German Handguns is a monumental reference book on the full range of handguns produced in Germany between 1869 and the present. Ian Hogg, the foremost authority on the subject, now gives Greenhill Military Book News some background to his research and life-long interest in Germany’s pistols and revolvers: “My interest in German pistols and revolvers can be said to have begun in 1940, when there was a distinct possibility that, along with the rest of the population of Great Britain, I might acquire first­ hand knowledge of the subject in the near future whether I wanted to or not. In the event, my knowledge remained theoretical for the time being. However, as my military career took a more technical turn and I was able to gain access to a wide spectrum of weapons, it became possible to build on that theoretical knowledge by handling and firing various weapons and ammunition, studying the operation, measuring velocities and pressures and delving into histories, interrogation reports, trials reports and every other reference I could find. The last thirty years, in particular, have seen such a varied assortment of new designs appear in Germany, and there has also been a great amount of historical research carried out by firearms enthusiasts, so that far more is now known about the early days of pistol design. As a result of this German Handguns includes details of pistols from 1869, when the first metallic-cartridge-weapons were produced, to the present. One thing which stands out in this book is the transient nature of the gunsmith’s trade. Today we are in the age of conglomerates and consortia; but many of the weapons featured were made by small concerns in the days when small was beautiful and nobody thought it very noteworthy. And, contrary to accepted legend, it also appears that wars are not the harvest time for gunmakers. Many of these firms seem to have gone to the wall either during a war or in the economic slump which invariably follows one.” Ian Hogg’s other books published by Greenhill include: Ammunition (Greenhill Military Manuals) Counter-Terrorism Equipment (Greenhill Military Manuals) German Artillery of World War Two German Secret Weapons of the Second World War The Greenhill Military Small Arms Data Book The Greenhill Armoured Fighting Vehicles Data Book Infantry Support Weapons (Greenhill Military Manuals) Small Arms (Greenhill Military Manuals) Submachine Guns (Greenhill Military Manuals) The World’s Sniping Rifles (Greenhill Military Manuals) Back to Greenhill Military Book News No. 108 Table of Contents Back to Greenhill Military Book News List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 2001 by Greenhill Books This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com