The city of Dnipro is some 240 miles to the southeast of Kyiv. While it has been subjected to Russian missile/rocket strikes, it has yet to be threatened by Russian ground forces though Russian troops are in battle with Ukrainian forces around Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Mariupol which if one looks at map, means the city is practically surrounded by hostile forces except for the western side of Dnipro.
The call to arms by this family in Dnipro is pretty evident in the photograph and that call means any weapon that is functional will be brought into action. While the shotgun is modern enough, the pistol beneath it is certainly not. It is a Mauser C96, better known by the nickname “Broomhandle” or in Chinese, the “Hézipào” or “Box Cannon”. The pistol entered service with Germany in 1896 and the popularity of the pistol saw it come in all kinds of varieties (mainly in ammunition caliber) and was copied by the Spanish gunmaker Astra and in China in Shanxi province by warlord Yen Hsi-shan. There have also been several copies of the C96 made as well throughout the decades. Over one million German built C96 pistols were produced with a unknown number of copies and variants. What version the pistol is cannot be readily said from this photograph but it does show that this venerable pistol may yet see battle once more.
Originally posted on February 26, 2022.
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