Why did the Nazis weaponize flare guns: The Sturmpistole with firearms expert Jonathan Ferguson.

[@CobraDBlade]

I don't know who decided to edit in the memes/ outlandish visuals into these videos, but I want them and the person doing the editing to know that I really appreciate the effort.

[@ptonpc]

Same here.

[@ulissedazante5748]

I second that.

[@jameshughdalton]

I third it.

[@geoffbenoy2052]

I have such a Hebel flare gun, never realised it could be adapted to a kind of stock to shoot anti-tank ammunition. But I wouldn't be confortable in battle situations 😊

[@DirePanda]

Sturmpistole at 90 degrees = most epic game of lawn darts dare ever.

[@patrickrose1221]

" It's no use running around with your hands on your head" 😆😅👍

[@peepsbates]

Nah that'd be the Panzerwurfmine. Look it up. Me and my buddies used to call it playing 'Explosive Lawn Darts' when we played Heroes and Generals where it was an AT weapon in that game.

[@patrickrose1221]

@@peepsbates sounds mint 😆😅👍

[@andreyradchenko8200]

@@peepsbates Mine was renamed to an expression that roughly translates into English as 'Metal Box Burial'. H3 magnetic mine was 'Turret Launcher Mk3'. So many fond memories.

[@epikmanthe3rd]

THEY WERE WEARING PARAMILITARY CLOTHING

[@mats7492]

Fun fact: „Züge“ in German can either mean „rifling“ or „trains“ depending on context 😂

[@tommeakin1732]

As far as I can see, it's from the same root as English "tug". It does seem like the word has been a little too stretched in how many things it can mean, but hey, unlike us, they like to speak their mother tongue. Fair enough. I think it'd be nice if we were allowed to speak more English rather than having unspoken social rules that ranks English as lower class dumb-speech, and anything Greek-Romance as le intelligent et sophistique

[@mats7492]

@@tommeakin1732 In german its indeed "Zug" which means "tug" ..

[@willob763]

​@@mats7492 I was also gonna say "train" is "Zug".😅

[@DaDudeb]

Ich mag Züge.

[@denisrauch]

Züge or Zug can also mean "moves" or "the move" like in chess

[@Getpojke]

Knowing British squaddies its probably just as well we didn't have these. The amount of broken or dislocated arms after persuading new recruits that they're "...not a proper soldier..." until they can fire one, one handed & sans stock would've filled whole wings of hospitals.

[@hibob841]

Reminiscent of the Japanese Type 89 light mortar of WW2. Nicknamed the "knee mortar" by U.S. troops, it was decidedly NOT designed to be used that way. There are accounts (possibly apocryphal) of broken femurs, but at the very least it would have left you with a nasty bruise and difficulty walking for a few days. Whoops.

[@evillabrador1]

Wasn’t a baton gun a converted flare pistol

[@copee2960]

​@@hibob841Everytine I hear broken femur...I think Brian Reagan...

[@KaijuBiologist]

Half the beds would be Americans, trying to prove who the tougher soldier was.

[@tacticalmanatee]

some of the newer versions of the medium-velocity 40mm grenades can penetrate 85mm of armor according to Rheinmetall: "The HEDP round, even with its large shaped charge capable of penetrating 85mm of RHA, still emits more than 1000 fragments when functioned." That's quite capable of taking out most light armor out there, and even capable of taking out heavy stuff from the sides or rear.

[@zoiders]

Different grenade. The 40mm round used in a 203 or Hk type launcher uses the high/low pressure system. The grenades you describe are the 40x53mm rounds intended for the Hk GMG or the US made Mk19. They are higher velocity and they are not compatible with hand held launchers.

[@tacticalmanatee]

@@zoiders The medium velocity 40x51mm I was referring to is compatible with the M32A1 handheld launcher and a few others. It is separate from the older high-velocity 40x53mm that is limited to the big belt-fed GMGs. It is currently being developed by Rheinmetall and in testing with the US military, so it's not well known yet. I was citing it as an example of how far handheld compact anti-armor weapons have come, since 85mm is not only more pen than the largest warhead fired by this WW2 launcher, but actually surpasses many early WW2 light and medium tank cannons.

