German WWII Revolver?

[Hoppy590]

i know Wikipedia isnt the best source but heres a list of captured handguns and thier axis model numbers

Pistole 657(n) Ex "Kongsberg Colt" - Calibre .45

Pistole 660(a) Ex "M1911" - Calibre .45

Revolver 662(a) Ex "Smith & Wesson Mod 1917" - Calibre 45


those are just the American captured guns. i cant seem to find the big list that includes everything from Nagant revolvers to webleys.

 

[Mike Faires]

Maybe Audie not getting the GCM isn't so strange. He enlisted in June 1942 and was commisioned in December 1944. The medal requires 3 years service for award and officers are not eligible. He didn't serve the required 3 years as an enlisted man before the battle field promotion. By the way the Air Force eliminated the medal in 2006 because " good conduct is the AF standard and as such does not deserve special recognition".

 

[Tom C.]

I don’t believe Jimmy Stewart enlisted. I believe he was drafted, in the fall of ’41, just before the war began. He had bought an a/c in the late ‘30s when he was making good money and learned to fly. He went to flight school in the Army and flew B-24s. I believe 23 combat missions and a stint as a group operations officer, briefing aircrew on the missions.

He felt he was born to play Charles Lindbergh and finally did. I liked him in Strategic Air Command (1953).

 

[buzz_knox]

James Doohan ("Scotty" on Star Trek) landed in Normandy with the U. S.
Army on D-Day.

He was actually in the Canadian Army, which assaulted Juno Beach on D-Day. He led his men in, is credited with two sniper kills, then ended up being shot by a nervous Bren gunner on sentry duty.

 

[mnw42]

Don't forget that Elvis and many ball players served in the military. Though Elvis didn't see any combat and was relegated to a moral boosting roll.

 

[Onmilo]

I remember something about old Herman surrendering.
Wasn't he packing a Smith and Wesson M&P .38 when he gave up the good fight?

 

[ev239]

I have been reading The Bourne Identity, which is fairly entertaining, except for the author's lack of firearm knowledge. He constantly refers to a long barreled revolver fitted with a silencer which to my knowledge the only revolver any way suited for a silencer is the Nagant. Which only fires a totally underpowered round that would only get weaker slowed down by a silencer. It's bothered me to the point where I've lost interest in finishing the book.

 

[buzz_knox]

He constantly refers to a long barreled revolver fitted with a silencer which to my knowledge the only revolver any way suited for a silencer is the Nagant.

S&W made a suppressed revolver, which if memory serves was a customized M25. It was used by some police units (including the German Border Police) as an short range urban sharpshooter weapon. I believe the French counterrorism unit used a Manhurin revolver similarly.

 

[BigG]

They do too have silenced revolvers. I saw Lee Marvin use on in The Killers. They wouldn't show it in a movie if it wasn't real.

 

[Hoppy590]

Nagants make excellend supressed revolvers and are still believed to be in use in russia. hell plain old nagants are still in use by the railroad if i understand correctly

 

[lathedog]

"Revolver" is used in the modern German language as a generic term for any handgun. Long story on that, but that's what I learned when I studied the language.

I have noticed this in translated histories many times before and always figured that the word in the original German text is not considered as needing a translation, as we have the same word in English, although with a different specific meaning.

In language studies this is called a false cognate (if memory serves) if the word is the same spelling but means something else (like mist=manure or gift=poison). I suppose you could call "revolver" a semi-false cognate?

 

[Arsyx]

Scratch that, someone posted my comment already.

 

[dscottw88]

This reminds me of a clip from Bourne Ultimatum, although it was a good movie, damon is found holding what appears to be a Sig to an older man. Cue Flashback, than when we return, he appears to have swapped it out for a glock. If I'm not mistaken, he than goes Back to the Sig.

To stay on topic however, I personally wasn't aware of any revolvers being issued to the german military in WWII. In fact, I was under the impression that even standard issue pistols such as p38 or luger were mainly issued to officers. German troops were stuck with the k98 most of the time.

