came across this and was wondering why American troops in WW2 in the Netherlands were carrying sten guns
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I’m just guessing they might be local Resistance Fighters put to work, issued arms and uniforms from whatever stocks were available. But that’s a guess, I have no documentation to back that up. I’ve noticed it’s kind of rare to see GI’s using foreign weapons (some Stug44’s and pistols come to mind). Whereas Germans used everything under the sun.
Maybe someone has more info on who these troops were and why the Stens.
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The OSS frequently used Stens. Lighter than the Thompson.
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That’s true, Special Operations guys carried various weapons, (and who they were is probably why we see very few photos of them),
but troops in these films are guarding POW’s, don’t strike me as OSS types.
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Perhaps the markings on the helmets are an indication of what these guys are?
It seems plausible they were Dutch being put to use guarding prisoners. My grandfather did the same thing in April 1945. He was given something resembling a uniform (mostly British though) and a gun, and went to work guarding POW’s.
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As long as he had an officially issued armband, he would have been “in uniform” for purposes of being a legal combatant.
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