Shortround6
Major General
If it's Italian and they using Breda 30 then the no one was killed by machine gun fire.
Riddle me this....if the 45 ACP is a game changer then why did Europe not adapt it?
In fact some famous German inter war pistols were .380 ACP.
You had an awful lot of NIH. (not invented here). The Germans had the 9mm parabellum. and despite much of the hype in gun magazines there isn't that much difference between the 9mm and .45. the 9mm has a higher velocity and flatter trajectory which makes hitting at a distance easier but since armies never give enough pistol training this advantage disappeared in reality.
French theory in both pistol and submachine gun cartridges and weapons is totally unfathomable to a non-Frenchman. AN awful lot of time and money spent on some of the least effective weapons of their class.
That covers the two largest European armies.
The "famous German inter war pistols were .380 ACP" were blowback pocket pistols. Used in service because of shortages, distance from the actual fighting and weight/size requirements. Like issuing to pilots/aircrew who were very unlikely to fire their pistols at another aircraft in flight. They were also issued to tank crewmen who are also very unlikely to fire them in combat unless forced to bail out of their tank.
By the way I have owned a Walther PP in .32 ACP, (Ex West German Police pistol) a Mauser 1914, a Colt pocket auto, and a Beretta 948. which is an aluminum framed model 94 in .22 caliber. Yes you can carry them in a holster on a belt with a spare magazine but trying to use them in combat against powerful service pistols?
I would also note that the British commonwealth used over 500,000 S & W revolvers in WW II. Chambered for .38/200 like the between war Enfield and Webley, so the issuing of non-standard pistols to some forces doesn't mean that the weapons were considered first choice by the armed forces involved.
The US Navy and Marines also issued the same revolver to aircrews in WW II and in fact a few leftover revolvers were issued to National Guard Air tanker crews during Desert Storm. Sure doesn't mean anybody really thought the old S&W 10 was the equal of the Beretta 92/M9.
It meant there weren't enough M9s and viable .45 1911s left in inventory.
I would also note that of those "famous German inter war pistols" three of them were double action pistols. You could carry them with the hammer down on a loaded chamber with the safety in the off position and a simple long pull on the trigger would cock the hammer and fire the pistol. But in regards to this thread (Great War) they didn't exist.
And I am not convinced that carrying a 1914 Mauser "cocked and locked" was really a very good idea.