Not all the guns used were capture weapons, some were actually purchased before the war. BTW, Goering was very fond of his American made Smith & Wesson revolver and was carrying that gun when he surrendered to the Americans. Goering's revolver is on display at the military museum at West Point, New York.
Goering, was quite the charechter. A fruit, and eccentric among other things. Despite, his hatred of non-Germans, a study of him could prove interesting.
Mostly very good info but he made the common mistake of mispronouncing John Garand's last name. According to his immediate family members, their last name was properly pronounced as GEHR-rand (as in gearand) and not in the common GA-rand. Just a small but important historical footnote.
I must point out, from all the gargantuan amount of annoying RUclipsrs who self promote, clickbait people, Mark doesn’t do anything of the sort. He is one of the few that causes RUclips to have a good side to it. Non political, just pure facts. Real pleasure to watch his videos.
Also his pronunciation of the German words is very good, something that is not normally found on different YT videos. That itself ads to the quality of his videos!
2:08 - Mr Felton, I do believe that this is a polish made licensed copy of the BAR, the Wz. 28. It has an enlarged front grip and the magazine well cover is visible (it pivots outwards and rests in the front grip cutout). I may be wrong, but I have worked with those guns on a couple of occasions (in museums mostly).
@@minuteman4199 Thanks! Those Polish Wz. 28's are very distinctive thanks to those 'improvements', like the dust covers (for both ejection port and magazine well) and that characteristic front grip.
I watched a D-Day documentary about 20 years ago where a German veteran of the Normandy Campaign said he had a Polish made version of the Browning M1917 in 8mm in his beachfront bunker.
I remember in 2013, they found a hidden Stash of allied Weapons and some Panzerfausts here in the woods (Saxony, Germany) and officals from the Kampfmittelbeseitigungsdienst Sachsen recovered the weapons+ammuniton. they were burried near a place that was used as Flak outpost, but is now a little hill on a forest edge. I am sure it was put there by the local Volkssturm but never used.
@@eddietat95 It's not that hard to figure out. Kampfmittelbeseitungsdienst -> Kampf mittel beseitung (s) dienst -> Combat medium (as in "equipment") elimination service.
Might they have been a stash for "stay behind units" such as the Werewolves who were being prepared to carry out sabotage against the allies after the war had ended?
@@EnkaMexi Don’t you ever Google the current collectors value of those arms you found.. I promise you, that you will cry 😀 And you might even experience sleeping problems for a long time..
Fun fact: If you have a M1 garand chambered in .308, the enbloc clips can fit into the German “luftwaffe bandoliers.” The bandoliers are comfortable, but you must make sure to wear a shirt with a collar, otherwise the cloth digs into your neck. I am not sure if wearing the load bearing suspenders would improve the fit, as I do not have any.
@@unhippy1 Huh, never really though about that, it'd make a cheap conversion to a battle rifle especially if you add a box mag, which basically makes it a semi-auto only M 14.
My grandfather was in the Desert War and he told me that the Berreta SMGs were the most valuable ‘finds’ on the field for the Desert Rats and were either kept and used or sold/bartered for large sums.
About twenty years ago kits for the Beretta were available for sale in the Shotgun News. You could build your own semi-auto version from the kit if you could buy/build the receiver seperately. I should have bought one back then.
Met a man since passed ,who was a script writer with Scottish Television,when it was a Scottish TV station. During the Second World War he was with the Eighth Army and fought to the wars end in Italy. At some point in his war, he got hold of a German MP 40. Tom apparently carried this machine pistol to the wars end. He said it was a first class weapon.
@@geordiedog1749 The Sten was a stopgap weapon that became standard because it was cheap. It was lightweight, easy to make, and functional (mostly; early models had feed problems), but the ergonomics of it both to use and carry were poor to say the least. The M38 was definitely a superior weapon overall, especially from the perspective of the soldier who actually uses the thing.
Another perfect video showing obscured and often forgotten topics. Not only the quality and accuracy is unparalleled but also what makes it much better is the subject which many history buffs or occasional history enthusiasts can't even think would be true. Dr. Felton's videos quality is not getting better video by video. They already have exceeded perfection and every video is just sliding through it!
Dr Felton in a collab with Ian McCollum from Forgotten Weapons would break the internet from the epicness, also watching Dr Mark firing some historical pieces in the Range along with Ian. I think my life would be finally realized after that.
“And if I were to make a video about all of them, it would take until next Christmas.” I think I speak for all fans of this channel when I say….I’m down for that!
Mark Felton you are probably the greatest source of general ww2 information and I have been watching this channel for years. Theres so much history to go through for just one war and you are practically a one stop shop for any of it. I commend you sir.
The Thompson was sent as part of an American lend-lease program to the Soviet Union and saw some use amongst tank crews. I should imagine the example shown was captured in situ.
Each Sherman tank sent to Russia had a Thompson included inside the tank. Stuarts may have been equipped with a Thompson as well, or an M2 (automatic M1 carbine)
@@living2ndchildhood347 Did the tank have a few cases of .45 ammo also? The Russians were glad to get everything they could but keeping ammo in the logistical pipeline must have been a real pain.
I remember my grandfather telling me that he was issued an Italian sub machine gun, in retrospect the Beratta MAB 38, after his torpedo boats (also Italian) were scuttled off the coast of Yugoslavia and he bacame an Ortskommandant in charge of a mixed company of sailors, soldiers and Luftwaffe personnel, until he withdrew back to Austria and eventually Germany. At the surrender he had my father, then ten years old, take the sub machine gun to one of the weapons collection points the British set up near Bremerhaven. Now I’m left wondering what the British did with the weapons they collected from Germany at the end of the war?
Fun fact: Sergeant Schultz in "Hogan's Heroes" generally carried a Krag-Jorgensen, not a Mauser. In-universe explanation would probably be that it was captured from Denmark or Norway.
Almost an allied firearm in German use was Colt 1911 made in Norway. Germans took them to use after taking Norway. I have held one made in Norway in my hand, it had German property stamps on it too. A local collector has one. (Oulu, Finland) edit: 1911 was the only gun consuming .45ACP in German army :)
@@pekkakoski6595 Both of that weapons where used in large numbers than Colt, Dutch, French and British Thomspon fought Yougoslavia and Greec, in East Front used by crew of armored trains.
A fun fact related to the Volkssturm: One of the most numerous and commonly issued bolt action rifles were from the Italian Carcano series. There so many of those rifles in German possession that there were serious attempts at rechambering them all in 8mm Mauser, so as they could be ammo compatible with other German made small arms.
If you enjoy Dr Felton’s videos, consider reading his books. Any history lover can appreciate the time and effort put into his books (as well as his videos) and I’ve learned a great deal from his books. You won’t be disappointed. Thanks for your continued hard work and dedication Dr Felton, it doesn’t go unnoticed!
Can confirm. Read "Guarding Hitler" and even though there are probably 15 videos with same content, there is a narrative and lots of details or anecdotes that would make videos too long. Marks work is in my view the best manifestation of "doing things that feed your soul". If im not mistaken, lad goes into an archive. Reads some logs and id's the submarine, commander and what happened, faster than i make my bed.
On a Historical Side Note, the Germans weren't the only ones interested in Allied weapons. In the NRA Museum, there is a prototype M1 Garand that holds 10 rounds that came from Japan. Instead of using 8 round En Block clips, they modified the Ammo Well so as to take 2 Five round stripper clips, giving it a 10 round capacity. And there was no "Ping" sound when the En Block was ejected. It never reached the Production stage, however. Thanks again for your Work.
Also, Imperial Japan Army did experimented with semi-automatic rifle concept in the 1920s by testing Pedersen rifle. I'm not sure why they didn't see the potential in them.
Austrian Josef “Sepp” Allerberger started his career in the Wehrmacht as a Machine Gunner but after a few weeks on the front began to realize that machine gunners were prime targets to be killed. When he got injured and was sent to the rear to repair broken guns and whatnot, he began practicing with a Soviet Mosin-Nagant rifle that he became quite good at it. He became a marksman for his unit and began to rack up quite a number of kills with it. He used the Mosin-Nagant until he was sent to Sniper School.
I can only imagine how much of a nightmare German logistics were with so many captured weapons. German industry simply could not keep up with the Soviet Union or the Allies. And I imagine the Allied bombing of German factories only exasperated the problem.
Germany's biggest logistical headache was motor transport. The Wehrmacht entered the war without a standard truck/lorry, and had no production capacity to produce them if they had one. As a result they reused as many captured military trucks as possible, and confiscated large numbers of civilian cars, trucks and busses from occupied nations. These included BEF equipment abandoned at Dunkirk, Soviet GAZ-AA trucks. (Ford Model AAs made under license), and many Italian vehicles. It was quite challenging to procure spare parts for all of them.
