Walther P38

The Walther P38 is a semi-automatic pistol featured in Call of Duty 2: Big Red One, Call of Duty 3, Call of Duty: World at War and Call of Duty: WWII, and making a cinematic appearance in Call of Duty: Black Ops. This pistol seems to have replaced the Luger as the German sidearm in the later games.

Call of Duty 2: Big Red One
The P38 is the standard pistol of the German and Italian teams in multiplayer. It cannot be found in the campaign, as no handguns appear in the campaign.

When the player gets eight points in a match, they get the ability to use two P38 pistols at once (in Dual Wield form) in the Submachine Gun class, albeit with very limited ammunition. Once the player gets sixteen points, however, they get more ammunition.

Call of Duty 3
"9mm pistol. Sidearm issued to the German military in WWII. Safer, more reliable and easier to operate than the Luger it replaced. 8 round magazine. Effective range of 25 meters."

- Bonus materials description

The P-38 appears in Call of Duty 3, where it is only available in multiplayer.

Multiplayer
The P-38 appears in multiplayer as the standard sidearm for all Axis classes. It has low recoil and a speedy reload time, but is relatively weak. It takes around 4-5 shots to kill an enemy, and the magazine only holds 8 rounds. Therefore, it is very difficult to kill multiple enemies with a single magazine of the P-38. It should only be used strictly as a backup weapon. However, its magazine size does mean that it holds an advantage over its equivalent, the Allies' Colt .45.

Call of Duty: World at War
"German semi-automatic pistol with high rate of fire. Effective at close range."

- Create-A-Class description.

Campaign
The Walther is the same as the other non-Magnum pistols except for its appearance and reload times. It has the second slowest mid-magazine reload and the slowest empty reload. It is first seen, and can be used in the mission "Vendetta". This is the weapon that Dimitri Petrenko is severely wounded with by the last Wehrmacht Soldier on the Reichstag at the end of "Downfall". It also has no visible recoil. It is hard to find it anywhere on the map, the best chance to obtain it is by putting a German soldier into Last Stand by wounding him, wait for him to pull it out, and then finish him to claim the gun. This must also be done in order to re-stock ammo. Near the start of the mission, "Vendetta", when being sniped across the river, there is a Walther P38 on the table next to the sofa and on the table to the right of the doorway after the player goes up the stairs. This is a good opportunity to get a sidearm. The achievement/trophy "Gunslinger" is unlocked for killing Heinrich Amsel with the P38 found on the table. This is only possible on Recruit difficulty.

Multiplayer
The P38 is unlocked at level 3. Its damage is identical to the other non-magnum pistols. As such, it is a relatively good choice for a sidearm. Its reload time is slower than the other non-magnum side arms, but in return, it also has lower visual recoil than the other side arms.

Nazi Zombies
The P38 can be obtained in Nazi Zombies through the developer console on all maps. It does 80-100 damage, making it weaker than most weapons, but still five times stronger than the M1911. The Walther is rather effective on lower rounds, doing as much damage as the Kar98k and being semi-automatic, but is pointless considering the player has to use the console to get access to it, and would also have access to weapons like the PPSh-41, Ray Gun, and Wunderwaffe DG-2. It cannot be upgraded using the Pack-A-Punch on Der Riese.

Call of Duty: Black Ops
The Walther P38 also makes a brief appearance in Call of Duty: Black Ops during "Project Nova", when Viktor Reznov encounters Friedrich Steiner holding a Walther P38. Steiner can later be seen with the P38 on him during the remainder of the level, even when he is carrying a Mosin-Nagant; the P38 seems to be part of his character model. Its pick-up icon can still be found in the game files but its texture and 3D files are absent. It can be used in multiplayer via console commands, where it retains the same stats as in World at War.

Call of Duty: WWII
The Walther P38 is featured in The Resistance event in Call of Duty: WWII, where it is referred to as 9mm SAP.

Trivia

 * When the player picks up the gun in the Call of Duty: World at War singleplayer or co-op campaign, the player always cocks the hammer back, while in multiplayer, the player just picks it up. The same goes to the MP40 and the Nambu.
 * It is possible to obtain and use the P38 in any Nazi Zombies map by using the "give all" Console Command, yet it can't be Pack-a-Punched in Der Riese. It will kill a zombie in three hits at round 1.
 * In Call of Duty 3, when the player looks down the iron sights, the hammer falls forward into the double-action position.
 * In the Call of Duty: World at War ' s Create-A-Class screen, the P38 is described as having a high rate of fire, despite being identical to the other non-magnum pistols.
 * An interesting thing to note is that the Walther's slide cocks back so slowly that it is possible to see it move when aiming down the sights and shooting.
 * In the Wii version of Call of Duty: Black Ops, during "Project Nova", after escaping from the gas chamber and being attacked by the British Commandos, a poorly rendered P38 will appear on the ground to the left of the spawn point on the catwalk. It will say "Press (action) to pick up Walther P38", but if the action button is pressed the weapon will say "Grenade" in the weapons slot, and the player will be holding an idle RGD-33 in their hand.
 * In Call of Duty 2: Big Red One, the player never operates the slide, even after an empty reload.

Walther P38