[@williamzk9083]

-The German 30mm diameter Gewehr-Panzergranate could penetrate 30mm of RHA when fired from the standard K98 bolt action refile grenade launcher with the "Schiessbecher" or shooting cup attached. A 44mm supercaliber Gross Gerwhere-Panzeregrenate fired from the same fitting could penetrate 70mm. The Waffen SS developed its own and variety of supercaliber grenades up to 61mm diameter fired from the "Schiessbecher" could penetrate 139mm. I suspect the 30mm versions could have evolved to penetration of nearly 2 diameters as German HEAT rounds improved at the end of the war. -I see flare gun adaption as quite useful as both the G.43 semi automatic rile and the StuG.44 assault rifle had problems with rifle grenades. The 44mm supercaliber round would be very useful.

[@tacticalmanatee]

@@williamzk9083 139mm is absolutely wild for the time. I'm guessing the range was pretty short, though, unless they were using the converted anti-tank rifles (Granatbüchse Modell 39). I'm guessing the SS AT grenade you mentioned is the Grosse Panzergranate 61?

[@zoiders]

@@tacticalmanatee And I don't believe you. Stop gamering.

[@VekhGaming]

"Not using it without the stock". I'm kinda surprised I never saw some Rambo or BJ Blazkowicz-type person dual wield them stockless in any piece of media I can remember.

[@pegoossens]

in the later versions of the wolfenstein games you actually have a version of the kampfpistole. Even though they turned it into a revolver

[@billysasterd5707]

Thats my biggest problem with Wolfenstein, they can never get the guns right. Its so inaccurate it ruins it for me.

[@jimfortnite7810]

@@billysasterd5707that's the point, they're fictional retro-future-looking versions of real guns. They are deliberately trying not to get them right. You can't tell me the gatling mg-42 doesn't rock.

[@pegoossens]

@@billysasterd5707 the later games (new order and after) are based in a fantasy setting going from the 1960 s to the eighties. So the designers inspired themselves mixing classig WW2 with more modern elements (like HK rifles) if you take the kampfpistole for example. It is a different gun in the game but the lines are clearly ins pired by the weapon in this video

[@kilroy4199]

@@pegoossensthe version in the old blood looks even more like the real one

[@AlbertFrederickLarun]

Another great episode! Thank you Jonathan Ferguson and the Royal Armouries.

[@michaelshelton5488]

Looking down the rifled barrel reminded me of the opening of a James Bond movie

[@VeraTR909]

Love the occasional joke (also with the editing) makes these videos feel a bit more lighthearted and less stuffy. Great editing in general btw, with the relevant pics and well timed cuts.

[@skyd8726]

Coupled with the t-shirt!😂

[@darthplagueis13]

Pronunciation advice for Jonathan: The st in the word "Pistole" is exactly the same as in the English word pistol. No need to prounce it Pishtole instead. The Sht pronunciation for st only applies when the word starts with st (z.B. Stahl, Stern, Steuer...).

[@Chromatic_Death]

Ah, the wise indeed!

[@Emily-ou6lq]

OO Sheven begsh to differ

[@williamzk9083]

You have to pronounce the "e". as in Porche. No silent e in German

[@andydaniels3029]

The cut-scenes to the comedic relief were absolutely brilliant!

[@plunder1956]

Congratulations on the Storm-Ents sequence.

[@JinKee]

They have the most beautiful milling and stamping.

[@JAAGen01]

Before I watch the video but after reading the description. I'm going to do something I dont ever thing I've done before and defend a seemingly baffling German WWII arms development choice. If my memory serves me correctly this thing was being put into service before development on the Panzerfaust or Panzerschrek was finished. And of course during this time German infantry was having massive problems not being able to deal with the unending tide of T-34's and KV-1's on the eastern front. So to me personally, I can absolutely see adopting this thing as a stopgap AT weapon to equip troops with as an emergency measure before the proper AT weapons are ready to be deployed. Considering it's a modification of a widely available well known and tested system it was likely quick and cheap to do this, and having a poor ranged man-portable AT weapon is better than none at all. I personally would take this over a Panzerknacker anyday. Here's hoping I'm not wrong on any of those points or Johnathan covers the min the vid.