 

[Janos Dracwlya]

Some years back, I read the autobiography of Otto Skorzeny, the famous SS commando. In the book, he pretty much always referred to handguns as "revolvers", so maybe it is the result of a bad translation or misunderstanding?

 

[def4pos8]

General Stewart was originally drafted (according to a recent biography) but was not accepted for service due to being far too under-weight. He was truly THIN at the time. He fattened himself up, eventually becoming heavy enough to enlist. He was accepted, passed recruit training and was performing simple duties when he mentioned to his commander that he was already a licensed pilot with decent experience in several machines. He bacame an aviation cadet, eventually qualifying for a commission and aviator's wings.

I find the calibers of those old, German revolvers (10.6x25R) interesting. Europeans occasionally describe the .44 S&W Special as a 10.6x29R.

 

[Jim K]

Hi, Redcatcher,

I think the Zella-Mehlis company was the retailer, not the manufacturer. Since the only proof marks are German, I would assume German manufacture, but the gun has a Belgian look about it. Like English makers, German manufacturers often didn't put their name on guns, letting the retailer mark the gun with his name and address. The result is somewhat confusing as retailers are often believed by collectors to be manufacturers, which they weren't.

Jim

 

[strangelittleman]

I believe it was Sterling Hayden that was a Marine that was seconded to the OSS for service in Yugoslavia, since he actually was a native speaker of, I think, serbo-croatian, he was one of only 2 Marines known to have been seconded to the OSS-European theatre. He was awarded the Silver Star for his service. He enlisted before Pearl Harbour.
I seem to remember reading somewhere that when Skorzeny's troops jumped into rescue Mussolini he and some of his men carried Colt .38spls in their jump jackets (no holster?), I have no idea what model, bbl. etc.
Robert Ryan was a Marine in the Pacific Theatre.
If there was fairly common usage of revolvers in the german army during WW2, it's a possibility they were captured from the Norwegian nat'l police after Quisling capitulated to the Gremans. The Norwegians carried a version of the 1911( w/ a strange slide release & straight backstrap) in some units of the army and part of the nat'l police carried american revolvers in .38, but I'm unclear how common there were issued.

 

[AtticusThraxx]

Redcatcher, you might have an early version of the Velo Dog revolver. According to "German Pistols and Holsters 12934-1945 Vol II" There we're a good number of commercial gun dealers who sold only to German Officers, Nazi Party members, police, etc.
They were sold to qualified buyers between 1934-1945. Though all the revolvers of this type I can find pictures of had octagon barrel, they bought stuff from all over Europe new and used. Revolvers among German Officers semed to become a status symbol by mid-war.
Goering's pistol was a S&W Military&Police Model 1905 Serial number 642357. Imagine you could get a couple of bucks for it at auction. S&W sold alot of pistols to German dealers right up to 1938 acoording to this book.

 

[Dr.Rob]

My great aunt's husband took a 38S&W off 'a dead german' (not a .38 special) looked like an SW, markings were impossible to read. Might have been a Spanish copy? Or old and refinished. I scrubbed a spot or rust off the cylinder the size of a dime where it had sat in a steel drawer, cleaned it and oiled it. Don't recall seeing the deep American style marking on it at all... no doubt of the weapon's authenticity.

 

[Cosmoline]

There certainly were revolvers floating around Europe during the war, but I doubt many German officers would have chosen a clunky 19th century wheelgun over a Luger or Walther. Some no doubt did, and some as noted may have had personal revolvers. But it would be the exception not the rule.

 

[strangelittleman]

Dr.Rob, it may very well have been Spanish. The German's sent advisors, and all kinds of equipment to Gen. Franco during the Spanish revolution in the 1930's. The Germans even field tested the Stuka dive bombers during that war, if I remember correctly. By the way the Russians supplied the rebels, as many of them were affiliated with socialist movements.