I'd read, the theory was this throwaway .45, although a single shot with five chances, would give partisans the power to kill an occupying solder and obtain a better weapon.
Quote:
|
Not shown in the Guide publication below are the 1,000,000 FP-45 .45 caliber "Liberator Pistols" that it built in three months during 1942 at it was totally top secret. The 300 women that built them worked in a part of the Guide factory on the west side of Anderson in an area that was completely walled off for security purposes. The workers were sworn to secrecy and even their husbands and boy friends did not know what they were doing. The one shot weapons were supposed to be air dropped to the Resistance in occupied countries during the Second World War but were never used. Probably as well as a weapon in untrained hands, and even trained hands, can be more dangerous to the user than the target. In any event with it being so secret it obviously did not end up in the Guide Lamp WWII history. This was an GM Inland Division design but Guide did all the final assembly, Frigidaire Division of GM chambered the barrels and Saginaw Steering Gear Division of GM made barrel bushings and along with Detroit Transmission Division made barrel collars. This was a true cooperative effort among the five GM Divisions and a host of other outside sub-contractors.
|
A million in three months, along with all the other war production going on?
This is the book he mentioned.
Guide Lamp Division of General Motors in World War Two / WWII