[@F1ghteR41]

It's also compact, doesn't produce a backblast which would impede firing it indoors and has a reasonable choice of ammunition.

[@harryfaber]

I sometimes wonder if it is simpler than that. Years ago, I went on a crazy 'sales' course where the instructor kept going on about 'added value', we see it today in things like wall mounted electric radiators with USB charging ports. The guy making the flare gun hoped to sell millions, sold a few dozen and thought 'what else can we do with this? If he had been English, he would have added a tea making round but a much more sensible German thought 'armour piercing'.

[@me.ne.frego.]

Having a proto-M79 for dealing against enemy nests, barricades, building walls, trucks, armored cars and light tanks is awesome. The Sturmpistole only lacks an antipersonnel defense shotgun-like round.

[@krauterz]

Thanks Jonathan and team! much appreciated, one of my favourite channels.

[@zoiders]

The tree trunk attachment is actually something that makes perfect sense as it allows you to turn a flare pistol into a trip flare. A very common item used for fighting in defence and ambushes.

[@wsippel]

Totally forgot this thing existed, I found it fascinating as a young teenager. I had an old book with a pretty detailed description and technical manual of the Kampfpistole and the available ammo. Might have even been in an old issue of the Reibert I had (from the early 60's I believe), which would suggest that the Bundeswehr still had a few in its arsenal back then. Reiberts contained manuals for pretty much everything the Bundeswehr had, even if it was just collecting dust in storage somewhere and never issued.

[@wackawackacount]

0:20 "Forgive my German" sounds like the classy, British version of "Pardon my French" ;-)

[@elephaux5671]

Not quite. Pardon my French is used to apologise for swearing, which is ironic as most of our cruse words in English are of Germanic derivation.

[@afwalker1921]

But what if I am swearing in Urdu?

[@wackawackacount]

@@afwalker1921 That's the real question.

[@tarmaque]

@@elephaux5671 I can swear in Spanish, although other than that I can't really speak it beyond ordering a beer.

[@afwalker1921]

@@wackawackacount Isn't it?

[@BLADEOFSUN1]

your pronounciation of Doppelgelenk-Baumschraube was pretty spot on.

[@samsonsoturian6013]

Welcome to Germany. They repurposed the flair gun as a grenade launcher, but none of the parts are interchangeable anyway.

[@EiKk4__]

Typical Deutsche engineering... :P

[@harryfaber]

@@EiKk4__ A 'flair gun' is only used in very expensive haut couture French fashion houses....

[@EiKk4__]

@@harryfaber Battlefield might have been the only game, where I have seen this bloober of a lightgun.

[@rikusschulze6249]

why shouldn't be the parts be interchangeable?

[@samsonsoturian6013]

@@harryfaber this is pyroland, where flare and flair are the same

[@noreply-7069]

I would appreciate greatly you showing the camera looking down through the sights. Thanks for the content.

[@sagrud]

It is once again nice to see a weapon from my hometown featured in such a video (sometimes also on Forgotten Weapons) as ERMA stands for Erfurter Maschinen- und Werkzeugfabrik

[@STRAKAZulu]

Love the use of Hot Shots Part Deux footage!

[@Moredread25]

I enjoyed the more daring editing of this episode.

[@zin6749]

I didn't know House MD was a firearm collector in his spare time

[@donaldunderhill3020]

Thank you for making your video in a well lighted room

[@parrotraiser6541]

Putting a flare into a rifled pistol would surely be less regrettable than the converse.

[@kevinmcmillin870]

Hmm why yes indeed

[@RoscoesRiffs]

Thanks. I've wanted to see one of these since a World War II combat veteran described a day of being on the receiving end of them.

