{"id":127221,"date":"2020-06-06T18:25:56","date_gmt":"2020-06-06T22:25:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gunsamerica.com\/digest\/?p=127221"},"modified":"2020-06-06T18:25:56","modified_gmt":"2023-09-06T17:05:23","slug":"the-cows-foot-pistol-that-saved-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/the-cows-foot-pistol-that-saved-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"The Cow\u2019s Foot Pistol That Saved the World"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"The
Sometimes something as pedestrian as a handgun can indeed fundamentally shape the affairs of men. Mind that trigger finger there, stud.

English actor Simon Ward (1941 – 2012) filming ‘Young Winston’, a biopic of Winston Churchill, on location, 30th May 1971. He is holding a Mauser semi-automatic pistol. (Photo by Jack Kay\/Daily Express\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes it is the little things that are ultimately the most important. A modest mistake can topple a government, while an unexpected turn can secure a glorious victory. In today\u2019s tale, an innocuous injury ultimately shaped the destiny of the planet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
This cherubic young man went on to become one of the most singularly influential people in human history. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The time was October of 1896, and this fresh-faced English\nCavalry officer was the long arm of the British Empire. He served at the whim\nof the Crown. His first serious posting took him to Bombay, India. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
This youthful Calvary officer suffered a most fortuitous injury. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The young man was from aristocratic stock and an\naccomplished polo player. As his boat met the dock, however, there was an\nunexpected surge. Without thinking the Cavalry officer took hold of the railing\nand badly wrenched his right shoulder. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
This young soldier\u2019s injury robbed him of his facility with a cavalry saber and put a serious dent in his polo game. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In retrospect, the injury was likely a torn rotator cuff, and it never quite healed. In the days before MRI scanners and orthopedic surgeons you just made do. In this case, the young man would never again swing a regulation cavalry saber with authority. This injury would ultimately save his life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
This young soldier was little more than a child when he bought the pistol that would ultimately save his life. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The British Army offered status and adventure, but the pay remained modest. Upon his return to England, the young man borrowed money from his mother and retired to Westley Richards and Company, an esteemed gun shop of the era in Birmingham, England. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The awkward German military handgun that caught this young soldier\u2019s eye was a revolutionary design for its day. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Gun control then was not a thing. Well-heeled gentlemen of means could buy any military firearm that struck their fancy over the counter cash and carry. This young man settled on an odd-looking handgun imported from Germany. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The young officer found himself under fire for the first\ntime in Cuba on his 21st<\/sup> birthday. He later said of the experience,\n\u201cNothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
General Sir Herbert Kitchener was by some accounts a despot and a butcher. However, he was also the archetypal British war hero. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In 1898 this young officer was posted to the army of General\nSir Herbert Kitchener billeted in the Sudan. Three years prior British General\nCharles George Gordon had held out for a year against the forces of the Mahdi\nMuhammad Ahmad during the Siege of Khartoum. The Mahdi\u2019s troops eventually\nbreached the city walls and killed Gordon. Kitchener was out to re-establish\nEnglish dominance among what he saw as the unwashed masses of the Dark\nContinent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
Kitchener inspired generations of English soldiers. His death to a German sea mine while aboard the British armored cruiser HMS Hampshire in 1916 shook the nation to its core. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Kitchener\u2019s forces were arrayed against the army of Abdullah-al-Taishi, the successor to the self-proclaimed Mahdi. Kitchener had some 8,000 British regulars as well as roughly 17,000 Egyptian and Sudanese troops at his disposal. Arrayed against these 25,000 or so Commonwealth soldiers were more than twice their number of Muslim fighters. These warriors called themselves the Ansar. The rest of the world knew them as Dervishes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
A modest flotilla of gunboats moored nearby on the Nile offered Kitchener\u2019s forces a decisive edge. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The General deployed his men near the Sudanese village of\nKerreri some 11 kilometers north of Omdurman. The city of Khartoum, the site of\nthe aforementioned siege, was nearby. The Mahdists were enthusiastic but\nrelatively poorly armed, carrying a mixture of rifles and spears. Kitchener,\nthough badly outnumbered, was supported by his own organic quick-firing artillery\nand a flotilla of twelve British gunboats moored nearby in the Nile River.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The charge of the 21st<\/sup> Lancers at the Battle of Omdurman was the tactical swan song of the esteemed British horse cavalry. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The British enjoyed the advantage in artillery, modern\nrifles, and machineguns but were still nonetheless outnumbered two-to-one. In\nthe resulting melee the 21st<\/sup> Lancers, a British light cavalry\nregiment, advanced to clear the field. This was the last horse cavalry charge\nexecuted by the British Army.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
