The excellent handgun adopted by Poland on the eve of the Second World War would go on to be one of the most common in German service during the conflict, seeing service on all fronts of the European Theater.

The Japanese Type 44 Arisaka was a specialized variant of the Type 38 rifle intended for use by cavalry and other mounted troops, incorporating a folding bayonet.

The standard service pistol of Mussolini’s armies during the Second World War was a simple blowback automatic, and would serve on for decades in Italian service as well as helping to build the global brand of Beretta.

The iconic standard issue rifle of the United States during the Second World War, famously deemed by no less a figure than General George Patton as “The Greatest Implement of Battle Ever Devised”.

The slightly larger forerunner to the famous Walther PPK, the Polizei Pistole was used by German police and military officers during the Second World War. Remaining in production until the capture of the Walther factory in May of 1945, several were captured by US troops at that time.

Despite adopting a new Mauser 98 pattern rifle, as the Second World War loomed Belgium also undertook a program to upgrade existing stocks of the older Model 1889 rifles to the same pattern.

The French MAS36 was intended as a stopgap until a suitable semi-automatic rifle could be developed, but this was not to be. The Fall of France in 1940 led to it being the final rifle adopted by the Third Republic, as well as the last bolt action rifle standardized by a major power.

The Tokarev TT33 pistol served the Soviet Union throughout the Great Patriotic War and beyond, as well as a large number of Eastern Bloc nations in the Cold War era.

The Japanese Type 99 rifle was intended to replace the Type 38 as the standard issue weapon to the Imperial Japanese Military during World War Two, but was never able to supplant its older brother.