[@JoeKing-_i_am_not_joking]

Hello Jonathan Ferguson, The Keeper of Firearms and Artillery at the Royal Armouries Museum in the UK, home to thousands of iconic weapons from throughout history! You are the male Taylor Swift of weapon history for me ❤

[@AllNamesWereAlreadyTaken]

The LotR clipped made my day ;)

[@BallisticTech]

How did this not get turned into a star wars gun...

[@itsmejak7888]

they made 200 of them making them very rare like Johnathan said if you paid attention

[@knightmarethe1st]

I love your work and very much appreciate the willingness to say you dont know something. To many people hate to admit that and I can count on you to be honest.

[@pauljames1762]

Remember watching an episode of Battles for Europe: Hurtgen forest where a US veteran talks about the Germans using these.

[@Craig-u6j]

Yes, saw a veteran talk about the hell in the Hurtgen, the Germans would stay low in trenches and fire into the trees as the heads of the allies appeared from as little as 15m, causing a lot of head, neck and shoulder wounds, all of which are obviously serious if not fatal. The yanks absolutely hated the blooptubes, so they must have been effective, at least from prepared defences

[@yetanother9127]

I imagine the tree mount isn't just for flares, but could also be used for a booby trap or mine of sorts in conjunction with the anti-tank grenade. Set the thing up in a hidden position pointing at a road you think enemy tanks are going to be using, and put an observer with the remote trigger in a position with a good view of the road. (Or just rig it to a tripwire.)

[@derBenIsPlaying]

>"We'll talk about that [the sight] in a minute" >Refuses to elaborate >Instead explains everything else on the gun All I ever wanted to know is what purpose these funky sights serve

[@TheBeefSlayer]

I love in the background there is a library storage shelf system …. Instead of books…. It’s just racks upon racks of historic firearms!!!! Wow. I hope it’s secure and fire proof… because it’s priceless. Wow. So many firearms. 😱

[@LiveDonkeyDeadLion]

How do you catalog a weapon like this that could fit into several different categories? Is there an equivalent to the Dewey decimal system for arms and artillery?

[@dd11111]

Thats actually an interesting question. I hope they answer you!

[@HalfPersianMan]

I believe this thing is a light grenade launcher.

[@burgerforcongress1001]

Probably the same category as a modern single-shot 40 mm grenade launcher (M79); there a wide range of munitions in that form factor, including flares, smoke, anti-armor high explosive, antipersonnel explosive, super-shotgun, & "less lethal" tear gas or baton rounds.

[@ternarycode]

sturmpistole mentioned!!!! this has gotta be one of my favorite quirky weapons out there

[@michaelscholfield5643]

It would be a great idea to do a round up video of the extra info gathered by the "If any of you know, please get in touch" suggestions. It would be interesting to find out. Not just people nitpicking or questioning your knowledge but the genuine amendments

[@fruckles]

The game 'Hotdogs, Horseshoes and Hand grenades' has this and it's my favorite emergency room clearing weapon. Especially when I'm trying to reload. ☕🐝🇺🇸

[@patrickbo2045]

You should watch the episodes that Jonathan did on that game, it's just hilarious! xD

[@TheBeefSlayer]

Never heard of that game… but have heard the saying that … “Almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.”

[@harpomarx7777]

Creative and Ingenious German thinking in WWII!

[@sortaspicey9278]

It occurred to me that the reason the butt pad can articulate is so when you angle the weapon to fire you don't have to lean your whole body back and the contact with your body will be maintained regardless of the angle you point the weapon at!

[@me.ne.frego.]

It's so evident that feature is for having most optimal shoulder rest at the angles this thing must be fired! Sometimes this guy and Ian from FW can't figure out pretty basic things for their gun-nerd levels.

[@eloryosnak4100]

So... I would agree with you guys if the butt pad was in some way spring-loaded and or articulated in both directions. It isn't. Your 'cheek weld' (as it were) can be uncomfortable or bad contact if the padding is separated from the body. At default, the design is a ')' shape. This is pretty common, as it matches the curve of the shoulder. If you wanted it to spring articulate, making it change to an 'I' shape (with top and bottom alternately hooked) would potentially be useful, but even then the recoil will ruin the contact with the spring pressure. The thing is, with no spring pressure and only two real positions, you either can have a ) that matches your shoulder, or a > that... uh... doesn't do a damn thing. *And* if it did would immediately upon recoil unfold into the aforementioned ), smashing into your shoulder. You wouldn't want to use this in the folded configuration.