Abdullah-al-Taishi led his fanatical Dervishes with surprising tactical acumen. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Muslim forces under al-Taishi were nonetheless skillfully led. A large contingent of Islamic infantry waited in a depression on the battlefield until the British were committed. Surging from cover these 2,500 Dervishes quickly surrounded the 400 British horse soldiers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The resulting combat was decided at the tip of the lance and saber. Those British soldiers who were unhorsed were hacked to death in short order. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The resulting close-quarters melee was cruel and pitiless. Three Victoria Crosses were subsequently awarded to Lancers who risked death to help rescue wounded comrades. Amidst it, all the young Cavalry Lieutenant Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill fought for his life. With maniacal Dervishes surging all around, Churchill killed or wounded at least three Muslim soldiers with his German pistol at contact range. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
Churchill held his C96 Mauser in high esteem and carried it during the Boer War as well. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Mauser pistol his mother had helped purchase in that\nBirmingham gun shop saved his life that day. He later described the gun as,\n\u201cThe best thing in the world.\u201d Had Churchill been wielding a cavalry saber\nrather than this unconventional German repeater he would quite probably have been\nunhorsed and killed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Little Things Become Big Things<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"The
When it seemed like the Nazis were unstoppable one man stood immobile against the scourge. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Forty-two years later Great Britain stood alone against the overwhelming Nazi menace. The Germans had swept through the Low Countries and France in a matter of weeks, shocking the planet with the ferocity and effectiveness of Blitzkrieg. With the Americans, months if not years away, from meaningful support and amidst rancorous domestic calls to negotiate or capitulate a single distinctive voice rose above the fray.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
Winston Churchill came to personify the immobile defiance of the English people against Nazi tyranny. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Prime Minister Winston Churchill\u2019s iron will and indefatigable spirit kept a besieged Britain in the war long enough for the industrial might of the United States to turn the tide against the Nazis. His reassuring baritone on the radio steeled English nerves, while his immobile will served as a bulwark against Hitler\u2019s megalomaniacal aspirations. Eventually, Der Fuhrer wearied of the frustration and turned his attention to Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
Without the unsinkable aircraft carrier that was Britain during WW2, the Allies might never have gained a toehold in occupied Western Europe. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Without England, the Allies likely could not have launched the D-Day invasion that ultimately pushed the Nazis back to Germany. Had it not been for that fortuitous injury on the Bombay dock in 1896 and his German C96 Mauser, Lieutenant Churchill might very well have been killed on that blood-soaked Sudanese battlefield. Had the British sued for peace in 1941 then all of Western Europe might still be underneath the Nazi boot even today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winston Churchill\u2019s Extraordinary Pistol<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"The
The C96 Mauser is a truly iconic firearm. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The characteristic front-heavy architecture of Churchill\u2019s C96 Mauser lends\nthe weapon a distinctively rakish, almost lyrical, elegance. Designed in 1893\nby the three Federle brothers Joseph, Fidel, and Friedrich, at Waffenfabrik\nMauser in Oberndorf, Germany, the C96 was revolutionary for its time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The C96 saw widespread distribution around the globe. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Mauser ultimately produced around a\nmillion C96 pistols. Turkey, Italy, Persia, Austria, and France were among the\nvarious military users. Foreign-made copies are literally beyond counting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
Most C96 pistols load from the top via stripper clips. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The C96 was recoil-operated with a tilting-lock breech.\nRecoil with the snappy 7.63x25mm cartridge was surprisingly brisk. Most of the\noriginals carried ten rounds loaded into an integral magazine from the top via\nstrippers. Some variants incorporated removable box magazines of 10 and\n20-round capacities. The rear sight was optimistically adjustable out to 1000\nmeters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The original 7.63x25mm C96 pistols were popular private purchase handguns among WW1 German officers. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"The
The stocked P08 Lange Pistole Artillery Luger shown here on the right was an issue handgun for Imperial German troops. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The 7.63x25mm C96 never was a general\nissue weapon in the Kaiser\u2019s army. Stocked handguns like the P08\nArtillery Luger were widely issued, but the C96 in its original chambering\nremained a private purchase weapon. The Imperial German Army contracted for\n150,000 C96\u2019s chambered in 9mm Parabellum for use during WW1. Some 137,000 were\ndelivered prior to the armistice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The \u201cRed 9\u201d Mauser Broomhandle was chambered in 9mm Parabellum and issued to Imperial German forces during WW1. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The 9mm versions were typically marked\nwith a prominent red \u201c9\u201d burned into the\ngrip. This task was left to unit armorers, however. As a result, some of the\n9mm C96\u2019s were never thusly marked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