@@SecNotSureSir Nope. They had niether enough Submarines (indeed they had less than the UK at war's start), and Germany's Oil supplies were extremely finite, whilst the UK had an embarrassingly large supply and reserve. Going into Russia was chiefly Germany's gambit to solve their oil problem, for Romania's oil alone wasn't even halfway to being enough.
@@petergray7576 Yup, plus an Oil and Rubber shortage. The latter problem predated the war, and was made worse by Germany's Civil Service believing they could micro-manage the supply of Tyres (spoiler, they failed completely).
At the end of the war, my father drove Canadian trucks loaded with guns, mobile kitchens, hospital supplies, etc. to Yugoslavia. I believe they also got a lot of Sherman tanks and artillery pieces as well. On the way back they picked up bicycles abandoned by retreating Germans and brought them back to Holland and Belgium.
I remember my dad telling me how he would take the weapons off dead Germans and shoot them for fun. He said it was illegal to bring them home, but told me a lot of his fellow soldiers did it any way. He did keep a bayonet that he took off a dead German and it sits near my computer. One thing I do have to say about the bayonet is that it is very well made.
That's the first I've heard of that. Certainly fully-automatic weapons were illegal to bring home, but I've never heard of any problems with captured conventional firearms. Rumor mills being what they are I'm sure your father heard what he considered the "straight scoop" and acted accordingly.
My grandfather took a m1911 of a dead American officer. He had it from 1944 up until 1945 finding ammo off dead and captured Americans. Sadly he throw away the pistol a few days before the official surrender. He and his comrades really like the m1911.
Imagine being a german getting your hands on an m1 Garand and then escaping death because of its semi auto glory only to find yourself bitten by Garand Thumb.
PLEASE! Make one documentary about the camouflage uniforms of ww2! it was a game changer in warfare and there aren't any good documentaries about it, and I know that you would nail it!! :D
I wish I'd never traded off my Belgian made, Browning Hi-Power. Those guns are worth a lot now. I traded it for a Honda Goldwing motorcycle that I hardly ever used because it kept breaking down. The Browning however never jammed or malfunctioned a single time while I had it!
I was still using a Canadian (Inglis) made Browning Hi Power when I was in the army, not all that long ago (or doesn't seem like it anyway, i understand they're still using them).
My parents were friends with an ex-German paratrooper. He told me about when he was on the Eastern front. They issued him a German rifle. He said it was a finely crafted weapon with tight tolerances, but if it got a little dirt in it, it wouldn't fire. He threw it away and picked up a Russian sub-machine gun. He said it rattled but you could throw it in the mud and it would still fire, plus he said the ammunition was more plentiful. He was called back to headquarters and when they saw the Russian gun, they got agitated and asked where his issued rifle was. He lied and said it was destroyed in an artillery attack. They issued him a new rifle, which he threw away again when he got back to the front.
Also good to know is that in 1940 German Soldiers captured men from the dutch resistance who had been in contact with Britain. They convinced the British to supply them as they thought they would supply the dutch resistance. The British did this until 1943. In Germany this is known as „the England-Game“
Thank you Dr Felton! I love your channel and how you always seem to produce very well-made mini documentaries about little known but fascinating topics. I wish I could give these many thumbs up!
Allied forces (unofficially) used Axis equipment. My late father went from Falaise all the way to Germany with a German side arm in his holster and using a German motorcycle combination with 2-wheel drive (a diff between the rear and sidecar wheels). It also had pipes from the exhaust routing hot gases up to the hands for winter riding. A new CO in early 1945 ordered that all enemy equipment be abandoned, as the men might get the impression it was superior. My father chuckled when telling me and said "It bloody well was".
I love one story told by a B-17 crewman when captured. The German officer eyes got big as he examined the muzzle of the US M1911, and he immediately looked back to the muzzle of his 7.62mm P-08. Apparently, this officer was a citizen soldier. A proper professional would have carried a 9mm and have known all about the American cowboy caliber weapon.
Thank you for the lesson. Dr Felton mentions the Battle of the Bulge. I think it was in Rick Atkinson's book Guns at Last Light. He mentions a farm house in the area that was used as a supply dump for all the captured weaponry. When the Germans advanced the excess of captured weapons was piled here. When the Allies beat them back over the next month or so the Allies used the same place to put captured German weapons. The farmer said I could tell which weapons the enemies respected or liked from their opponents because those wete the ones being picked up.
I've seen many candid photos of German soldiers with SVT40 rifles. I own one myself and can't help but wonder if it was brought back by a GI after capturing it from the Germans since there are no import marks. Soviet soldiers also liked Germans weapons too. Both thought the opposites' weapons were more reliable apparently.
@@chriscarbaugh3936 I had to restore mine, many missing or damaged parts. Lots of elbow grease. Now works great. What was malfunctioning on yours, I might be able to help.
I think the Germans with the SVT-40's in the video got the only ones that worked! I met a Red Army veteran back in the 80's who called the SVT-40 a piece of crap! The first chance he got he picked up a Moisin-Nagant. He swore by it and said it never failed him.
The fact that there was so many variations in pistol & rifle calibers used throughout WW2,proved to be a logistical nightmare for both allied and axis troops.This was rectified after WW2 by many nations adopting to standardize rifle & pistol ammunition;by making ammunition universal and interchangeable between different firearms thereby simplifying the supply chain,making logistics much more efficient.
@@wayneantoniazzi2706 I kind of doubt that. Not certain one could find those firearms for rent in many places, they're fairly obsure. I think Dr. Felton arranged with someone who had access to them for the footage. But my point was actually that when firing fully automatic, the recoil to the shoulder with each round fired tends to lift the muzzle. This shooter didn't display any of that. It's not easy to keep that from happening without considerable time & training. That's all I meant. Most would "stitch" the muzzle upward. I know I used to until I learned how to make the recoil work for me. Took some time. That guy was no beginner, I'd say.
@@johndufford5561 Forget what I said, I confused the sequence with another one. I believe the place that range footage comes from is a place called "Battlefield Vegas," a commercial shooting range where you can fire all sorts of famous and obscure weapons, an amazing assortment actually. Kind of a playground for big kids. I Googled them and found the website. I didn't check the costs for shooting the goodies, I'm afraid to! 😬 As J.P. Morgan once said, "If you have to ask you can't afford it."
I love the range demonstration. Many of these weapons showed up in MPLA,and UNITA hands during the Angolan Civil War,while some like the British Lee Enfield were used by Federal Forces during the Nigerian Civil War.Later,the iconic rifle was extensively used by the Nigerian Police for enforcement work.Thanks Doc.
Always thought it was cool seeing Germans use the PPSH. Such a unique weapon. Actually got the chance to see an actual one! My platoon had to be bait and pull security for some green berets for two operations. They let us stay in their compound and they had tons of soviet era weapons just lying around. Got to hold an actual PPSH!
Got to shoot one...and a PPS 43..in Warsaw last year.. BUT..the one I shot that I then wanted to take home was the Steyr/Solothurn MP34! Pre war (obviously) All milled and machined, wooden stock.... just brilliant..
The Wehrmacht used a lot of foreign weapons. Only as handguns : - Norwegian 1911 in .45 ACP ; - Polish Radom VIS 35 in 9mm parabellum ; - French MAB D in .32 ACP, SACM 35 A and MAS 35 S in 7.65mm long, and Saint-Étienne 1892 revolver in 8mm ; - Czech CZ 27 in .32 ACP ; - Hungarian Frommer Stop and FEG Femaru in .32 ACP ; - Russian Nagant 1895 revolver in 7.62 Nagant…
Germany was an extreme example. They just didn't have the production capacity to keep up with their expansion. It was a perfect window into the absolute ideocracy of Nazi economics. Being far right wing reactionaries, the Nazi higher-ups could only see short -term gains and not the big picture. Relying on so many captured weapons utterly destroyed the German's logistic system and did far more damage than any Allied bombing ever did. All those different trucks, tanks, and guns require separate parallel logistic streams, which created a nightmare. For example, one German Panzer division in Barbarossa had over a DOZEN different models of trucks from different manufacturers. These were the trucks meant to SUPPLY the division, so when they broke down and had no parts it made the entire resupply impossible. The division's logistic train required its OWN logistic train. It may seem frugal but in practice was an utter disaster, so no other nation did it like the Germans did. Sure, there were instances of some soldiers using captured weapons but it was usually temporary and not institutional.