[@juusolatva]

rifle grenades reminded me of the Rifleman's Assault Weapon due to how hilarious it looks, i.e. a 140mm metal ball filled with explosives and rocket fuel hanging under the muzzle of your rifle. it's basically a HESH warhead that is powered by a small rocket motor that you launch kind of like a rifle grenade. it does have nozzles to induce spin that stabilizes it in flight, since I doubt just sticking a rocket motor on a ball would work very well and there might have been a HEAT version of it as well. also funny how the Finnish RK 62 was never designed to shoot rifle grenades, but the later model RK 95 TP was given the ability to do that, although rifle grenades were never really used in any capacity and one does wonder why that capability was even added to a weapon made in the 1990s.

[@44WarmocK77]

Ah yes, the Kampfpistole ... I was always fascinated with that chapter from my book about german close combat firearms (probably the one you mentioned if it's the one from Jülch and Fleischer). ^^ IIRC both the Wurfkörper 361 with the egg handgrenade and the 358 with the boombastic tin can had the propellant charge built into the base of the adapter, so you only needed to shove the 358 and 361 into the flare pistol's muzzle until the springs at the base of the adapter would kook into the groove for the normal ammo's cartridges and you were already good to go. My personal favorite for the rifled version definitely is the Nachrichtenpatrone Z, which was filled with a few sheets of paper for sending messages (and sometimes even a small pencil for writing a reply!). Ballistic Express Mail for the win. :D

[@thurin84]

i laughed way harder at the treant a/t team than i had any call to lol. thanks!

[@o.r.grinter7763]

Jonathan you have the best job in the world

[@IggyMaid]

I remember this gun from Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker! That game had a very large variety of weapons

[@barticle]

Lapel Kolibri will be the next hot trend in open carry.

[@brokeandtired]

Would be a good grenade launcher. So no surprise that they added a HE element. Plus there was still a lot of light armour around as well, so a heat charge isn’t as bad an idea as someone might think.

[@j.robertsergertson4513]

It might not penetrate the tanks hull ,but it could disable the tracks .

[@verycreativ233]

@@j.robertsergertson4513 it absolutely would penetrate a tanks hull 80mm isn't somethign to laugh at that thing goes through the front of early shermansand the side of most medium tanks.

[@j.robertsergertson4513]

@@verycreativ233 i said it " Might" not .

[@harryfaber]

The most produced armoured vehicle was the Universal Carrier....

[@me.ne.frego.]

Only an ignorant kid would consider the german "assault pistol" ridiculous. Urban combat with one of these and a MP40 in the age of bolt actions and hand grenades is a dream kit to have!

[@danovercast9282]

The invention of the shaped-charge changed everything for defeating armor. You no longer needed velocity for penetration, so you could turn low pressure systems like flare guns (and PIAT) into armor killers.

[@everybot-it]

Pronunciation of "Leuchtpistole" was spot on

[@acomingextinction]

That is a friggin' sweet backdrop.

[@ulissedazante5748]

Lot of interesting things lurking from there. And for the video the lighter background helps

[@kathleenfoster9887]

Another very interesting presentation well done.it would interesting to workout how much felt recoil each munition produced.

[@kevinoliver3083]

The buttstock looks like it was adapted from the Pzb 39 anti-tank rifle. Which would make sense as that gun was obsolete, and out of production when the K42 was developed. So they probably had surplus parts to hand.

[@bizzzzzzle]

It appears smaller

[@tuckerlindsey7378]

beautiful looking piece of machinery

[@LeeviHokka126]

Oddly, my learning of the Sturmpistole came from the manga "Golgo 13" - it was featured in at least two volumes.

[@SteamGeezerUK]

As an aside, that sticker on the side of the gun could be safely removed using WD40 and kitchen paper (or cotton buds etc) without causing any damage to the metal or the finish.

