitted" for shotgun stocks at FN....

Generals, pretty much, do as they please in lots of things....
 
Howdy

I just want to mention that in the movie, George C Scott is not firing at fighters. Those are Heinkel He 111 bombers he is firing at. The same pair of planes shows up in several scenes.

I always heard it was the 1903 Colt Hammered Pocket Pistol Scott brandished against the planes in the movie, not the Hammerless model. The Hammered model was a bit more obscure, firing the 38 ACP round (not the 380 ACP round).

If it was a Model 1903 or a Model 1908 Hammerless the actor was brandishing, it would certainly be impossible to tell them apart in an action scene.

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And for the record, the scene in the movie with Patton firing at the oncoming planes is pure Hollywood.

There really was a meeting where a British officer confidently assured Patton that they had air superiority over the Germans just as German planes attacked. But Patton did not jump out in the street and start firing. That is pure Hollywood.
 
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Mike Irwin, I have more respect for officers who lead by example. Kinda sounds like Patton used the principle of, "do as I say, not as I do".

Driftwood, thanks for the clarification on the aircraft.
 
While we're being specific, the planes featured in the Patton movie were Spanish Air Force CASA 2.111s, a Merlin-powered Heinkel variant that was still in service in the '70s!
They also featured, along with Spanish-built, Merlin-powered "Messerschmitts" in The Battle of Britain.
Some people accuse Patton of not being concerned enough about casualties, but Patton's theory was that the ultimate means of reducing casualties was to end the war as quickly as possible.
He believed that the war could have been ended in the Winter of '44-'45, if resources had been allocated differently.
 
On the other hand, if I'm in an assembly area, 40 miles behind the front, or if I'm in Texas, and there are rabbits, or other small game about, I might just pack a .22 for that trip. And, might even be wearing it when some photographer wanders by....
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I think that hits the nail on the head. That and the amount of diseased dogs running around in Northern Africa, cleaning up the battlefields. I doubt humans were ever his intended target with that .22
 
Regarding the Hollywood actor and firearms gifted by Gen. Patton...

An early 90's article in Guns and Ammo magazine stated that Patton was friends with, IIRC, actor George Montgomery and his wife--can't remember her name but she was a minor starlet involved in USO-type shows. The wife was still alive at the time the article was written. She still possessed the firearms in question and the article profiled the guns, which I think were a FN P-35 Hi-Power, a Colt Woodsman and I believe a Colt SAA as well.
 
This is one of the most enjoyable threads I've ever seen at TFL.
Thank you, posters and mods, for letting it just run its course, staying somewhat on topic even as it has meandered. :)
 
"On the other hand, if I'm in an assembly area, 40 miles behind the front..."

As a proponent of the kind of fast-moving, armored-based warfare used so effectively by the Germans at the start of the war, not to mention the airborne capabilities of most of the major combatants, I don't think Patton would think, for a moment, that there would actually be a rear area truly safe from engagement.

I still think the photo was taken at the Desert Training Center in California...
 
George Montgomery was married to Dinah Shore at the time.
The book Fired in Anger has a good chapter on Patton's handguns.
 
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