A veteran of two World Wars
Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2023 11:21 am
In 1914, the Spanish company Gabilondo y Uresti started production of a semi-automatic pistol based on John Browning's 1903 design for Colt. By 1915, France was eager for any small arms for use in these early days of the Great War. Gabilondo sent examples of their pistol to France for examination and after testing was completed in May 1915, the French accepted the gun as the "Pistolet Automatique de 7 millimetre 65 genre Ruby" and contracted Gabilondo to produce 10,000 pistols per month for the French military, increasing that demand to 30,000 by August and later even to an unbelievable 50,000 per month.
Gabilondo had trouble coping with the original order, and as the number increased, began "subbing out" construction to other small gun manufacturers in the Eibar region of Spain. Eventually, Gabilondo would contract with 7 other manufacturers, and another 45 companies would engage directly with the French government to produce Ruby-type pistols in various configurations. Eventually about 710,000 of these were produced, and by 1920, about 580,00 were still in French inventory.
My Dad went to Europe in 1944 as part of the 87th Infantry Division, attached to Gen. George Patton's Third Army. In the late Spring of 1945, a long column of German troops surrendered to his unit. The American commander had the Germans line up along a road, while GIs in a jeep drove along collecting all the German weapon in duffel bags. At some point later on, the American commanding officer offered the loot to his soldiers as "souvenirs". My Dad came away with several items, including a Mauser bayonet, a sword (one carried by an enlisted man, so perhaps some sort of non-comm officer?), a .22 cal. pistol and a Ruby-type pistol as well.
Some years later, one of my Dad's brothers, my neer-do-well Uncle Jody lost that .22 pistol in a pawn shop. I still have the rest. When I was a little boy, that sword hung on the wall in my Grandparent's kitchen and still had the ornamental "ball" of some string-like material hanging from the hilt. Over the years, that ball got lost. The bayonet is in pretty good shape considering we used it to cut corn stalks out on the farm. The Ruby-type pistol he brought back was the only pistol we ever had in our house while I was growing up, and along with the pre-World War One 16 gauge dreilling ( three-barreled shotgun/rifle combo) he sent back, the only firearms around the place until I got my Mossberg .22 semi-auto rifle at age 11. The Ruby went with us, riding in the glovebox, whenever we went on trips, and I saw Dad use it to shoot a sick cow behind her ear once, but it never got much other use.
So, now I've owned it since Dad passed away in 1979. My pistol was made by Isidro Gaztanaga (one of the 45 or more independent contractors for the French procurement order) and sold as "DESTROYER", with French Military code stamp IG. It is chambered for 7.65 Browning or .32 Auto ammunition and holds 9 rounds in the original magazine (alas, I have only one of those mags!) There is a large rivet attached to the left side of the slide and I always wondered why that was there. With the advent of the internet, I found that rivet was added by French Army armorers to prevent the rudimentary safety lever from being disengaged by drawing the pistol from its holster. A simple fix, typical of wartime expediency!
I've often wondered about the roads that old relic has traveled. From its birth in Spain in the midst of World War One, to that day in Germany when my Dad pulled it out of that duffel bag, where in the world did it go? We can assume that it served in two world wars and was carried by soldiers of three different nations at least. Oh, the stories that old gun might tell! Could it have been captured in WWI by a German soldier and then taken home to Germany after that war, only to be carried again by another generation in WWII? Or, maybe captured from the French Army by victorious Germans in 1940 and then carried as a side-arm by a new "owner" until its surrender in 1945? Of course, that is all impossible to know now, and one can only speculate where it may have been, and what deeds may have been perpetrated with it as well. But stories like that do fire my imagination and make me wonder if it couldn't be woven into a great screenplay or story.
Here are a few pics of this Ruby-type pistol and some of its (I assume?) original holster. I hope you've found the story of this antique interesting and enjoy seeing it as it looks today. Thanks for your interest, my friends!
Gabilondo had trouble coping with the original order, and as the number increased, began "subbing out" construction to other small gun manufacturers in the Eibar region of Spain. Eventually, Gabilondo would contract with 7 other manufacturers, and another 45 companies would engage directly with the French government to produce Ruby-type pistols in various configurations. Eventually about 710,000 of these were produced, and by 1920, about 580,00 were still in French inventory.
My Dad went to Europe in 1944 as part of the 87th Infantry Division, attached to Gen. George Patton's Third Army. In the late Spring of 1945, a long column of German troops surrendered to his unit. The American commander had the Germans line up along a road, while GIs in a jeep drove along collecting all the German weapon in duffel bags. At some point later on, the American commanding officer offered the loot to his soldiers as "souvenirs". My Dad came away with several items, including a Mauser bayonet, a sword (one carried by an enlisted man, so perhaps some sort of non-comm officer?), a .22 cal. pistol and a Ruby-type pistol as well.
Some years later, one of my Dad's brothers, my neer-do-well Uncle Jody lost that .22 pistol in a pawn shop. I still have the rest. When I was a little boy, that sword hung on the wall in my Grandparent's kitchen and still had the ornamental "ball" of some string-like material hanging from the hilt. Over the years, that ball got lost. The bayonet is in pretty good shape considering we used it to cut corn stalks out on the farm. The Ruby-type pistol he brought back was the only pistol we ever had in our house while I was growing up, and along with the pre-World War One 16 gauge dreilling ( three-barreled shotgun/rifle combo) he sent back, the only firearms around the place until I got my Mossberg .22 semi-auto rifle at age 11. The Ruby went with us, riding in the glovebox, whenever we went on trips, and I saw Dad use it to shoot a sick cow behind her ear once, but it never got much other use.
So, now I've owned it since Dad passed away in 1979. My pistol was made by Isidro Gaztanaga (one of the 45 or more independent contractors for the French procurement order) and sold as "DESTROYER", with French Military code stamp IG. It is chambered for 7.65 Browning or .32 Auto ammunition and holds 9 rounds in the original magazine (alas, I have only one of those mags!) There is a large rivet attached to the left side of the slide and I always wondered why that was there. With the advent of the internet, I found that rivet was added by French Army armorers to prevent the rudimentary safety lever from being disengaged by drawing the pistol from its holster. A simple fix, typical of wartime expediency!
I've often wondered about the roads that old relic has traveled. From its birth in Spain in the midst of World War One, to that day in Germany when my Dad pulled it out of that duffel bag, where in the world did it go? We can assume that it served in two world wars and was carried by soldiers of three different nations at least. Oh, the stories that old gun might tell! Could it have been captured in WWI by a German soldier and then taken home to Germany after that war, only to be carried again by another generation in WWII? Or, maybe captured from the French Army by victorious Germans in 1940 and then carried as a side-arm by a new "owner" until its surrender in 1945? Of course, that is all impossible to know now, and one can only speculate where it may have been, and what deeds may have been perpetrated with it as well. But stories like that do fire my imagination and make me wonder if it couldn't be woven into a great screenplay or story.
Here are a few pics of this Ruby-type pistol and some of its (I assume?) original holster. I hope you've found the story of this antique interesting and enjoy seeing it as it looks today. Thanks for your interest, my friends!