[@cyberleaderandy1]

Surgical adhesive remover should remove it as well.

[@pommunist]

scraping it off with a thumb nail would work too

[@DaveDexterMusic]

I imagine that the professional firearms conservators and experts employed there are very aware how to do such things and there's a good reason for that sticker still being there. for example: if that sticker was there when the pistol was accessioned, it's potentially part of the item's provenance and history and can't simply be removed for aesthetic reasons. ferguson almost always uses surgical gloves when handling the firearms, because skin contains oil that will print onto them and have to be cleaned; using wd40, thus adding MORE oil into the firearm's environment that would have to then be removed, seems like a poor choice in any case museum objects are handled with extreme care and cleaning/removing/restoring them is not as simple as "wd40'll get that right off, no worries"

[@JO19pLuMbUm94HN]

I Love in the drawing of the shaped charge it clarifies previsely: "Balls"

[@juliusxeno6537]

Editor outdone themselves

[@juusolatva]

Germans did have the Nahverteidigungswaffe for shooting flares and grenades from inside the tank and it was apparently compatible with these flare guns, but Israelis took that whole idea to another level by having an internal breech-loaded 60mm mortar in their Merkava tanks, since somehow a 105mm or a 120mm tank gun, an M2 Browning and 3 FN MAGs just weren't enough.

[@williamzk9083]

Tiger tanks had a system of launching grenades upward to air burst and delouse the tank of infantry.

[@juusolatva]

@@williamzk9083 Nazis did think of Jews as lice, so I guess I shouldn't be that surprised when one of them thinks that the people fighting the Nazis were lice as well.

[@andrewwatkinson1548]

Appearing soon in the first person shooter of your choice. That is so cool.

[@TallDude73]

First time hearing of this weapon. Very interesting. It couldn't have been widely used, or we would have heard more about it. The panzerfaust was famous because it was widely used.

[@matatron.]

Am I the only one who feels that the term 'Waffenamt' is being used incorrectly in most english speaking videos? An 'Amt' is a government agency, so in this case the agency for weapons. The eagle is therefore not called 'Waffenamt'. It is rather the proofmark/logo OF the Waffenamt.

[@Shinzon23]

I didn't think much of these things in the few video games they show up in but holy s*** they're very effective especially if you can get behind the tank

[@thegunfoogle2864]

"LP" at the end is LeuchtePistole, denoting is is a flaregun, so it would be called "fighting pistol - flaregun", and American troops generally called it a Sturmpistole because everything else German was sturm this or that, and it sounds cool. The danish military still currently uses these and even makes reproductions as they affectionately refer to it as a pirate blaster, since its large patinad brass colored barrel resembles a large antique pistol.

[@VyantQuijt]

To whomever wrote the description: "... alongside *their already effective areay..."

[@nelson0110]

This background is much better, brighter.

[@johnklein233]

Great video. It is nice to see an original of this extremely rare weapon. All that typically show up on the market are the tan or yellow reproductions/fakes, and they have high prices too. It is too bad you didn't have examples of the grenades it fired. I have most of them in my collection, but the 326 LP is the coolest.

[@juusolatva]

the Soviet RSP 30/ROP 30 flares were not made to be weapons, but nevertheless the flare part itself is a 30mm chunk of metal powered by a rocket motor to the extent that you can seriously injure someone, if you shoot it at them, which you might not at first expect from something that looks like a short and thick roman candle. apparently the used tubes left over after shooting the flare can help you keep the barrel of your rifle clean in the field.

[@Idnekib]

Please... Give even more freedom to your editor... We deserve his nerdiness!!!

[@Yuzral]

Since nobody else has, I'm going to ask the obvious (and stupid) question: What would happen if you tried to fire the flare round out of the rifled version? Going to guess various flavours of unhealthily close kaboom depending on what bit failed first...

[@jonathanbohm6489]

I’m assuming your flare would start spinning around and not go as high due to rifling

[@vornamenachname989]

The Flare in the rifled version would be a lot better for your health than doing it the other way around...

