Historian Mark Felton Discusses Handguns WWII Leaders Carried, And How They Carried Them

[luzyfuerza]

Concealed-Carry WW2 Leaders - Who Was Secretly Armed?

During WWII several top military leaders and politicians of both the Allies and Axis routinely concealed carried firearms. Find out who they were and what th...

youtu.be

I love the mental images of Churchill carrying a 1911 and Eisenhower with a Detective Special, contrasted against Hitler with a Walther Model 8 in 25 ACP...

 

[The Night Rider]

When Herman gearing surrendered he turned over a Smith & Wesson 38

 

[Bill B.]

Eisenhower also carried a Colt .25 .

 

[Destructo6]

Of course, Hitler did use his...

 

[Bill B.]

Of course, Hitler did use his...

Hitler shot himself with Walther .32. Goebbels shot himself & wife with the Walther .25 acp with instructions to finish them off if it didn't work. Goebbels guns found burned still loaded after they found the bodies. Never did hear if help was needed...
One of the more interesting tidbits Hitler had a .22 LadySmith Revolver he fired off in several meetings to get his commanders attention. This LadySmith was what his niece used to kill herself.

 

[Destructo6]

Seems like someone has subscribed to Mark Felton's YouTube channel.

 

[Jim Watson]

Europeans don't have the American Gunslinger Tradition.
A senior Old World officer would carry a pistol as a badge of military rank, maybe to force an enemy to shoot him rather than capture him, or like the named dictators, to shoot himself to avoid the shame of surrender.
But they pressured Rommel into taking poison.

 

[Terry G]

Concealed-Carry WW2 Leaders - Who Was Secretly Armed?

During WWII several top military leaders and politicians of both the Allies and Axis routinely concealed carried firearms. Find out who they were and what th...

youtu.be

I love the mental images of Churchill carrying a 1911 and Eisenhower with a Detective Special, contrasted against Hitler with a Walther Model 8 in 25 ACP...

Hitler offed himself with a 7.65 MM Walther PPK if the history is correct.

 

[Ignition Override]

The Night Rider: my late father-in-law John Dennington (Quartermaster 1st LT), --an Aggie from Abilene TX-- volunteered in spring '44 to be attached to the 101st Airborne months before D-Day was 'launched' ;
he entered Goering's Haus in southern Bavaria and 'liberated' a few handguns.

With no provenance (proof of ownership/origins) they had little value. There was no documentation.
When he returned to the US, if he owed somebody a favor he gave the man one of Goering's guns. He kept none of them (long-term) as a souvenir.

Jim Watson: I was drinking a beer next to a guy who said that he was from Gerhausen. This was in '77 in Blaubeuren.
He drove me to a village not far from Ulm and showed me Rommel's grave in a really small, typical village cemetery.

 

[luv2safari]

Hint:

Mark Felton documentaries on Youtube are excellent.

 

[Enfieldier]

Reading about Churchill during WW2, he had a Bren gun in the trunk of his car along with the 1911 he routinely carried. I wonder if the 1911 was a .455 or .45 ACP.

 

[Bill B.]

Reading about Churchill during WW2, he had a Bren gun in the trunk of his car along with the 1911 he routinely carried. I wonder if the 1911 was a .455 or .45 ACP.

Wonder no more 45 acp ... it's in the British War Museum. Something funny about Felton story; Churchill had his 1911 in WW1. Per Felton he requested a 1911 from Americans WW2. Per my knowledge he only had one.

 

[CapnMac]

officer would carry a pistol

The US tradition was for Army officers to be mounted, this gave them a wider view of the field, and the ability to move among his troops.

A mounted officer might have to put his horse down, which made that carry a near-necessity. The sword was far more of symbol, a badge of rank.

 

[CapnMac]

Churchill

Carried a Broomhandle while in Army service during the Boer Wars.

 

[GEM]

I've seen this discussion before and mentioned that I read that MacArthur carried a derringer so that when he went ashore on landings or maybe in the Philippines he would not be captured.

 

[Jim Watson]

Carried a Broomhandle while in Army service during the Boer Wars.

Carried it and shot Wogs at Omdurman, too.

 

[armoredman]

Hint:

Mark Felton documentaries on Youtube are excellent.

I love watching his stuff, fantastic content.

 

[Enfieldier]

Carried it and shot Wogs at Omdurman, too.

"... Then I drew my Mauser pistol—a ripper—and cocked it."...."I pulled into a trot and rode up to individuals firing my pistol in their faces and killing several—three for certain—two doubtful—one very doubtful."...'I pulled into a canter and rejoined my troop—having fired exactly ten shots and emptied my pistol—but without a hair of my horse or a stitch of my clothing being touched. Very few can say the same."

https://winstonchurchill.org/public...n/bulletin-196-sep-2024/battle-of-omdurman-2/

Lawrence of Arabia was also a fan of the Broomhandle and carried one when traveling solo in Syria. I believe it was a gift from his parents.

 

[Jim Watson]

Lost his Mauser in South Africa When taken by the Boers, I think.

I thought Lawrence was a Colt man.

 

[buttrap]

Just to stir up the nest a bit the .38 smith that the "Iron One" had when he surrendered was a gift from Eddy Rickenbacker.

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

IIRC when Churchill was captured-by Lewis Botha-he realized he had left his Broomhandle on the train. He later got it back.
Albert Speer said his first meeting with Hitler was when he brought him sketches for the decorations for a Party rally .Hitler was cleaning a pistol.
Churchill said he decided to rely on a handgun instead of a sword due to a shoulder injury.

 

[Armored farmer]

You guys are getting me fired up...
I visited the WW2 museum in N.O. La. last march. I'm headed back to TX. in March and visiting the Pacific Theater museum in Fredricksburg, TX.

 

[bangswitch]

Excellent video. As good as the information is, it's even better because it wasn't an AI voice.

 

[kBob]

My understanding is that Patton used his SAA not only in Mexico but in France. In World War One. Specifically in a battle that placed him with a young Infantry officer by the name of Douglas Mac “Shall Return”

That must have been interesting.

 

[Enfieldier]

Lost his Mauser in South Africa When taken by the Boers, I think.

I thought Lawrence was a Colt man.

He used it with the stock attached to pot at some bandits who were threatening him while on a 3 month walkabout in Syria visiting ruins.

"After graduating from Oxford, from 1911 to the spring of 1914, Lawrence participated in an archaeological excavation at Carchemish near the Euphrates River in Turkey. His leisure activities included marksmanship practice and occasional hunting. Firearms he mentions in his letters are a Mauser pistol and a Mannlicher-Schoenauer carbine. A photograph of Dahoum, a close friend of Lawrence’s, shows him holding a pistol, presumably Lawrence’s. It appears to be a Colt automatic, possibly a model 1908."

According to the linked article, he did have a preference for the 1911 especially during the war.

https://sightm1911.com/lib/history/telawrence.htm