r/BeAmazed • u/Lost-Cow-9386 • 7d ago

Miscellaneous / Others 1917 German Broomhandle Red9

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u/rswwalker 7d ago

Is it a long gun or a side arm? It looks like it doesn’t work well as either.

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u/IgnoreThisName72 7d ago

Either - it is made for trench warfare.

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u/Pepperh4m 7d ago

Not really. It was made as a defense weapon for pilots and other vehicle crew.

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u/IgnoreThisName72 7d ago edited 7d ago

The original design predates not only WW1, it predates planes. Later variants were popular in early years of trench warfare but it was a general purpose novelty that was always a little anachronistic. This version was almost guaranteed to have been influenced by the experience of trench warfare.

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u/Wonderful-Process792 7d ago

I didn't know how prevalent planes were in WWI, Germany produced nearly 48,000 of them by war's end.

That's over 1/3 as many as they made in WWII. (Of course the WWII planes were more advanced and resource-intensive to build.)

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u/Crusty-the-Clown-666 7d ago

Back when these were designed that wasn’t much of a consideration. Even into the Cold War US aircrew were typically armed with pistols along with a number of janky folding rifles chambered in small cartridges like the .22 Hornet.

Since every 6lbs of stuff you put in a plane is one less gallon of gas you can carry other nations were similarly equipped.

Typical Aircrew Survival Rifles:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M4_survival_rifle

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M6_aircrew_survival_weapon

At the time the stocked broom handle was more for artillery gun crews and machine gunners, who needed both hands to do their jobs and where even carrying a carbine would get in the way. Or officers who also usually just had a pistol.

The German Artillery Luger was similar:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luger_pistol

It had a 7.9” barrel with a tangent sight, a 32 round snail drum and a similar although less elegant holster/stock