[@massivepileup]

The rifling seemingly narrows the barrel somewhat so the flare just wouldn't fit.

[@odinswrath86]

Love the shirt!

[@thecommenter9678]

=D about time i saw a quality video on the sturmpistole.

[@Alakazzam09]

Is that shoulder stock the same as the one for the MG15 ground support conversion?

[@georgeacethomas4145]

The way Jonathan pulled out that second flare gun like it’s his concealed piece

[@Rando_Shyte]

Yes? You didn't finish that sentence.

[@dumpsky]

"rifled barrel" in german means "gezogener lauf". "gezogen" is past of "ziehen" which means "pulled" or "drawn".

[@kettujabamiesukkeliukko]

Didn't even know this was a thing, thank you for this video. Question to Jonathan; are there any weapons in the collection you haven't seen?

[@Andy_Ross1962]

Ideal compact AT weapon for paratroopers.

[@1s3ngr1m]

Actually the german army often employed, and to this day employs multi-purpose weapons like these. In my time we used the "Handflammpatrone" a single-shot- Flare/Incineration cartridge launcher in offensive modes, even if it was, according to documentation, only to be used to create smokescreens and burn down foliage that could be used by enemies as cover...

[@survivaloptions4999]

Who else heard the James Bond music?

[@honkhonl7308]

Paratrooper Rudi Fruehbeisser (Fallschirmjägerregiment 9) mentions this weapon in his war memories as part of the armament of the 3rd Paratrooper Division before the Normandy Landings. The division had recently been established and was thus quite impressively armed: "A particular pride (...) is the new Fallschirmjägergewehr (...). The so-called Kampfpistole is also a lot of fun. It is a flare pistol, the barrel of which is rifled and a special aiming device is attached to the handle. It can be used to fire explosive ammunition for anti-tank use and flare ammunition. There is simply no weapon or piece of equipment that would be missing anywhere in this regiment." When the division was re-equipped in the fall of 1944, it no longer received such weapons.

[@Quaker521]

Darn it, I seen this on X and got it right but I don't post on X so was waiting for the question on KZbin. Sadly you didn't post this weeks question on YT. Thanks for the video.

[@TheArklyte]

Question: given that HEAT grenades for it started to be supplied to troops during initial stages of Barbarossa, does it make it chronologically the first adopted en mass and used in combat infantry HEAT "projector"?

[@Emily-ou6lq]

People who like their own comment is like people who smell their own farts.

[@TheArklyte]

@@Emily-ou6lq oh, it gets worse. Sometimes I even copypaste my own comments if they don't reappear to become visible after some time. How dare I, right?🤣

[@JeffreyWilliams-dr7qe]

Intresting topic advertised in a Ronco 70s fashion.

[@agn855]

"Doppelgelenk-Baumschraube" - (double hinge tree screw) obviously used to set up a semi automated intrusion detection system that will launch a flare once it gets triggered via a trip wire…

[@agn855]

…and yes, if the intruder (who has released such a device) will get killed by a grenade that has been fired at an 90° angle, wouldn’t that make sense. So aren’t we taking here about a "Selbstschussanlage"!?

[@Kaboomf]

Possible but unlikely, as they had cheaper single use devices for doing the same job. Germans had several variants of trip wire fuse mechanisms that could be used to set off anything from a flare to an explosive charge. I suspect it was more a survivability thing, enemies would see where the flare was being launched from and might immediately target that area hoping to take out a command element. Officers or their sides being the most likely to launch flares for signalling an attack for example. Rig the launcher to a tree and use a long trigger lanyard, and you stay out of harm's way if the launcher site gets targeted.

[@BHuang92]

Having a flare gun that can kill people is optimistic. Having a flare gun that can destroy tanks........

[@01Bouwhuis]

Shape charge hitting a track....engine deck..

[@gervinschwarz575]

Against a bt5, bt7, t26 and armoured cars it shure can be effective at close ranges. Also having a grenade launcher in a street fight is pretty helpful.

[@allangibson8494]

Being shot at close range with a fragmentation grenade would be very anti personnel.

