GatorFarmer
Member
This seemed to be a strangely truncated episode. Perhaps the personalities of the experts were more offensive than usual, since we has two odd "historians" that liked to dress up as SS men, and two guys - one of them apparently a mercenary - that talked about the Viet Cong.
Oddly, of all the match ups featured on this show, this is one that actually took place, more or less. A fair number of Wehrmacht and SS men were recruited into the French Foreign Legion after WW2 to serve in IndoChina, where they fought the Viet Minh, the immediate predecessors to the Viet Cong. No mention of this on the show.
Anyway, while the Mat49 was certainly used in IndoChina, it seemed odd to omit the AK47 and SKS, both of which were used extensively, as were Chinese PPSh43 burp gun copies. The AKs were even shown in some footage as being handled by the VC crew. Captured M1/M2 carbines, various Japanese weapons, and even captured M16s were probably as likely to be encountered.
On the SS side, the focus on the Mauser pistol and Mp28 was curious. Both of these would have seen the most use early in the war when the Waffen SS was getting far from first choice equipment. Most of the Mauser pistols used were selective fire and had a detachable magazine. They were issued to couriers and the like. The Kar98 was far more common, and even seen in footage of the "shoot out" at the end.
The PPs41 Russian SMG with its drum magazine, often converted to 9mm for German use, was show in some segments, but not featured or explained.
By far the oddest omission was skipping over all the "classic" WW2 German arms (and not just the K98s). The MP 38/40 saw use in far larger numbers than the Mp28. More exotic weapons from '43 onwards were the G43 rifle (often fitted with a low power optic) and the Stg 44. And of course all German squads, including the SS, were based around either the Mg34 or Mg42 GPMGs. (The latter in 7.62mm Nato survives as the Mg3 to this day. American attempts to copy it eventually resulted in the M60, but the U.S. never had anything fully comparable until the adoption of the FN Mag as the M240 series many years later.)
German tactics at the time were to use the MG as the base of fire and riflemen/SMG troops would support the MG.
Edit to add (my kids were jumping on me earlier) that the Luger and P-38 were used in much greater numbers than the C96 and later Mauser variants, but that "the" SS handgun, when it could be obtained, was probably the Browning Hi Power. It was sort of a status symbol at the time (Brit and Canadian troops also loved using them whenever they could be obtained and the Canadians made their own). The BHP was used either condition zero or condition three at the time, owing to the vestigal thumb safety. (One theory has it that JMB himself designed it with condition zero carry in mind). Though Tokes were used by the German forces as well along with every other handgun that would shoot, including 1911s from Norway. The BHP was the closest to a trademark SS pistol as it got though.
Most of the German gear of the period was pretty good, Stg 44s showed up in African brushfire wars until the late 70s or early 80s when the Russians ran out of captured ammo to give away with them. MG3s and original variants plus local copies were still being used in the Balkans in the 90s. The ripping noise that an Mg42 makes is one of the distinctive sounds of WW2 combat, to the point that a period U.S. Army training film specifically addressed this as a morale concern. (Find it, fix it, flank it, and kill it was the basic message of the film if memory serves.)
Oddly, of all the match ups featured on this show, this is one that actually took place, more or less. A fair number of Wehrmacht and SS men were recruited into the French Foreign Legion after WW2 to serve in IndoChina, where they fought the Viet Minh, the immediate predecessors to the Viet Cong. No mention of this on the show.
Anyway, while the Mat49 was certainly used in IndoChina, it seemed odd to omit the AK47 and SKS, both of which were used extensively, as were Chinese PPSh43 burp gun copies. The AKs were even shown in some footage as being handled by the VC crew. Captured M1/M2 carbines, various Japanese weapons, and even captured M16s were probably as likely to be encountered.
On the SS side, the focus on the Mauser pistol and Mp28 was curious. Both of these would have seen the most use early in the war when the Waffen SS was getting far from first choice equipment. Most of the Mauser pistols used were selective fire and had a detachable magazine. They were issued to couriers and the like. The Kar98 was far more common, and even seen in footage of the "shoot out" at the end.
The PPs41 Russian SMG with its drum magazine, often converted to 9mm for German use, was show in some segments, but not featured or explained.
By far the oddest omission was skipping over all the "classic" WW2 German arms (and not just the K98s). The MP 38/40 saw use in far larger numbers than the Mp28. More exotic weapons from '43 onwards were the G43 rifle (often fitted with a low power optic) and the Stg 44. And of course all German squads, including the SS, were based around either the Mg34 or Mg42 GPMGs. (The latter in 7.62mm Nato survives as the Mg3 to this day. American attempts to copy it eventually resulted in the M60, but the U.S. never had anything fully comparable until the adoption of the FN Mag as the M240 series many years later.)
German tactics at the time were to use the MG as the base of fire and riflemen/SMG troops would support the MG.
Edit to add (my kids were jumping on me earlier) that the Luger and P-38 were used in much greater numbers than the C96 and later Mauser variants, but that "the" SS handgun, when it could be obtained, was probably the Browning Hi Power. It was sort of a status symbol at the time (Brit and Canadian troops also loved using them whenever they could be obtained and the Canadians made their own). The BHP was used either condition zero or condition three at the time, owing to the vestigal thumb safety. (One theory has it that JMB himself designed it with condition zero carry in mind). Though Tokes were used by the German forces as well along with every other handgun that would shoot, including 1911s from Norway. The BHP was the closest to a trademark SS pistol as it got though.
Most of the German gear of the period was pretty good, Stg 44s showed up in African brushfire wars until the late 70s or early 80s when the Russians ran out of captured ammo to give away with them. MG3s and original variants plus local copies were still being used in the Balkans in the 90s. The ripping noise that an Mg42 makes is one of the distinctive sounds of WW2 combat, to the point that a period U.S. Army training film specifically addressed this as a morale concern. (Find it, fix it, flank it, and kill it was the basic message of the film if memory serves.)
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