Has the Pedersen Device ever been in use?

[Promo]

I was wondering if the Pedersen Device has ever been sent to Europe and seen use on a battlefield? Or were all of them kept in storage in the US?

I've also read that after WWII there has been found one somewhere in Germany and I was now wondering if this one had been stolen from or was sent to Europe by US in WWI.

Information

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[Rick the Librarian]

No "use in action" to my knowledge. I believe a few very early models were sent to Europe as demonstration examples, but other than testing, none.

I've heard about the one the Germans had but no one has speculated as to how they obtained it or wqhat happened to it.

[hsgl41]

At least a few were sent to the Philippines, A woman in my home town had a picture of her sons squad taken in the Philippines in the late 30s. Each of the riflemen had a Pedersen carrying case on his belt. He died in the death march and she would not let the picture out of her site. When she died it was probably thrown away.

[Rick the Librarian]

At least a few were sent to the Philippines, A woman in my home town had a picture of her sons squad taken in the Philippines in the late 30s. Each of the riflemen had a Pedersen carrying case on his belt. He died in the death march and she would not let the picture out of her site. When she died it was probably thrown away.

I admit I'd like to see the picture. The PDs were destroyed in the early 1930s. Possibly some of the web gear got other uses and that's what you saw. You cab still buy the pounchs that carried the PD magazines relative cheap today.

[hsgl41]

What else would fit in the "can" that the device was carried in? That is what was so obvious in the picture, I don't even recall seeing the magazine pouches.

[JGaynor]

I've heard about the one the Germans had but no one has speculated as to how they obtained it or wqhat happened to it.

Phil Sharpe, in the 1947 edition of "The Rifle in America", stated he personally saw an M1903 Mk 1 complete with PD in the summer of 1945. It had been in the reference collection of Rheinische Westfallian Sprengstoff A.G., Stadeln (Nurnburg) for some 25 years.
Regards,
Jim

[Promo]

Would be interesting to know what happened to that piece. Did the Army or a soldier take it home to the US? I guess it wasn't left at the reference collection as nearly everything was "emptied".

I'm currently trying to maybe find one of the pedersen devices in France, whether in a museum or owned by a private as I suppose the early models mentioned by Rick were sent there?

[firstflabn]

The occupation forces had a procedure for German museums to apply to keep weapons already in their collections. I just glanced at some of these applications on footnote.com (which I no longer subscribe to). As you might expect, the ones I saw were antiques and high dollar hunting rifles, so even if there was a procedure in place it may very well have excluded "modern" weapons - even before considering what they would have thought upon seeing a US military rifle.

[Calif-Steve]

I carried candy and TP in my ammo pouch in Viet Nam. You have to set your own priorities.