@@timothyhouse1622 Hit the nail on the head. Trophy weapons and ad-hoc usage aside, the Western Allies either destroyed captured German weapons or sent them back for study. They did this because they had the industrial power to supply their troops with their own weapons, and the Americans in particular were keenly aware of the vital importance of logistics because they had to stretch their supply chain across two oceans. That's why a lot of American equipment had a reputation for reliability and ease of maintenance in the field-because Ordinance held anything proposed for service to an extremely high standard before considering loading it onto a supply ship. They knew that if something broke, they didn't have the luxury of just sending it back to the factory; the crews in the field would have to make do, so they saw to it things broke as little as possible. Of course there are exceptions like the infamous Mk. 18 torpedo, but generally speaking this was the pattern, and it was by design specifically to avoid the kind of logistical bane the Germans made for themselves.
@@timothyhouse1622 yes I know this is a rare outlier. I was just saying it's interesting what countries do with captured weapons. Like how turkey converted enfields into the mauser standard at one point. Or even just knowing there where soviet stores of German equipment in stock till the 50s and 60s. Just fascinating to see where they ended up at.
@@carsonm7292 in certain situations they also use German weapons, i recall the Paratroopers were often using captured MG42 until they ran out even the Soviets do that and use it with great effect. Also there is a US division that captured a lot of German tanks and use them as well along with trucks and German vehicles. They were often dub as American panzer division. Also i heard a German officer in his staff car line up in the convoy as he thought they are his men only to realize that they are the Americans
One of the newest exhibits at West Point Museum is a Browning 9mm in the WWII section of the American Wars exhibit. It was captured from a German sniper who wounded an officer and the pistol was given to that officer by his men as a trophy. The ironic thing about this video is that Germany was renown for their weapons especially their small arms and especially today militaries and police forces seek them out; however, the fact they made regular use of Allied weapons hints they had logistical problems providing their own troops with weapons.
This channel is just like The History Channel in the 1990s ! Much better than the stupid reality shows on The History Channel now ( except for Ancient Aliens, of course ! )
The Sten gun was not as bad as many make them seem. Sure they are not precision weapons but cheap, reliable, and easy to build. They were thrown out en masse to the different resistance groups all over Europe. For example, Several groups in the Danish resistance movement manufactured Sten guns for their own use. BOPA produced around 200 in a bicycle repair shop on Gammel Køge landevej (Old Køge road), south of Copenhagen. Holger Danske produced about 150 workshops in Copenhagen, while employees of the construction company Monberg & Thorsen built approximately 200-300 in what is now the municipality of Gladsaxe (a suburb of Copenhagen) for use by Holger Danske and others. The resistance groups 'Frit Danmark' and 'Ringen' also built significant numbers of Stens. Some sheet metal, a pipe, and simple hand tools would be what it takes to throw such a gun together.
Correct sir. The pistol grip is of American design though. Too many in service and production to change engineering and manufacturing for a new pistol grip. Mine works fine as issued.
Love ya Mark, you are the go to for historical info and rare stuff not heard often on WWII in an entertaining fashion. Keep bringing history to life mate, you do a great job!
Back in 1943 my grandpa was in a signal batallion in the Hungarian Royal Army at the Eastern Front. There were a German officer who visited their unit's commander who proudly displayed his american made automatic pistol. Grandpa said that sould be a .45 cal Colt 1911 or something like that. By the way Gemans always tried to bartel my grandpa's FÉG 37M automatic pistol. As he remembered many Germans used the Nagant sidearms which was grabbed from the Soviets. He told me, the movies showing all German officers with German made classic WW2 era pistols was not common back then, exactly in the Eastern Front. The story about the German officer who owns US made pistol was the only time when he saw a gun like that in his military lifetime.
Well, Dewoo, Korean car company, also makes weapons for it's country army. I imagine skill set (mechanical engeeineering with moving metal parts ) is somewhat similar in both car and gun makeing.
The Japanese also captured many allied small arms and equipment. The Japanese reverse engineered the M1 Garand and made their own rifle called the Type 4. They also captured and reverse engineered the 40mm Bofors gun from the British which they named the Type 5 40mm Anti-Air gun. The majority of grenades used by the defending Japanese forces during the island hoping campaign were actually Chinese grenades made and captured in Northeast China.
It amazing how many firearms were used by the Germans that they captured and vice versa that were picked up by soldiers who decided that there enemies weapons were of use or better than what they had. Thanks Mark for another interesting video!
Same happened on the other side of the front line. But these battle trophies lasted for as long as there was original ammo. One it's gone, there was no resupply. Like Mark said, some weapons were re-chambered - but only few.
@@jerryjeromehawkins1712 news to me! Most GIs would not carry an MP40 due to its distinctive sound when fired, as there was a great possibility of another American firing at you. STGs were rare enough that I have not seen their use by allied forces. Some of this is first hand as my grandfather found through France.
I suspect that Germans probably liked to use soviet weapons when their supply system started to break down and they either used them or kept them handy for when they ran out of their own ammo.
I always liked the fact that in Red Orchestra 2 the veteran players could pick a version of their class equipped with the enemy equivalent of their standard guns. It was nice attention to detail.
The German army of ww2 was probably the poorest of all the armies. Their transport was mainly horse drawn and they relied quite a lot on captured vehicles. The Russian T34 tank was extensively upgraded and was even issued to elite SS panzer divisions such as 2nd SS Das Reich. Rommel used a captured British command vehicle in North Africa.
@Therapist with a space I disagree. In 1941 60-70 percent was not mechanized, they relied largely on horses for cross country and railways. They may have had abundant armor and half tracks etc for battle use but they were poor in trucks, an episode of war factories shown on Yesterday Freeview Channel 27 proves this. Rommel relied heavily on captured British trucks. Also when the Afrika Korps retreated from El Alamein they stole the Italians trucks hence their mass surrender. The British were more mechanized.
@Therapist with a space I still do not agree. I don't know where you get the idea that the US "outfitted" the British army. For its size the UK had a superb and prolific arms industry. during WW2. It also shipped armaments to the USSR. The army had plenty of trucks,artillery and tanks. It sustained itself during the North African campaign. The USA supplied the Sherman tank which only became really effective against German armor when it was fitted with a British gun, jeeps and M 3 half tracks the buffalo and DUCK. At its very best the USA supplemented rather than outfitted.
Filling a warehouse with foreign weapons for a rainy day makes the Nazis sound like my Dad is filling his garage with offcuts of wood, old tools, all sorts of rubbish. When my parents finally downsize and move to a house suitable for two sons the amount of stuff to dump from that place will be nuts.
Man, from what I've had to deal with in the past few years let me tell you, you won't be the first and you won't be the last! It's incredible how much "stuff" people can accumulate in a lifetime!
One of the Russian battlefield archeology RUclips channels dug a site where they found a folding stock US M1A1 Carbine plus ammo. I'm guessing a Wehrmacht unit captured it in Italy then got sent to the Eastern Front.
Every weapon sounds different. The downside of carrying another nation's weapons is soldiers learn to tell the difference, and sometimes you make important decisions based on the threat level a sound represents. When I was in Somalia 1992-1993, I knew the difference between the sound of an M-16A2 and similar 5.56 mm weapons that U.S. and many allied forces used and the 7.62 mm AK-47s Somali militias hid from task force units and would pull out to use, usually after sundown. In my case, if the sound of an AK-47 woke me up, I would stay awake long enough to determine if it was getting closer or moving away. If the latter, try to get back to sleep
The British Army have ranges (developed for N.Ireland) for training troops to identify between different weapon sounds when fired at them. They were installed inside a Napoleonic Martello tower at Hyde, with a bullet trap next to the sangar the troops are housed in.
@@wessexdruid7598, I had a infantry company commander in pre-fall-of-the-Wall West Berlin who came from U.S. Army Special Forces and made it possible for us to fire AK-47s: weapons, ammunition and a range. It was valuable in many ways: learning the sound and learning how to fire a weapon we might need at some point. Not valuable? Watching the company commander trying to shoot my red filtered flashlight marking one of the range limits.
@@wessexdruid7598, please don't take my feedback as kneejerk or negative. Essentially, I am agreeing that what you outlined makes sense and I had a boss who was equally enlightened. FYI, when you are on a firing range, you not only hear the weapon you are firing, but all of the others that are firing, so while I was not being shot at at that moment, I could hear sounds that proved valuable during a deployment to Mogadishu.
An interesting point regarding Germany's post-war use of the U.S. M1 Carbine. As Dr. Felton noted, many were sent to Bavaria. Since Germans were so used to open notch rear sights, quite a number of Carbines lost their superior aperture rear sights for sights akin to the 98k Mauser bolt-action rifle. Carbines so modified command a bit of a premium among American Carbine collectors.