Mauser produced the C96 Broomhandle in vast quantities. The last military contract was completed using leftover parts. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The last large-scale military contract was for 7,800 commercial pistols in 1940 for use by the German Luftwaffe. Production ended in 1937, so this order was filled from the remaining stocks. These guns were issued to motorcycle couriers and flak crews. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The selective-fire Model 712 Schnellfeuer saw service with Waffen SS troops during WW2.        <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"The<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Waffen SS was always hungry for firearms. Pictorial evidence shows Waffen SS troops using the Model 712 Schnellfeuer selective-fire version. This variant fed from detachable box magazines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The C96 Broomhandle Mauser takes its informal moniker from the utilitarian design of its pistol grip. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Germans called the gun the \u201cKuhfusspistole\u201d or \u201cCow\u2019s Foot Pistol.\u201d The Chinese called\nit the \u201cBox Cannon.\u201d The Irish called it \u201cPeter the Painter.\u201d Paul Mauser titled\nit the \u201cConstruktion 96\u201d or C96 for short. The rest of the planet\ncalled it the Broomhandle after the distinctive appearance of the pistol grip. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The detachable wooden shoulder stock doubles as a holster.      <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Copies have been produced both under license and otherwise\nfrom China to Spain. Chinese warlords used them by the thousands. The most\ncommon variant included a dual-purpose shoulder stock that doubled as a\nholster. Care must be exercised when running the gun on the stock lest the\nhammer grab your thumb. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The bottlenecked 7.63x25mm cartridge offers impressive performance for its era. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The 7.63×25 mm cartridge was remarkably advanced for its day.\nRoughly the same size as a standard 9mm Parabellum round, the 7.63x25mm threw\nan 86-grain bullet at 1,400 feet per second. This was the fastest commercial\nhandgun cartridge in the world until the advent of the .357 Magnum in 1934. The\n7.63x25mm would be a serviceable PDW (Personal Defense Weapon) round even\ntoday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The 7.63x25mm rounds fired by the C96 Mauser are almost but not quite interchangeable with those of the Russian PPSh submachine gun. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The case dimensions were nearly identical to those of the\nCombloc 7.62x25mm rounds used in the Tokarev TT-33 handguns and PPSh submachine\nguns. German 7.63x25mm rounds could be safely used in the Russian weapons, but\nRussian 7.62x25mm rounds were too hot for the C96. The gun was also occasionally\nchambered in .45 ACP. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
Han Solo\u2019s D44 Blaster was built from a short-barreled Bolo Mauser C96. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"The
The classic comic book character The Rocketeer frequently wielded a C96 Mauser Broomhandle. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Broomhandle has subsequently been\nimmortalized in movies ranging from The Rocketeer<\/em> to Star Wars.<\/em>\nDespite its ungainly layout the C96 commanded a loyal following and was used in\na variety of high profile assassinations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
Winston Churchill was the archetypal man\u2019s man. He bought a Colt 1911 .45ACP for his bodyguard Walter Thompson and then carried the gun himself after Thompson complained of its undue size and inconvenience. Note the curious vertical foregrip on the M1928 Thompson Churchill is running here. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Winston Churchill\u2019s C96 pistol likely saved his life at the\nBattle of Omdurman in 1898. Had it not been for Churchill\u2019s indomitable force\nof personality England might have fallen during the darkest days of the Battle\nof Britain. Sometimes the fate of the world turns on the tiniest things. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
Born in the latter parts of the 19th<\/sup> century, the Mauser C96 Broomhandle changed the way men made handguns. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"The<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Want a C96 Broomhandle of your own? GunsAmerica.com typically has several listed. Special thanks to www.worldwarsupply.com<\/a> for the pickelhaube used in our photographs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy and Sell on GunsAmerica!<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Winston Churchill\u2019s C96 pistol likely saved his life at the Battle of Omdurman in 1898. Had it not been for Churchill\u2019s indomitable force of personality England might have fallen during the darkest days of the Battle of Britain. Sometimes the fate of the world turns on the tiniest things. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":127222,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_specdata_upc":"","_specdata_placement":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[257,772],"tags":[132,102,752,636,810,1323,2475],"featured":[],"hunt365":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-127221","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-historical-guns","8":"category-will-dabbs","9":"tag-buzz","10":"tag-feature-articles","11":"tag-historical-guns","12":"tag-history","13":"tag-mauser","14":"tag-world-war-ii","15":"tag-world-war-l"},"yoast_head":"\nThe Cow\u2019s Foot Pistol That Saved the World<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Cow\u2019s Foot Pistol That Saved the World - Will Dabbs\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/the-cows-foot-pistol-that-saved-the-world\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Cow\u2019s Foot Pistol That Saved the World\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Winston Churchill\u2019s C96 pistol likely saved his life at the Battle of Omdurman in 1898. Had it not been for Churchill\u2019s indomitable force of personality England might have fallen during the darkest days of the Battle of Britain. 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