Revolvers in WWII?

[Billy Sparks]

Lone Star you are thinking of Donald R. Burgett. He was a member of the 506th PIR company A (The Band of Brothers was 506th Company E). He wrote 3 books Currahee!, The Road to Arnhem and Beyond the Rhine.

 

[Lone Star]

Billy Sparks-

By Jove (and Diana, too!), you are right! Burgett it was. Same regiment, different rifle company...

I highly recommend his books, which you listed. In one, he asked a Dutchman why the local people didn't shoot the lone German paratrooper who formally "captured" their town in 1940. The man had only a pistol, by the way. The Dutchman replied that the Dutch laws had effectively disarmed the population, and that no one had a gun. Now, THERE is an object lesson!

By the way, Lt. Ian MacHorton (if I recall his name right) was a member of Wingate's Chindits in Burma. He wrote that he carried a Thompson SMG and a Colt .38 revolver. I think the book is, "The Hundred Day War of Lt. MacHorton", but it has been years since I read it. Someone else may correct me on the title. It was one of those "specially illustrated" Bantam war books, like Braham's, "Night Fighter". I also saw a British sergeant sitting at a desk in the UK. He had a Colt Commando or Official Police .38 beside him. This was probably in a, "Life" or similar publisher's book. Odd how one remembers such things after a period of years, but I'm quite certain about the gun; I just couldnt tell in the photo whether it had the commercial finish.

In Virginia Cowles's account of the SAS, "Stirling's Desert Raiders", also an illustrated Bantam edition, one man referred to his, "Smith & Weston" revolver. It is certainly possible that the SAS man pronounced it correctly, and that Ms. Cowles misheard, not being familiar with gun brands. There is a detailed sketch of a five-inch barrelled M&P to show the gun. Photos in other places sometimes show the same picture of a member of the Long Range Desert Group (mainly Southern Rhodesians) wearing the S&W M&P .38/200.

Some covers of the paperback editions of Ian Fleming's James Bond thrillers showed the author with a Colt Official Police revolver. That gun was given to Fleming while he was a Royal Navy intelligence agent in the US. The gun was given to him by Gen. "Wild Bill" Donovan, and was one of his favorite handguns. Donovan was head of the OSS.

Lone Star

 

[TK73]

Wow! Great thread, interesting reading!

 

[Cosmoline]

Many Colt OP's were parkerized and issued as "Colt Commandos" in .38 Special, mostly used by security forces. From the sources I've read, Colt was the preferred revolver for many at the outset of WWII. S&W was not as common and did not have the legendary reputation it enjoys today. S&W was the young turk, and made its money by being faster at production and lower in cost than Colt. As a result I believe the Victory outstripped the Commando by the end of the war, and seems to be more common and better known today. Here's a blurb about the Colt revolvers in WWII:

http://www.manatarmsbooks.com/pate.html

 

[Billy Sparks]

Another interesting tidbit is most of the S&W revolvers sent to England were in 38 S&W not 38 Special. I'm not sure about the Colt's but I would not be surprised if they were not 38 S&W also.

 

[Lone Star]

Yes, the British Colts were in .38 S&W, known there as .38/200, because it was originally loaded with the 200 grain lead bullet called here, the "Super Police". That's what MacHorton had in Burma, in my previous post.

Some .38 Specials were shipped in 1940, when fears of invasion were great and they were taking any guns they could get. Those (and US M1917 rifles) were marked with red paint around the barrel to warn that they were for non-standard (to them) ammo.

I believe these non-standard calibers went mainly to Home Guard units and perhaps some special operations forces or to eventually supply partisan guerillas in German-occupied countries. Most were finally dumped at sea, to keep them out of the hands of the UK public.

Lone Star

 

[dogngun]

I know from reading a biography that George Patton carried a Colt Single Action Army revolver that he had used while serving with General Pershing chasing Mexicans before WWI. Patton also carried a S&W .357 Magnum (N Frame) , but later decided it was too heavy to be carried along with the Colt.

Mark

 

[Hkmp5sd]

Regarding the .45 ACP revolvers....

At the time of Pearl Harbor, there were 96,530 Colt and 91,590 S&W M1917 .45 ACP revolvers in the arsenal or already in use by the military. These were refurbished and issued. They went primarily to stateside troops and MPs. Very few actually made it into combat duty.

Another prize for collectors is the Colt Detective Special 2" revolver that was issued to military intelligence personnel. Only a few hundred were issued during WWII.

 

[Jeff Timm]

I seem to recall that many US Aviators were equipped with the .38 Special revolver. Some had a few tracers for signalling if shot down.

Anyone remember that Picture of Bush I in front of his TBF with a shoulder holster?

Geoff
Who remembers the book, "Hell in the Heavens" by a Marine fighter pilot.

 

[BluesBear]

My Father was a Sgt during WWII and commanded a TRV in the 3rd Army.
He was originally issued a S&W 1917 and an M1 Carbine. He soon swapped this S&Wt with another Sgt for the other's Colt 1917 since my Dad preferred the feel of the Colt grip.

Near the end of their trainbing, right before they were shipped overseas, he said they were told if they didn't like their revolver they could bring their own personal handguns, but they'd be responsible for all of their own ammunition and their own holster.