The PPSh-41 used a 7.62x25 cartridge which is less than two thirds the weight and 60% the muzzle energy of the 9mm Parabellum round. This meant that despite its massive ammo capacity, great rate of fire and good recoil characteristics it did a lot less damage and had much shorter range. Still, if I was fighting street to street in an urban environment I would sure as hell rather a PPSh-41 than an MP-40 !
In a few war movies you often see the Allied characters adamantly saying they want a Luger pistol as a souvenir. I can assume their German counterparts had the same idea about certain Allied weapons. I'm pretty sure the Japanese used whatever Allied weapons and equipment they found useful to.
And who would have turned down the chance to grab a Japanese - I nearly said 'Geisha' instead of Katana (even if they did cut down the Tang)? Actually on further thought .............
I once saw some German recordings about the the Dieppe Raid, where you can clearly see a German soldier with a BAR.. Did a bit of Googling and a found out that a number of them was delivered to the polish prewar army and that they were chambered in the German caliber 8*57 Mauser.. So it was actually an easy thing for the Germans to put them into good use..
Hello Mr felton, as you were speaking of foreign firearms in the hands of soldiers during a conflict it reminded me of an excellent book about the Franco-Algerian colonial war (Les appelé en Algérie, Erwan Bergot). In this book, it is sometime question of germans WW2 era firemarms and artillery connons given to the FLN (National Liberation Front). It might or may not be enough to constitue a full video, but I think it is worth the time to check. Anyway I highly appreciate your content ! (please forgive me my english mistakes !)
In Yugoslavia they had the Mauser M24 which was also chambered in 8mm just like the German 98k. I bet logistics concerning ammunition for both sides were very simple.
A good weapon fortunately saved from Axis plunder was the Polish Mors sub machine gun as only 40 or so were issued to the Polish army but the entire process of manufacture was luckily got out of the country along with the design team before the fall of the country
@@ManWithNoName1980 Well maybe but the Maroczek auto rifle was as good and even better of a weapon to even a Garand, but was never used at all in combat but once by its inventor to down a Stuka, before never seeing further use
I always remember footage of a German soldier with a hi power in the hedgerows and I saw one in Italy with a M1 Carbine. I always thought that was interesting. The ppsh also and even in movies like Stalingrad and Cross of Iron.
I think it would probably be confusing if you're used to being shot at by K-98s and suddenly someone shoots at you with an M-1. I wonder how many allies were killed by thinking thinking they were being fired on by their own troops so stepped out to stop fractricide only to find Germans
In the heat of battle, you’re not going to tell the difference between two rifle shots of a similar calibre, but I can definitely imagine something like this happening with German soldiers using a captured Bren like we saw in the photo. Its lower rate of fire sounded so different to the MG42s the allies were used to hearing. I remember reading also that Americans would never use captured AKs in Vietnam for similar reasons, After a few GIs learned the hard way!
Unlike in video games most guns sound the same IRL, especially when there are tons of them going off at once. A semi auto is indistinguishable from a bolt action in a similar caliber, you do not hear the bolt if you are being shot at. You can’t really judge based on the rate of fire either, very rarely would there only be one person shooting. (Plus the Germans had several weapons which were either capable of or were exclusively semi auto.)
If you’re into war history, this channel is gold.
I agree
Its platinum
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Platinum
Carbon steel.
Not all the guns used were capture weapons, some were actually purchased before the war. BTW, Goering was very fond of his American made Smith & Wesson revolver and was carrying that gun when he surrendered to the Americans. Goering's revolver is on display at the military museum at West Point, New York.
Others were produced in occupied territories like the Norwegian version of the M1911.
Who sold the Nazis weapons knowing they will be used against them in the next year lol
@@tz8785 more important was the Belgian factory for these variants of the Colt/FN Grand Browning
@@tz8785 The Kongsberg Colt.
Goering, was quite the charechter. A fruit, and eccentric among other things.
Despite, his hatred of non-Germans, a study of him could prove interesting.
Dr. Felton hits the internet yet again with great historical content.
Mostly very good info but he made the common mistake of mispronouncing John Garand's last name. According to his immediate family members, their last name was properly pronounced as GEHR-rand (as in gearand) and not in the common GA-rand. Just a small but important historical footnote.
@@Au60schild like st pattys day and st patricks day
I must point out, from all the gargantuan amount of annoying RUclipsrs who self promote, clickbait people, Mark doesn’t do anything of the sort. He is one of the few that causes RUclips to have a good side to it. Non political, just pure facts. Real pleasure to watch his videos.
Also his pronunciation of the German words is very good, something that is not normally found on different YT videos. That itself ads to the quality of his videos!
Agreed. His books are good too!
Non political right
Mark loves to slight the Americans every chance he gets
2:08 - Mr Felton, I do believe that this is a polish made licensed copy of the BAR, the Wz. 28. It has an enlarged front grip and the magazine well cover is visible (it pivots outwards and rests in the front grip cutout). I may be wrong, but I have worked with those guns on a couple of occasions (in museums mostly).
Keen observation!!
@@minuteman4199 Thanks! Those Polish Wz. 28's are very distinctive thanks to those 'improvements', like the dust covers (for both ejection port and magazine well) and that characteristic front grip.
I watched a D-Day documentary about 20 years ago where a German veteran of the Normandy Campaign said he had a Polish made version of the Browning M1917 in 8mm in his beachfront bunker.
@@wayneantoniazzi2706 Yup that checks out, they were factory made in 8mm Mauser.
Isn’t it a FN-D though? As it has a pistol grip
If that video was made I would be sitting here till Christmas watching it, thanks very much for your hard work Doc.
I remember in 2013, they found a hidden Stash of allied Weapons and some Panzerfausts here in the woods (Saxony, Germany) and officals from the Kampfmittelbeseitigungsdienst Sachsen recovered the weapons+ammuniton. they were burried near a place that was used as Flak outpost, but is now a little hill on a forest edge. I am sure it was put there by the local Volkssturm but never used.
"Kampfmittelbeseitungsdienst Sachsen". Man, that's long.
@@eddietat95 It's not that hard to figure out.
Kampfmittelbeseitungsdienst -> Kampf mittel beseitung (s) dienst -> Combat medium (as in "equipment") elimination service.
Might they have been a stash for "stay behind units" such as the Werewolves who were being prepared to carry out sabotage against the allies after the war had ended?
@@EnkaMexi Don’t you ever Google the current collectors value of those arms you found.. I promise you, that you will cry 😀 And you might even experience sleeping problems for a long time..
Too bad the people can't use it against government dictatorships
Once again, Mark Felton comes through with the best warfare history available.
If anyone invents time machine i want intro theme for my polyphonic Nokia
Fun fact: If you have a M1 garand chambered in .308, the enbloc clips can fit into the German “luftwaffe bandoliers.” The bandoliers are comfortable, but you must make sure to wear a shirt with a collar, otherwise the cloth digs into your neck. I am not sure if wearing the load bearing suspenders would improve the fit, as I do not have any.
Who chambered M1 Garands in .308?
@@johnathanblackwell9960 A number of country's rebarreled or chamber sleeved garand's in the 50's and onwards
@@unhippy1 Huh, never really though about that, it'd make a cheap conversion to a battle rifle especially if you add a box mag, which basically makes it a semi-auto only M 14.
@@johnathanblackwell9960 He must mean if you have an M1 Garand in .308, which technically, the 30-06 happens to be.
@@johnathanblackwell9960 The US Navy chambered some of their M-1s to .308 (7.62 NATO). The converted ones had 7.62 stamped across the receiver.
My grandfather was in the Desert War and he told me that the Berreta SMGs were the most valuable ‘finds’ on the field for the Desert Rats and were either kept and used or sold/bartered for large sums.
About twenty years ago kits for the Beretta were available for sale in the Shotgun News. You could build your own semi-auto version from the kit if you could buy/build the receiver seperately. I should have bought one back then.
Met a man since passed ,who was a script writer with Scottish Television,when it was a Scottish TV station. During the Second World War he was with the Eighth Army and fought to the wars end in Italy. At some point in his war, he got hold of a German MP 40. Tom apparently carried this machine pistol to the wars end. He said it was a first class weapon.
The M38 has basically no recoil and can hose down people very effectively. I can imagine the brits preffered them over their terrible STENs.
@@G-Mastah-Fash Nothing wrong with Stens, sir. You will apologise or I will demand satisfaction.
@@geordiedog1749 The Sten was a stopgap weapon that became standard because it was cheap. It was lightweight, easy to make, and functional (mostly; early models had feed problems), but the ergonomics of it both to use and carry were poor to say the least. The M38 was definitely a superior weapon overall, especially from the perspective of the soldier who actually uses the thing.
