Captured Weapons Used by the Germans?

[Douglas Jr.]

Brian, check you e-mail

Hey Brian,

Please take a look at the e-mail of your site and check if you received correctly the picture.

Regards,

Douglas.

[jeremiahcable]

Written comments of use...

In the book "Black Edelweiss" by Johann Voss, he recounts that after his machine gun section assaulted through an american position they made a point of taking the "heavy machine guns and ammunition" with them. He was a squad leader in the 6th Waffen SS division and fought in Finland and Germany/Alsace.
It's a great book and he points out that the germans also loved the oranges they captured from the US Army.

Regards,
Jeremiah

[Brian M]

Hi Douglas, got it, thank you!
did you get the reply I sent with the photo of the Brazilian G43?
if not I can try and post the photo here.
Brian

[JohnB]

50 cal MG

In that great photo of the 50 cal. MG posted by Patrick, the Germans are also wearing nets on their helmets that are probably British.
John

[Douglas Jr.]

To Brian

Hi Brian,

Not only got the pictures but I also sent you a reply for your question. Check you e-mail!

Regards,

Douglas

[Kai-Steffen M.]

Hi Steffen,

Let us know what are the comments of your granddaddy about the .45 - I always love this kind of input.

Regards,

Douglas.

well, i asked him and he tell told that they often used the thompson when they got their hands on one (although as i told before - it was often thrown away when there was no more ammo)- and liked it for its firepower- he told me he recognised the gun later when he saw american ganster movies- as for the 1911 he said he never used one- at first because he thought it not to be a good pistol as the caliber was too big and second because there were not too many of them- he was an artillery officer- so not always at the front - and then- were there so many 1911? who in the us-army had one? could they be captured that easily as the thompson of the paratroopers?

Gruß,
KSM

[Spanky]

captured weapon use

There are fairly obvious and documented reasons the Germans used some captured weapons and not others. The following general criteria applied:

Technical Superiority – Better than the comparable German Weapon. The captured weapon had to be enough better to justify the risk of drawing friendly fire too (ask a Vietnam vet about the distinctive sound of an AK-47 compared to our own M16). The best example in this category is the Russian PPSh submachine gun which the Germans preferred to their own MP-38 and MP-40 due to it’s higher capacity drum magazine and better reliability in adverse weather and field conditions. Written accounts of Eastern Front combat are replete with examples of the PPSh in use by German troops. By way of comparison few Russian Mosin-Nagant 91/31 rifles were used (except for Snipers) since it was really no better than the German K98k. This is also why few Russian or American machine guns were used since the Germans had their excellent MG-34 and MG-42 in adequate numbers.

Availability – Captured weapons of equal or lower quality to the comparable German weapon would also be used if they were more available. Examples here include the Russian SVT-38/SVT-40 semi automatic rifles and the Mosin-Nagant sniper rifles. The Germans did not field an effective semi-automatic battle rifle until late 1943 when the G.43s began to arrive at the front. The predecessor G.41 was unreliable and never made in large enough numbers to matter. So even though the SVT-38 and SVT-40 also suffered from reliability problems, the Germans used them in large numbers. The quick mobile warfare the Germans introduced with the blitzkrieg did not seem to warrant the deployment of numerous snipers (more applicable to static front lines). As a result, the Germans did not deploy large numbers of snipers or sniper rifles early in the war. In Russia the Germans ran into large numbers of well-trained and equipped Russian snipers, and every captured Mosin-Nagant 91/30 sniper rifle was put to good use since the Germans were playing catch up in this area.

Ready ammunition supply – This is a primary reason many captured weapons were used on the Eastern Front and not on the Western Front. Each year through summer 1943 the Germans mounted major offensives in the East and huge amounts of equipment and supplies were captured. Even after Kursk (Summer 1943) there were more limited German counter attacks that would yield captured weapons and ammo. In the west, the Germans mainly went backward so except for limited exceptions like the Battle of the Bulge, there was not the same quantity of captured allied equipment or supplies. So even though the M1 Garand and Carbine were excellent weapons, they were not useful for very long due to limited ammunition availability.

Excellent semi-automatic pistols both large and small framed were widely issued within the Wehrmacht, and since they were secondary defensive weapons there was little reason to pick one up except as a souvenir.

[Douglas Jr.]

Germans and the Colt 1911A1

Steffen,

Thanks for the feedback about the chat with your grandfather.
As I said before, I enjoy to read and hear this kind of collections. If I could choose a sidearm as a frontline soldier -as your granddaddy - I´d have some priorities ahead of the M1911A1, as the Hi-Power or the P-38.

But if I have none, I wouldn´t be unhappy with a .45 pistol as a sidearm. However the ammo was the bigger problem, as we can see.

Thanks once more and regards,

Douglas.