My Friend, Doug Smith
 

While talking with Doug today he mentioned has was putting a few of his personal collection pieces up with Julia Auctions.

Tonight for the heck of it I googled Julia auctions, firearms division, selected highlights. Now get ready cause IT'LL BLOW YOUR SOCKS OFF!!!

Every Luger collector has to see these.........after looking I'm breathless and my heart is racing!

I hope Doug does'nt mind me mentioning this. But what a treat to see this!!

I think it a great honor to call Doug my friend.

Jesse :)

I hope Doug is feeling okay, because he has his own on-line gun shop


http://www.juliaauctions.com/auction...highlights.asp




Ed

Pretty wild stuff...What the heck is a Hitler guard Luger and what is the device for?

Jerry Burney

The Hitler body guard pistol is a pre 1933 job with a flashlight that can be mounted under the barrel. The light is activated by the pressure of the hand on the grip. Just the holster for this pistol deserves a place of its own in a museum.

ahhh, the one we saw at Chattanooga, really interesting and cool thing.



Ed

George, I would love to get a good look at this holster...Is there any documentation I could find? Book photo's? Anything anywhere?

I doubt Julia Auction would send me any..

Thanks for the info! Very interesting....

How is the holster different? Is there a cutout for the light device? That's why the flap for a closure?

Thanks for any help in advance..

Jerry Burney

I think our friend in El Paso made some photos.

Im like Jerry here, never even heard of a hitler guard luger. Nor ever seen reference to one. is there any information on these anywhere. Its sure the first I ever heard of one. And i've been collecting some 45 years. Extremally interesting piece would sure love to know more about them. Jerry I had no idea what the devise was either. Was afarid to ask.

I wonder if the computer geeks here can preserve those pages for posterity , they are a very worthwhile reference. remarkable top end collection , must be worth millions . way out of my league.

I think I will order that catalog and see what is in the collection, downloading what I feel interests me.

Dougs personal stuff is always way over my financial means ;)

Richie, Fear is a disabler! As a student I am free to ask whaterver I want... when you become an expert you lose that freedom!

George, Thanks! I will Email Ron and see if he has any.

Jerry Burney

I don't recall off the top of my head all the details of the provenance of this pistol but Doug did relay it to me in detail a couple of years ago when I saw this Luger while visiting with Doug.
There is apparently reference in some historical work to two of Hitler's personal (NSDAP) body guards who were armed with light equipped pistols. This was during the years prior to his election as Chancellor in 1933.
The holster is as fascinating as the pistol. As I recall it is Akah made and it is a breakaway.

I have found two photos of the pistol and Akah holster that another forum member made last year. I will forward them to Ed for posting here.

http://forum.lugerforum.com/lfupload/bodyguard1b.jpg

http://forum.lugerforum.com/lfupload/bodyguard2b.jpg

Hmm, someone who designed this contraption surely must have patented it. I wonder if there's any trace of such a patent in the German patent archives.

Does anyone know if the kit has a DRGM or DRP number on it?

A good thought Gerben, but if this was a special unit item and only a prototype number were created, it may not have bothered with the patent process... Let us know what you find out please.

I examined the pistol and holster in Chattanooga last year. There was an Akva makers mark on the holster and standard P-08 proofs on the gun. I don't recall any markings on the added light and battery ensemble.

Tom A

Seems odd that it has a grip safety and stock lug... 1913 commercial or Navy frame? Does anybody know the serial #? What's on the toggle? Is it dated?
Mike C.

I bought a book off of ebay, specially for two chapters, one was useless the other fairly good. One chapter; Hitlers Personal Security by Peter Hoffman had this information (background, this was on Hitlers personal bodyguards, and what they carried);

Funny thing...It does not appear that the lighting apparatus, attached to the pistol, can be holstered together. There is no room in the holster with the unit attached.

This supposition leads to the question..Where or how was the lighting unit carried?

Which leads to another question..Since the light cannot be holstered with the pistol, why was the holster made with these unusual changes such as the side flap?

Another question I have about this very unusual setup...The lighting unit does not seem to connect to the brass plates or rod that is affixed to the pistol & grips. What are these? They must have something to do with the light....


Jerry Burney

Jerry,

Very good observations and some of the same questions I had when I examined it at Chattanooga. After some consideration, I came to the conclusion that the cutout on the holster allowed for the side additions to the Luger to accommodate the external cable connection to a battery pack that is not currently with the pistol. The lighting unit is cleverly designed to be a quick-disconnect from the Luger. Once the pistol is drawn from the holster, the lighting unit can be attached and the umbilical cable to the external battery pack can be plugged in. It isnâ??t a â??quick drawâ?� rig and takes a few seconds to set up.

The whole grip arrangement is really a bit complex, and as far as I could determine, the exterior brass plates constituted a device to complete the illumination circuit by skin conduction. Most of the connections are on the inside of the grips and not visible from the views shown. Iâ??ll never know for sure, but from the layout of the plates and internal connections it looked that way to me. If you didnâ??t have sweaty palms it might not work, but if you were in a situation that required their use, I know my palms would be a bit damp! (OK, Iâ??m a wimp!).

I took the pics that George posted, but unfortunately, those are the only two I have. Bob Benson took numerous photos of the grips and internal setup, but I didnâ??t want to muscle in on his shoot. I wish now that I hadâ?¦I will never have another opportunity.