Another perfect video showing obscured and often forgotten topics. Not only the quality and accuracy is unparalleled but also what makes it much better is the subject which many history buffs or occasional history enthusiasts can't even think would be true. Dr. Felton's videos quality is not getting better video by video. They already have exceeded perfection and every video is just sliding through it!
Happy Memorial Day to all our great hero veterans deceased, living, and not yet born.
“Not yet born?” Jesus that’s fucking bleak bro.
Damm my McDonalds came 10 mind goo early
Not yet born? I,ve had enough of these british wars in iraq and afghanistan killing young chrildren thanks
Yeah the bankers and corporations salute you.
Here is hoping the U.S. does nog get involved in senseless wars.
The Doc should partner with Forgotten Weapons, C&Rsenal etc on episodes like this. These types of topics are incredibly interesting.
Dr Felton in a collab with Ian McCollum from Forgotten Weapons would break the internet from the epicness, also watching Dr Mark firing some historical pieces in the Range along with Ian.
I think my life would be finally realized after that.
@@vsarge8762 Gun Jesus does make great videos! 😄
Also with The Chieftain when covering tanks
And Jonathan Ferguson.
“And if I were to make a video about all of them, it would take until next Christmas.”
I think I speak for all fans of this channel when I say….I’m down for that!
I could take classes with him and never get bored.
Mark Felton you are probably the greatest source of general ww2 information and I have been watching this channel for years. Theres so much history to go through for just one war and you are practically a one stop shop for any of it. I commend you sir.
The fact there was a German soldier using a Thompson Sub Machine gun on the eastern front is mind boggling to me
The Thompson was sent as part of an American lend-lease program to the Soviet Union and saw some use amongst tank crews. I should imagine the example shown was captured in situ.
Each Sherman tank sent to Russia had a Thompson included inside the tank.
Stuarts may have been equipped with a Thompson as well, or an M2 (automatic M1 carbine)
@@living2ndchildhood347 Did the tank have a few cases of .45 ammo also? The Russians were glad to get everything they could but keeping ammo in the logistical pipeline must have been a real pain.
@@living2ndchildhood347 I thought the M2 carbine was developed after World War Two. I’ve seen pictures some Americans and ARVN with it in Vietnam
@@markusk1015 true, the M2 didn't come along till later
Mr. Felton’s delivery, smooth and professional makes his offerings a pleasant learning experience.
I remember my grandfather telling me that he was issued an Italian sub machine gun, in retrospect the Beratta MAB 38, after his torpedo boats (also Italian) were scuttled off the coast of Yugoslavia and he bacame an Ortskommandant in charge of a mixed company of sailors, soldiers and Luftwaffe personnel, until he withdrew back to Austria and eventually Germany. At the surrender he had my father, then ten years old, take the sub machine gun to one of the weapons collection points the British set up near Bremerhaven. Now I’m left wondering what the British did with the weapons they collected from Germany at the end of the war?
Probably melted a lot of them down, but something like that Beratta could of been re-issued to post war German troops.
I think many were simply thrown in the Ocean.
@@Swarm509 It is Beretta all the time!
@@markthompson8656
Even stocks of British piston engines, e.g. the Napier Sabre aircraft engines, were reportedly dumped in the ocean. Why?
@@stephenarling1667
Obsolete. Not unneeded. The Sabre only had one aircraft it powered iirc.
Fun fact: Sergeant Schultz in "Hogan's Heroes" generally carried a Krag-Jorgensen, not a Mauser. In-universe explanation would probably be that it was captured from Denmark or Norway.
Shultzie's Krag-Jorgensen really jumps out at you if you know what you're looking at!
If I heard right, Krag is cheaper in NOR and DEN than in US
@@kidpagronprimsank05 I'm sure there's a reference there I'm missing.
@Wolfman JOLLY JOKER!
Schultz's Krag was never loaded, no doubt because he knew that if he shot a prisoner it might be used as an excuse to send him to the Eastern front.
Thank you for all your entertainment and educating us Mark ❤️
The term “Use what you got” certainly applied to The Reich in the final years of the war.
Great video and thank you Dr Felton. 👍
Thumbs up for the Eddie head...
Almost an allied firearm in German use was Colt 1911 made in Norway. Germans took them to use after taking Norway.
I have held one made in Norway in my hand, it had German property stamps on it too. A local collector has one. (Oulu, Finland)
edit: 1911 was the only gun consuming .45ACP in German army :)
Didn't the Thompson M3 grease gun use the .45acp too?
@@bogusmogus9551 Eww. Thompson did, so did the Grease gun.
Thompson and the Grease Gun are not the same :)
@@pekkakoski6595 Both of that weapons where used in large numbers than Colt, Dutch, French and British Thomspon fought Yougoslavia and Greec, in East Front used by crew of armored trains.
Norway had a 1911 version in 9x19 parabellum with 15 round mag which was very popular with the Germans.
No! The .45 ACP was in ,Kennblätter für fremdes Gerät' ( desccripton sheets for foreign equipment) called 11,5 mm Colt :-))
A fun fact related to the Volkssturm: One of the most numerous and commonly issued bolt action rifles were from the Italian Carcano series.
There so many of those rifles in German possession that there were serious attempts at rechambering them all in 8mm Mauser, so as they could be ammo compatible with other German made small arms.
There's a book about how the Germans catalogued all those rifles. There were so many versions that EVEN THEY couldn't figure all of them out
Carcano M9 6.5?
@@idoobbberz_tv6676 If you believe Ian McCollum from forgotten weapons he argues that the Manlicher Cacarno was a very good weapon.
@@gunnargundersen3787 How can't you believe " Gun Jesus " ????
Well, it was good enough for Lee Harvey Oswald
If you enjoy Dr Felton’s videos, consider reading his books. Any history lover can appreciate the time and effort put into his books (as well as his videos) and I’ve learned a great deal from his books. You won’t be disappointed. Thanks for your continued hard work and dedication Dr Felton, it doesn’t go unnoticed!
Can confirm. Read "Guarding Hitler" and even though there are probably 15 videos with same content, there is a narrative and lots of details or anecdotes that would make videos too long.
Marks work is in my view the best manifestation of "doing things that feed your soul".
If im not mistaken, lad goes into an archive. Reads some logs and id's the submarine, commander and what happened, faster than i make my bed.
On a Historical Side Note, the Germans weren't the only ones interested in Allied weapons.
In the NRA Museum, there is a prototype M1 Garand that holds 10 rounds that came from Japan. Instead of using 8 round En Block clips, they modified the Ammo Well so as to take 2 Five round stripper clips, giving it a 10 round capacity. And there was no "Ping" sound when the En Block was ejected. It never reached the Production stage, however. Thanks again for your Work.
Very interesting ...thats the 2nd knock off of the M1G that ive discovered...thank you
Ah yes, the Type 4 rifle
Also, Imperial Japan Army did experimented with semi-automatic rifle concept in the 1920s by testing Pedersen rifle. I'm not sure why they didn't see the potential in them.
There is also one on display in the secrets of WW2 exhibit at the Ronald Reagan library in CA.
IRA had some Garands after WWII, possibly still have them.
it's amazing all these years on how we've only scraped the surface of what there is to learn about WW2
Yeah wait till you find out about our secret moon base!!!
I have often commented that you can never learn all there is to know about WW2.
We'll have to relearn what we did know after WW3 destroys everything.
Dr. Felton is giving away too much info too fast. It kills the mystique.
Austrian Josef “Sepp” Allerberger started his career in the Wehrmacht as a Machine Gunner but after a few weeks on the front began to realize that machine gunners were prime targets to be killed. When he got injured and was sent to the rear to repair broken guns and whatnot, he began practicing with a Soviet Mosin-Nagant rifle that he became quite good at it. He became a marksman for his unit and began to rack up quite a number of kills with it. He used the Mosin-Nagant until he was sent to Sniper School.
I've read his memoirs, a really interesting and good book to read for any armchair historian.
It's called "Sniper on the Eastern Front".
You should be able to find it in the web.
One pist of eleven.
Two pists of eight.
I can only imagine how much of a nightmare German logistics were with so many captured weapons.
German industry simply could not keep up with the Soviet Union or the Allies.
And I imagine the Allied bombing of German factories only exasperated the problem.
Thats the Problem with fighting a War on 2 Fronts.. its mad.
@@EnkaMexi yeah, Germany should have just starved Britain into submission.
Germany's biggest logistical headache was motor transport. The Wehrmacht entered the war without a standard truck/lorry, and had no production capacity to produce them if they had one. As a result they reused as many captured military trucks as possible, and confiscated large numbers of civilian cars, trucks and busses from occupied nations. These included BEF equipment abandoned at Dunkirk, Soviet GAZ-AA trucks. (Ford Model AAs made under license), and many Italian vehicles. It was quite challenging to procure spare parts for all of them.
