WWII Bring Back Gun From German Officer?

Sorry, Mike for not being clear.

I did not say that 9mm Kurz (.380 ACP) was unobtainable in Germany; there were thousands of pistols of that caliber in civilian hands in Germany, and ammo was as close as the nearest gun shop. What I said was that 9mm Kurz ammo was not in the German military or police supply system, not that it could not be obtained on the commercial market. (I don't know if commercial ammo manufacturing continued during the war, but if so it was probably on a very limited basis, as in the US.)

It would have been the same situation as an American GI carrying a personal Colt in .38 Super; he could probably get ammo, but not through his unit supply room.

FWIW, as I understand, nations at war exchange (through a neutral country) information on uniforms, standard issue weapons and ammo. So the Germans would have known (if they bothered to check) that the .38 Super Colt was not an authorized weapon and my hypothetical GI could have been shot if captured with it.

Jim
 
You're missing my point, Jim. As Germany expanded its war reach, pistols in 9mm Kurz BECAME part of the officially sanctioned military issue, and ammunition was procured to supply those individuals who were so armed.

They had to, because there was a desperate need for handguns, especially in the later years of the war. And to supply those handguns with ammunition, production was maintained at plants like FN.

Yes, some officers may have entered the war with personal handguns chambered in 9mm Kurz.

But after the dramatic expansion of the war in 1940-41, 9mm Kurz handguns and ammunition were accepted as military issue.

The same thing happened in the United States. At the onset of the War neither the .38 Smith & Wesson or the .38 Special cartridges or handguns so chambered were military issue.

That quickly changed as the need for handguns increased dramatically.

Regarding obtaining ammunition "commercially," remember that German and the United States operated much the same way when it came to ammunition (at least when it came to ammo companies in Germany proper and not in occupied nations)

What needs couldn't be met by government arsenals were met by contracts let to private manufacturers.

Private companies like RWS formed an integral part of Germany's production chain.
 
I have read that the Germans issued odd caliber guns to occupiers in their home countries.
For example, .45s in Norway, and 7.65 Longue in France, keeping them as close as possible to native ammo.

The situation was probably better with .380, but not so good that they did not change Czech and Hungarian production priority to .32.
 
All that Mike says seems logical, but, like other military organizations, the Wehrmacht tired to keep the "cats and dogs" to a minimum. I have seen German supply lists and cartridges like the 9mm Kurz and 6.35 Browning are not on them. That does not mean that limited supplies could not be obtained (on the US side, if George Patton wanted .32 ACP for his Colt Pocket Model, I will bet he got it!), but only the 9mm P and the 7.65 Browning were standard issue.

Yes, existing ammo was captured and continued to be issued by puppet police or military in countries like France and Norway, but little or none was made in oddwad calibers after the occupation for guns the Germans did not themselves take over.

As a side story, a friend, now gone, who was in the Polish underground, captured a 1928 TSMG from a German motorcycle messenger who didn't need it any more, having completely lost his head. The Poles played with the Thompson but having only the few rounds of .45 ACP the German carried, they ended up throwing the Tommy gun in a lake.

Jim
 
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