I've heard that American soldiers used AK-47s they pulled from dead or captured VC soldiers in Vietnam (though I'm not sure how true that is, may make it a different post). Did any of the forces involved in World War ever do that?
The thread /u/MercilessMeat linked to has some excellent answers, but there's one thing I wanted to add.
During the fighting in France and into western Germany, the Germans would use American vehicles whenever possible; they were critically short on armor and transport, and spare parts had an ever tougher time reaching the frontlines than ammunition and gasoline did.
Allied troops, on the other hand, almost never looted German vehicles, for the very good reason that the USAAF had a standing policy of opening fire on any group that contained both German and American vehicles.
This topic has already been discussed here:
Hopefully you'll get some more responses :)
Not to deter anyone from answering here, but this earlier thread has some good answers.
The scavenging of enemy weapons was pretty common, common enough so that armies would store captured weapons and distribute them to soldiers with their own unique designation, sometimes rechambering the weapons to use a more convenient round. For example, the German Army scavenged Russian PPSh-41 submachine guns and converted them to the German Mauser round. These converted weapons were then officially issued as the MP717(r), and the Wehrmacht distributed training manuals in German for the captured weapons.
I just explained this to someone else, but the German Panzerwaffe had full Battalions designated to using mostly Captured tanks (French and Soviet). I know you probably meant firearms, but figured Id chime in.
edit: I have many original unpublished period photos of the Germans using "BeutePanzer". I also have original period photos of Germans using Czech and Soviet firearms. Also have a photo of GI's using MP40. (I collect ww2 photos)
Quite a lot. On the Eastern Front, German soldiers and their allies frequently used captured Soviet weapons. PPsH submachineguns were widely-used by Axis troops. There's also photographic evidence that shows Spanish and German troops using DP machine guns. Due to arms shortages and the massive amount of Soviet weapons captured during 1941 and 1941, Soviet arms were frequently issued to rear-area Axis troops and anti-partisan forces.
During the Western Desert campaign in North Africa, both sides frequently used captured gear. Erwin Rommel wore captured British desert goggles and used a captured British command truck as his mobile headquarters. Bernard Montgomery used a "liberated" German truck for the same purposes. The Long Range Desert Groups mounted Italian Breda AT guns on trucks. Australian troops even used captured Italian tanks!
During the fighting in Europe, both sides used captured weapons. The Germans were perhaps the greatest users of captured equipment. Large numbers of samll arms, tanks, and artillery pieces captured in 1939 and 1940 were used by German troops. The Waffen SS used Czech ZB 30 machine guns. The Atlantic Wall was armed with captured French, Czech, and Belgian artillery and machine guns. German soldiers were also known to take M1 carbines and there's several photos of German soldiers carrying looted M1s during the Battle of the Bulge
Weapons and equipment also made popular souvenirs. Samurai swords, and Walther and Luger pistols were especially coveted souvenirs amongst American Marines and GIs.