@@SecNotSureSir Nope. They had niether enough Submarines (indeed they had less than the UK at war's start), and Germany's Oil supplies were extremely finite, whilst the UK had an embarrassingly large supply and reserve.
Going into Russia was chiefly Germany's gambit to solve their oil problem, for Romania's oil alone wasn't even halfway to being enough.
@@petergray7576 Yup, plus an Oil and Rubber shortage.
The latter problem predated the war, and was made worse by Germany's Civil Service believing they could micro-manage the supply of Tyres (spoiler, they failed completely).
That was really interesting,my dad was WW2 vet and we talked about this subject for hours many times! Thank You for sharing!
At the end of the war, my father drove Canadian trucks loaded with guns, mobile kitchens, hospital supplies, etc. to Yugoslavia. I believe they also got a lot of Sherman tanks and artillery pieces as well. On the way back they picked up bicycles abandoned by retreating Germans and brought them back to Holland and Belgium.
Another post.
I remember my dad telling me how he would take the weapons off dead Germans and shoot them for fun. He said it was illegal to bring them home, but told me a lot of his fellow soldiers did it any way. He did keep a bayonet that he took off a dead German and it sits near my computer. One thing I do have to say about the bayonet is that it is very well made.
That's the first I've heard of that. Certainly fully-automatic weapons were illegal to bring home, but I've never heard of any problems with captured conventional firearms.
Rumor mills being what they are I'm sure your father heard what he considered the "straight scoop" and acted accordingly.
i recall there are stories that sometimes they stripped it and ship it back to home
@@wayneantoniazzi2706 probably depends on country
My grandfather took a m1911 of a dead American officer. He had it from 1944 up until 1945 finding ammo off dead and captured Americans. Sadly he throw away the pistol a few days before the official surrender. He and his comrades really like the m1911.
@@MassiveChoad-vr5gy Quite true. I automatically assumed "cash storeone" was American. Maybe he is? No way of knowing for certain unless he tells us.
Imagine being a german getting your hands on an m1 Garand and then escaping death because of its semi auto glory only to find yourself bitten by Garand Thumb.
PLEASE! Make one documentary about the camouflage uniforms of ww2! it was a game changer in warfare and there aren't any good documentaries about it, and I know that you would nail it!! :D
I wish I'd never traded off my Belgian made, Browning Hi-Power. Those guns are worth a lot now. I traded it for a Honda Goldwing motorcycle that I hardly ever used because it kept breaking down. The Browning however never jammed or malfunctioned a single time while I had it!
oh no
A goldwing is more of a boat than a motorcycle :)
I was still using a Canadian (Inglis) made Browning Hi Power when I was in the army, not all that long ago (or doesn't seem like it anyway, i understand they're still using them).
@@chickennugget3362 Usually incredibly reliable 'though, maybe bar the swinging arm mounts.
Someone scammed JDI Jim
(Or he seriously abused it)
Russian M91s were in the $300.oo price range some 11
years ago, now go for $1000.oo to $1300.oo.
I had a friend, in the Hitler Youth. He was issued a French Lebel but eventually captured an M1 Grand.
My parents were friends with an ex-German paratrooper. He told me about when he was on the Eastern front. They issued him a German rifle. He said it was a finely crafted weapon with tight tolerances, but if it got a little dirt in it, it wouldn't fire. He threw it away and picked up a Russian sub-machine gun. He said it rattled but you could throw it in the mud and it would still fire, plus he said the ammunition was more plentiful. He was called back to headquarters and when they saw the Russian gun, they got agitated and asked where his issued rifle was. He lied and said it was destroyed in an artillery attack. They issued him a new rifle, which he threw away again when he got back to the front.
Also good to know is that in 1940 German Soldiers captured men from the dutch resistance who had been in contact with Britain. They convinced the British to supply them as they thought they would supply the dutch resistance. The British did this until 1943. In Germany this is known as „the England-Game“
Thank you Dr Felton! I love your channel and how you always seem to produce very well-made mini documentaries about little known but fascinating topics. I wish I could give these many thumbs up!
Allied forces (unofficially) used Axis equipment. My late father went from Falaise all the way to Germany with a German side arm in his holster and using a German motorcycle combination with 2-wheel drive (a diff between the rear and sidecar wheels). It also had pipes from the exhaust routing hot gases up to the hands for winter riding.
A new CO in early 1945 ordered that all enemy equipment be abandoned, as the men might get the impression it was superior. My father chuckled when telling me and said "It bloody well was".
Mark Felton half the reason kids can pop off some facts in class in their early days. We’ve all been there boys;)
I love one story told by a B-17 crewman when captured. The German officer eyes got big as he examined the muzzle of the US M1911, and he immediately looked back to the muzzle of his 7.62mm P-08. Apparently, this officer was a citizen soldier. A proper professional would have carried a 9mm and have known all about the American cowboy caliber weapon.
Right at lunch time great timing for a truthful war story..thanks Mark
Thank you for the lesson.
Dr Felton mentions the Battle of the Bulge.
I think it was in Rick Atkinson's book Guns at Last Light.
He mentions a farm house in the area that was used as a supply dump for all the captured weaponry.
When the Germans advanced the excess of captured weapons was piled here.
When the Allies beat them back over the next month or so the Allies used the same place to put captured German weapons.
The farmer said I could tell which weapons the enemies respected or liked from their opponents because those wete the ones being picked up.
I always appreciate the carefully selected old archive video and pictures you use. I almost always see something new.
I've seen many candid photos of German soldiers with SVT40 rifles. I own one myself and can't help but wonder if it was brought back by a GI after capturing it from the Germans since there are no import marks. Soviet soldiers also liked Germans weapons too. Both thought the opposites' weapons were more reliable apparently.
I’ve a tt33 made in 1940 that never was refurbed after ww2 no Import marks. I’ve always wondered if it was a ww2/Korean war being back.
I once owned an SVT-40. Neat rifle, but it did not shoot worth a damn!!
@@chriscarbaugh3936 I had to restore mine, many missing or damaged parts. Lots of elbow grease. Now works great. What was malfunctioning on yours, I might be able to help.
I think the Germans with the SVT-40's in the video got the only ones that worked! I met a Red Army veteran back in the 80's who called the SVT-40 a piece of crap! The first chance he got he picked up a Moisin-Nagant. He swore by it and said it never failed him.
A K98 beats a Mosin, and an SVT-40 beats a K98.
The fact that there was so many variations in pistol & rifle calibers used throughout WW2,proved to be a logistical nightmare for both allied and axis troops.This was rectified after WW2 by many nations adopting to standardize rifle & pistol ammunition;by making ammunition universal and interchangeable between different firearms thereby simplifying the supply chain,making logistics much more efficient.
The guy shooting the automatics at the range has incredible recoil /climb control! Hard to master.
@@wayneantoniazzi2706 I kind of doubt that. Not certain one could find those firearms for rent in many places, they're fairly obsure. I think Dr. Felton arranged with someone who had access to them for the footage. But my point was actually that when firing fully automatic, the recoil to the shoulder with each round fired tends to lift the muzzle. This shooter didn't display any of that. It's not easy to keep that from happening without considerable time & training. That's all I meant. Most would "stitch" the muzzle upward. I know I used to until I learned how to make the recoil work for me. Took some time. That guy was no beginner, I'd say.
@@johndufford5561 Forget what I said, I confused the sequence with another one.
I believe the place that range footage comes from is a place called "Battlefield Vegas," a commercial shooting range where you can fire all sorts of famous and obscure weapons, an amazing assortment actually. Kind of a playground for big kids. I Googled them and found the website.
I didn't check the costs for shooting the goodies, I'm afraid to! 😬
As J.P. Morgan once said, "If you have to ask you can't afford it."
Wake up, honey. A New Mark Felton vid just dropped
I love the range demonstration. Many of these weapons showed up in MPLA,and UNITA hands during the Angolan Civil War,while some like the British Lee Enfield were used by Federal Forces during the Nigerian Civil War.Later,the iconic rifle was extensively used by the Nigerian Police for enforcement work.Thanks Doc.
Volkssturm goes to battle. What weapons do we get?
Germany: Yes.
Always thought it was cool seeing Germans use the PPSH. Such a unique weapon. Actually got the chance to see an actual one! My platoon had to be bait and pull security for some green berets for two operations. They let us stay in their compound and they had tons of soviet era weapons just lying around. Got to hold an actual PPSH!
Thank you for your service. What year was it made?
Got to shoot one...and a PPS 43..in Warsaw last year.. BUT..the one I shot that I then wanted to take home was the Steyr/Solothurn MP34! Pre war (obviously) All milled and machined, wooden stock.... just brilliant..
