The Walther P-38 : The service pistol of the Wehrmacht

The Walther P-38 Pistol

During the 1930s, German industry began a crash program to rearm the Wehrmacht, which in 1934 needed a new service pistol. In 1934 firearms manufacturers Carl Walther Waffenfabrik offered the Wehrmacht the Model MP (Militarische Pistole), an upsized model PP chambered for the 9mm Parabellum, but its blowback caused its rejection. The next year, a design team led by Fritz Walther began work on a new DA/SA, locked-breech pistol. Two years later the 9mm Model AP (Armee Pistole) was announced. It was a hammerless, DA/SA pistol, which, after some modifications, became known as the Pistole 38 (the P-38). (shootingtimes.com)

 

The P-38 was created for its light wieght and it was much less expensive than the Luger. that is basicly the reason American soildiers looked for the luger, it was rare and expensive.