[@linkmorris8216]

Pocket Panzerfaust.

[@Paladin1873]

Priceless!

[@prestongarvey7745]

I just got back into Enlisted, and it had me wondering about this thing. It a pain in the proverbial to use, but quite interesting to look at.

[@mattinkel7342]

Ents with rocket launchers .. who'd thunk

[@numeristatech]

That nub under the trigger reminds me of the old western 6 shooter carbines, and that used your supporting hand over your main hand and your supporting index finger looped over this to pull in and stabilise from there. And get your supporting hand away from the blowback!

[@FrankenTiger88]

Brilliant stuff! How about a video on the Italian “Trombocino” launcher please 🙏

[@mrdyvig]

I have anodized black BBs for one of my air guns 🔫 they're my favorite

[@yfelwulf]

Germany used flare pistols extensively for signalling attacks etc they developed an explosive round which is where Americans got the Idea for the M79 / M203 and other similar devices. As an anti tank round 😮

[@tommeakin1732]

Oh come on, I know we love to c*ck for the goose-steppers, but such basic grenade throwers don't need to be built off other basic grenade throwers. It's almost as basic as a gun can get. The idea itself of "lets make a breech loading grenade thrower" follows right after "I wish I could throw this grenade further". The lack of such a weapon in, say, ww1, speaks mostly to the lack of logistical willingness to invest in new things.

[@frankschaeffer8153]

This reminds me of Ernst von Salmon's The Outlaws where he mentions flare guns being used against vehicles by Freikorps soldiers in the inter-war period.

[@Aeonicentity]

Attaching it to a tree is actually a pretty genius idea because you can pretty much guarantee that whoever is firing a flare is probably a senior enlisted or junior officer so being able to fire it remotely allows you to do it from a trench or cover.

[@GypsyHunter232UK]

My old mum aged 10 9yrs old here in the qeer old corrupt UK 🇬🇧 brought one back from Germany aftet she took part in the battle for Berlin in the dying days of the ww2 as she formed part of a Ruski Cossack battalion. Her one was parkerised and still not one bit of rust or decay on it .

[@MiguelVicoR]

That is some old-school Star Wars shit!!

[@flyingninja1234]

Something a bounty hunter would use. It aids in those hard to disintegrate disintegrations.

[@patginni5229]

I would assume that the screw to tree idea was a perimeter trip wire. Military’s around the world use perimeter trip flares still. My old unit started a forest fire with one. Thankfully it was in training and we got it out before it went far.

[@alfazagato1455]

Appreciate the Winchester Tavern shirt. Wonder if anyone from that film watches?

[@sleeplessindefatigable6385]

I dare say that in a modern context for one-hand anti-tank munitions it's probably going to end up being drones. Either some kind of self-guiding drone that can identify your chosen tank and navigate to something like the tracks or the barrel to make it less of a threat, or maybe a simple sticky little dart drone that would attach itself to a tank and call for any nearby loiter munitions. In either case I imagine these would be a sort of "oh crap that's a tank" solution for the infantry in case of emergency, rather than a dedicated way to knock out a tank.

[@frosty3693]

A very interesting bit of gear. Since small German units like reconnaissance, used flares to communicate, identify their location and mark targets (for artillery and ground support aircraft) the squad/section leader had to carry the flare pistol. Since you have to carry it anyway, how nice to give it the ability to do something other than just launch flares. (my Americaness make me want one, with ammo of course) I could see where the tree mount would be useful. Mount it to a tree with a flare and with a trip wire. So for perimeter defense set it up and if a unit is attempting to infiltrate or approach, especially at night, they would give an alert, identiy their position and illuminate themselves, setting them up for a bad day, or night .( In later times , SEA, a standard empty food can, a regular handgrenade and a bit of string or fishing line works too. (much cheaper and easier to have. the humble tin can was also welded to M-60 door gun mounts to help control the belt feed) I have an old boating flare pistol that can fire 25mm flares or with it's insert 12 guage flares. (the urge it see if it would work with 12 shotgun shells is there but resisted)