What a phenomenal channel. These videos are just fantastic. Thanks for putting them together for the rest of us!
Great video.
Thank you to all the veterans out there
Absolutely fascinating, Dr. Felton, thank-you.
The Wehrmacht used a lot of foreign weapons. Only as handguns :
- Norwegian 1911 in .45 ACP ;
- Polish Radom VIS 35 in 9mm parabellum ;
- French MAB D in .32 ACP, SACM 35 A and MAS 35 S in 7.65mm long, and Saint-Étienne 1892 revolver in 8mm ;
- Czech CZ 27 in .32 ACP ;
- Hungarian Frommer Stop and FEG Femaru in .32 ACP ;
- Russian Nagant 1895 revolver in 7.62 Nagant…
Even Spanish made Astra pistols.
Right :
- Astra 300 in .32 ACP ;
- Astra 400 in 9mm largo ;
- Astra 600 in 9mm parabellum.
I didn’t know for the Bodeo M1889 revolver but I know the Germans liked the Beretta M34 in .380 ACP and the M35 in .32 ACP.
Excellent video again Dr. Felton. You are the worlds favorite History Teacher.
I've always wanted to know about this. It's very interesting to see what militaries do with captured weapons
Germany was an extreme example. They just didn't have the production capacity to keep up with their expansion. It was a perfect window into the absolute ideocracy of Nazi economics. Being far right wing reactionaries, the Nazi higher-ups could only see short -term gains and not the big picture. Relying on so many captured weapons utterly destroyed the German's logistic system and did far more damage than any Allied bombing ever did. All those different trucks, tanks, and guns require separate parallel logistic streams, which created a nightmare. For example, one German Panzer division in Barbarossa had over a DOZEN different models of trucks from different manufacturers. These were the trucks meant to SUPPLY the division, so when they broke down and had no parts it made the entire resupply impossible. The division's logistic train required its OWN logistic train.
It may seem frugal but in practice was an utter disaster, so no other nation did it like the Germans did. Sure, there were instances of some soldiers using captured weapons but it was usually temporary and not institutional.
@@timothyhouse1622 Hit the nail on the head. Trophy weapons and ad-hoc usage aside, the Western Allies either destroyed captured German weapons or sent them back for study. They did this because they had the industrial power to supply their troops with their own weapons, and the Americans in particular were keenly aware of the vital importance of logistics because they had to stretch their supply chain across two oceans. That's why a lot of American equipment had a reputation for reliability and ease of maintenance in the field-because Ordinance held anything proposed for service to an extremely high standard before considering loading it onto a supply ship. They knew that if something broke, they didn't have the luxury of just sending it back to the factory; the crews in the field would have to make do, so they saw to it things broke as little as possible. Of course there are exceptions like the infamous Mk. 18 torpedo, but generally speaking this was the pattern, and it was by design specifically to avoid the kind of logistical bane the Germans made for themselves.
@@timothyhouse1622 yes I know this is a rare outlier. I was just saying it's interesting what countries do with captured weapons. Like how turkey converted enfields into the mauser standard at one point. Or even just knowing there where soviet stores of German equipment in stock till the 50s and 60s. Just fascinating to see where they ended up at.
@@timothyhouse1622 The Nazis were completely left-wing besides believing in traditional family values....
@@carsonm7292 in certain situations they also use German weapons, i recall the Paratroopers were often using captured MG42 until they ran out even the Soviets do that and use it with great effect. Also there is a US division that captured a lot of German tanks and use them as well along with trucks and German vehicles. They were often dub as American panzer division. Also i heard a German officer in his staff car line up in the convoy as he thought they are his men only to realize that they are the Americans
I like to listen to this guy while I’m working, helps the day goes by fast.
Looking forward to next Xmas video about all captured allied weapons being used by Germans.
I always feel more educated after watching a Mark Felton video. Thank you, sir!
One of the newest exhibits at West Point Museum is a Browning 9mm in the WWII section of the American Wars exhibit. It was captured from a German sniper who wounded an officer and the pistol was given to that officer by his men as a trophy. The ironic thing about this video is that Germany was renown for their weapons especially their small arms and especially today militaries and police forces seek them out; however, the fact they made regular use of Allied weapons hints they had logistical problems providing their own troops with weapons.
This channel is just like The History Channel in the 1990s ! Much better than the stupid reality shows on The History Channel now ( except for Ancient Aliens, of course ! )
The Sten gun was not as bad as many make them seem. Sure they are not precision weapons but cheap, reliable, and easy to build.
They were thrown out en masse to the different resistance groups all over Europe. For example, Several groups in the Danish resistance movement manufactured Sten guns for their own use. BOPA produced around 200 in a bicycle repair shop on Gammel Køge landevej (Old Køge road), south of Copenhagen. Holger Danske produced about 150 workshops in Copenhagen, while employees of the construction company Monberg & Thorsen built approximately 200-300 in what is now the municipality of Gladsaxe (a suburb of Copenhagen) for use by Holger Danske and others. The resistance groups 'Frit Danmark' and 'Ringen' also built significant numbers of Stens.
Some sheet metal, a pipe, and simple hand tools would be what it takes to throw such a gun together.
Some of them were.. :)
Hard to understand why the Germans didn’t use the Lee Enfield or Bren more widely, both excellent weapons.
The BAR captioned "captured US" at 2.11 is a Polish version. The pistol grip is the clue. Thanks for another interesting video!
Good eyes.
@@adamjg4 But the Polish Army did.
Correct sir. The pistol grip is of American design though. Too many in service and production to change engineering and manufacturing for a new pistol grip. Mine works fine as issued.
Exactly never trust a Brit about guns
I usually don't watch mark felton productions , but when I do, it is a program such as this .
I heard a story once that of all the American weapons that were captured during the Battle of the Bulge it was the M1 carbine that was the most prized
Love ya Mark, you are the go to for historical info and rare stuff not heard often on WWII in an entertaining fashion. Keep bringing history to life mate, you do a great job!
Back in 1943 my grandpa was in a signal batallion in the Hungarian Royal Army at the Eastern Front.
There were a German officer who visited their unit's commander who proudly displayed his american made automatic pistol.
Grandpa said that sould be a .45 cal Colt 1911 or something like that.
By the way Gemans always tried to bartel my grandpa's FÉG 37M automatic pistol.
As he remembered many Germans used the Nagant sidearms which was grabbed from the Soviets.
He told me, the movies showing all German officers with German made classic WW2 era pistols was not common back then, exactly in the Eastern Front.
The story about the German officer who owns US made pistol was the only time when he saw a gun like that in his military lifetime.
Magnificent work ONCE AGAIN from the
WORLDS BEST history professor and crew.
First time I realised Skoda the car make, produced weapons. So interesting. Thanks mark for your work.
Well, Dewoo, Korean car company, also makes weapons for it's country army. I imagine skill set (mechanical engeeineering with moving metal parts ) is somewhat similar in both car and gun makeing.
I think Skoda was making weapons before cars were invented.
@@minuteman4199 Skoda Auto was originally Laurin & Klement, Skoda bought them in 1925.
Skoda made the electric trams now in use by Portland, Oregon's rapid transit system.
The really boring car maker no less. I don't think Skoda has made an interesting car in my lifetime.
Best RUclips channel bar none.
The Japanese also captured many allied small arms and equipment. The Japanese reverse engineered the M1 Garand and made their own rifle called the Type 4. They also captured and reverse engineered the 40mm Bofors gun from the British which they named the Type 5 40mm Anti-Air gun. The majority of grenades used by the defending Japanese forces during the island hoping campaign were actually Chinese grenades made and captured in Northeast China.
There’s not much documentation of the Japanese using captured weapons, but going by photographs it’s seems they did on a local basis.
By far one of my favorites channels
It amazing how many firearms were used by the Germans that they captured and vice versa that were picked up by soldiers who decided that there enemies weapons were of use or better than what they had. Thanks Mark for another interesting video!
True Brian. I've seen plenty of photos of Americans and Soviets with Mp40s... the StG44 also seemed to be a favorite amongst the Soviets.
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Same happened on the other side of the front line. But these battle trophies lasted for as long as there was original ammo. One it's gone, there was no resupply. Like Mark said, some weapons were re-chambered - but only few.
@@jerryjeromehawkins1712 news to me! Most GIs would not carry an MP40 due to its distinctive sound when fired, as there was a great possibility of another American firing at you. STGs were rare enough that I have not seen their use by allied forces. Some of this is first hand as my grandfather found through France.
Soviets liked the Stg so much they took the design team boss Hugo Schmeisser with them to do some inventions and move the concept forward.
