FP-45 Liberator (Throw away pistol)

the FP 45 Liberator during World War two the Allies made a lot of effort to support resistance fighters in occupied countries by delivering them all kinds of weapons and materials in order to set Europe ablaze one of the most curious weapons made for such a purpose was the FP 45 Liberator pistol the idea behind creating such a weapon was to arm potential insurgents in occupied Europe with stealth pistols that they could use against enemy soldiers hence the name Liberator it was intended for hundreds of thousands of these pistols to be dropped into Europe so German soldiers would be looking over their shoulder knowing that anyone could carry a small concealable weapon the pistol dimensions were minimal with an overall length of 5.5 5 inches or 141 millimeters and weighed only one pound or 0.45 kilograms so it easily could be concealed in a pocket its intended purpose was for the resistance member to assassinate the enemy at close range after which they would take his better suited weapon the proximity of the target was of great importance as the pistol barrel was smoothbore so it did not allow shooting distances farther than 26 feet or eight meters in real conditions the effective range was actually no more than 13 feet or 4 meters the ammunition used for the FP 45 Liberator was the powerful 45 ACP the same one used by the colt m1911 pistol at short distances this round was quite effective regardless of the smooth barrel the US government had big plans for the FP 45 Liberator so 1 million of them were made this job was given to the GMC guide the lamp Factory in Anderson Indiana in order to cover up the real purpose of the weapon it was designated as the flare projector caliber 45 the production of the pistol was quite simple and cheap in just 11 weeks until August 1942 300 workers made 1 million pistols The Liberator consisted of only 23 steel parts and the production price per pistol was cheap at two dollars and forty cents giving it the nickname of the Woolworth pistol liberators were delivered in cart boxes along with 10:45 caliber rounds a wooden dowel and a comic book-like instruction manual it was a single-shot pistol and in order to use it the user removed a round from the housing inside the hand grip and inserted it manually into the breech reloading was more complicated as the user had to unlock the breech and poke out the empty case with the help of the wooden dowel despite big plans liberators were never used on the scale that they were planned for only a small portion of the entire production run reached resistance fighters in Europe in the Pacific and there is no written evidence of anyone using it with success after the war most were either thrown into the sea or melted down subscribe and click the notification bell for more history videos get your copy of simple history World War 2 today hey simple history fans if you are looking for a better way to support the channel and help us create more epic content consider becoming a sponsor on our channel sponsoring means that for just 5 bucks a month you get these amazing perks you can be the first to see new episodes with early access you'll be able to watch new episodes before anyone else with this perk a custom icon that shows alongside your username in the comment section and in live chat when you sponsor us you also become an influencer with sponsor only comments you can communicate directly with us and help us pick the topics that we'll do next on simple history our videos will continue to be uploaded as usual and remember it's not mandatory to sponsor us thank you for letting us feed your hunger for history

Channel: Simple History

Views: 1,922,652

Rating: 4.9501419 out of 5

Keywords: simple history, animated history, educational, education, FP-45 Liberator, Throw away, french resistance, occupied, Flare Projector Caliber .45, Colt M1911, GMC Guide Lamp factory, Anderson, Indiana, usa, Woolworth Pistol, wooden dowel, toy, chinese, instruction manual, cheap, resistance fighter

Id: E0pxMOIAdcc

Length: 3min 53sec (233 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 07 2018