My 1911 and 1911A1's.

[theholeinthedonut]

The start of my collection was a Colt mixmaster that was reblued sometime after the war.

Information

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[theholeinthedonut]

Ithaca M1911A1

[theholeinthedonut]

Colt / Remington Rand Mixmaster.

[johniv]

Nicegins, sir. Thanks for shareing.

[theholeinthedonut]

It's not an 1911 or 1911A1, but it's .45 ACP and it is WWII GI, so I thought it might fit in here....

An FP45/M1942 "Liberator" pistol, it still has the comic-strip instructions! Those are hard to find, at least on this side of the big pond. Unfortunately the cardboard box, the cardboard ammo box and the wooden ejecting dowel are missing. The more I'm not too sure if the instructions are original or a copy.

[browningautorifle]

I expect the difference in your liberator and the ones here is that yours was likely issued...and the man holding it finally got rid of it...

[theholeinthedonut]

I never found much info about how many of these were issued, and how it was done. I read that Ike objected to it's planned use out of ethical concerns. Has anyone ny solid info of how many were used in the ETO and to whom and how they were issued?

[Herschel]

I can't cite a source for this information but I have heard for years that the pistols were designed to be dropped into German occupied territory for use by the partisans. There planned use was for the partisan to use the single shot to kill a German soldier and take his gun. They would not have been "issued".

[browningautorifle]

They would not have been "issued".

That IS issue. That's exactly what we refer to. Thanks anyway...

[theholeinthedonut]

I can't cite a source for this information but I have heard for years that the pistols were designed to be dropped into German occupied territory for use by the partisans. There planned use was for the partisan to use the single shot to kill a German soldier and take his gun. They would not have been "issued".

It is very difficult to make a 100% water tight final assessment, but from what I read in serious books, they were not meant to be given or issued, or what ever term you choose to use, to partisans. The intended use, as it had been planned by he OSS, was to literally flood the countryside of all the NAZI occupied countries with these cheap pistols. I think they were even meant to be thrown out of low flying planes......The rationale behind it was that many of the guns would eventually be picked up by civilians. Quite a few of these people would get so riled up by the bad treatment they suffered from their oppressors, that they would use the pistol, this in turn would be followed by repressions which would again fuel the resistance.

As stated before Eisenhower did not give the permission for this use of the Liberator.