I suspect that Germans probably liked to use soviet weapons when their supply system started to break down and they either used them or kept them handy for when they ran out of their own ammo.
I always liked the fact that in Red Orchestra 2 the veteran players could pick a version of their class equipped with the enemy equivalent of their standard guns. It was nice attention to detail.
Excellent game. Shame there never was a sequel because of the zombies.
The zombies? @@ghjjfrs7211
The German army of ww2 was probably the poorest of all the armies. Their transport was mainly horse drawn and they relied quite a lot on captured vehicles. The Russian T34 tank was extensively upgraded and was even issued to elite SS panzer divisions such as 2nd SS Das Reich. Rommel used a captured British command vehicle in North Africa.
@Therapist with a space I disagree. In 1941 60-70 percent was not mechanized, they relied largely on horses for cross country and railways. They may have had abundant armor and half tracks etc for battle use but they were poor in trucks, an episode of war factories shown on Yesterday Freeview Channel 27 proves this. Rommel relied heavily on captured British trucks. Also when the Afrika Korps retreated from El Alamein they stole the Italians trucks hence their mass surrender. The British were more mechanized.
@Therapist with a space I still do not agree. I don't know where you get the idea that the US "outfitted" the British army. For its size the UK had a superb and prolific arms industry. during WW2. It also shipped armaments to the USSR. The army had plenty of trucks,artillery and tanks. It sustained itself during the North African campaign. The USA supplied the Sherman tank which only became really effective against German armor when it was fitted with a British gun, jeeps and M 3 half tracks the buffalo and DUCK. At its very best the USA supplemented rather than outfitted.
Filling a warehouse with foreign weapons for a rainy day makes the Nazis sound like my Dad is filling his garage with offcuts of wood, old tools, all sorts of rubbish.
When my parents finally downsize and move to a house suitable for two sons the amount of stuff to dump from that place will be nuts.
Man, from what I've had to deal with in the past few years let me tell you, you won't be the first and you won't be the last! It's incredible how much "stuff" people can accumulate in a lifetime!
That German with the Tommy Gun on the Eastern front was pretty wild. I wonder how they got .45 acp?
One of the Russian battlefield archeology RUclips channels dug a site where they found a folding stock US M1A1 Carbine plus ammo. I'm guessing a Wehrmacht unit captured it in Italy then got sent to the Eastern Front.
Norway used 45. and was under German occupation for some time. Probably from there.
Under German occupation the Belgian FN factory made far more Hi Power pistols for the Wermacht than did the Canadian Inglis factory for the allies
Every weapon sounds different. The downside of carrying another nation's weapons is soldiers learn to tell the difference, and sometimes you make important decisions based on the threat level a sound represents. When I was in Somalia 1992-1993, I knew the difference between the sound of an M-16A2 and similar 5.56 mm weapons that U.S. and many allied forces used and the 7.62 mm AK-47s Somali militias hid from task force units and would pull out to use, usually after sundown. In my case, if the sound of an AK-47 woke me up, I would stay awake long enough to determine if it was getting closer or moving away. If the latter, try to get back to sleep
The British Army have ranges (developed for N.Ireland) for training troops to identify between different weapon sounds when fired at them. They were installed inside a Napoleonic Martello tower at Hyde, with a bullet trap next to the sangar the troops are housed in.
@@wessexdruid7598, I had a infantry company commander in pre-fall-of-the-Wall West Berlin who came from U.S. Army Special Forces and made it possible for us to fire AK-47s: weapons, ammunition and a range. It was valuable in many ways: learning the sound and learning how to fire a weapon we might need at some point. Not valuable? Watching the company commander trying to shoot my red filtered flashlight marking one of the range limits.
@@edwardloomis887 My point was the troops are on the end of the incoming rounds, not shooting the weapons. 🙂
@@wessexdruid7598, please don't take my feedback as kneejerk or negative. Essentially, I am agreeing that what you outlined makes sense and I had a boss who was equally enlightened. FYI, when you are on a firing range, you not only hear the weapon you are firing, but all of the others that are firing, so while I was not being shot at at that moment, I could hear sounds that proved valuable during a deployment to Mogadishu.
German infantry was impress by U.S. Garand M-1 rifle, M-1, M2 carbine, Browning .30 caliber and .50 caliber machine gun.
An interesting point regarding Germany's post-war use of the U.S. M1 Carbine. As Dr. Felton noted, many were sent to Bavaria. Since Germans were so used to open notch rear sights, quite a number of Carbines lost their superior aperture rear sights for sights akin to the 98k Mauser bolt-action rifle. Carbines so modified command a bit of a premium among American Carbine collectors.
The PPSh-41 used a 7.62x25 cartridge which is less than two thirds the weight and 60% the muzzle energy of the 9mm Parabellum round. This meant that despite its massive ammo capacity, great rate of fire and good recoil characteristics it did a lot less damage and had much shorter range. Still, if I was fighting street to street in an urban environment I would sure as hell rather a PPSh-41 than an MP-40 !
That's why the Germans used so many of them, it was especially robust for close combat and ammo for it was everywhere.
In a few war movies you often see the Allied characters adamantly saying they want a Luger pistol as a souvenir.
I can assume their German counterparts had the same idea about certain Allied weapons.
I'm pretty sure the Japanese used whatever Allied weapons and equipment they found useful to.
And who would have turned down the chance to grab a Japanese - I nearly said 'Geisha' instead of Katana (even if they did cut down the Tang)?
Actually on further thought .............
Mark. Thanks for providing my Monday night entertainment!
I once saw some German recordings about the the Dieppe Raid, where you can clearly see a German soldier with a BAR.. Did a bit of Googling and a found out that a number of them was delivered to the polish prewar army and that they were chambered in the German caliber 8*57 Mauser.. So it was actually an easy thing for the Germans to put them into good use..
I love these new little mini foreign weapon series. Thank you.
Hello Mr felton, as you were speaking of foreign firearms in the hands of soldiers during a conflict it reminded me of an excellent book about the Franco-Algerian colonial war (Les appelé en Algérie, Erwan Bergot). In this book, it is sometime question of germans WW2 era firemarms and artillery connons given to the FLN (National Liberation Front). It might or may not be enough to constitue a full video, but I think it is worth the time to check.
Anyway I highly appreciate your content ! (please forgive me my english mistakes !)
Mark is "on fire " this weekend with two uploads. This one and also one on his "War Stories Channel".
In Yugoslavia they had the Mauser M24 which was also chambered in 8mm just like the German 98k. I bet logistics concerning ammunition for both sides were very simple.
Thanks Mark you always cover the little things that you wounder about in ww2. 👍
A good weapon fortunately saved from Axis plunder was the Polish Mors sub machine gun as only 40 or so were issued to the Polish army but the entire process of manufacture was luckily got out of the country along with the design team before the fall of the country
True but it was underdeveloped and quite outdated fun compared to rkm wz 28 or VIS.
@@ManWithNoName1980 Well maybe but the Maroczek auto rifle was as good and even better of a weapon to even a Garand, but was never used at all in combat but once by its inventor to down a Stuka, before never seeing further use
WW2 history of such little known topics are much appreciated!!
I always remember footage of a German soldier with a hi power in the hedgerows and I saw one in Italy with a M1 Carbine. I always thought that was interesting. The ppsh also and even in movies like Stalingrad and Cross of Iron.
The Germans loved the M-1 carbine, they had nothing like it.
You're talking to my plant
Gregory Stevensh
@@HamanKarn567 Coho, waow. If this is you say yes, just say "Hi Fred" and I know this isn't a recording.
The FBI really needs to be called in on this.
Thank you Dr. Felton. I watch every video you put out and am subscribed but I have never thanked you.
I think it would probably be confusing if you're used to being shot at by K-98s and suddenly someone shoots at you with an M-1. I wonder how many allies were killed by thinking thinking they were being fired on by their own troops so stepped out to stop fractricide only to find Germans
In the heat of battle, you’re not going to tell the difference between two rifle shots of a similar calibre, but I can definitely imagine something like this happening with German soldiers using a captured Bren like we saw in the photo. Its lower rate of fire sounded so different to the MG42s the allies were used to hearing.
I remember reading also that Americans would never use captured AKs in Vietnam for similar reasons, After a few GIs learned the hard way!
Unlike in video games most guns sound the same IRL, especially when there are tons of them going off at once.
A semi auto is indistinguishable from a bolt action in a similar caliber, you do not hear the bolt if you are being shot at. You can’t really judge based on the rate of fire either, very rarely would there only be one person shooting.
(Plus the Germans had several weapons which were either capable of or were exclusively semi auto.)
Damn soo cool to see Germans using an American 50. Cal
I have read that the M1 carbine was much prized by German troops.
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