Hunting Hitler

[skeeter4206]

Watching the series "Hunting Hitler" on the history channel tonight showed a luger that was found in a bunker in Denmark.

According to the show, this bunker was built around 1942 and had been covered up with sand until 2008. In 2008 a storm came thru and the bunkers were exposed and revealed German Nazi artifacts inside of them. One of the items they showed was a luger, missing the hand grips.

My curiosity about the one on the show was the inscription on the side of the frame. Some of the Krieghoff lugers have an inscription on the side of the frame as this luger does.

I'm curious what kind of lugers have this kind of inscription on the side of the frame as this one does. I took a couple of pictures with my phone of the luger on the show. Sorry about the blurriness of the pictures. But the area of the frame is just above the hand grip.

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For those of you that haven't seen the show, I think its definitely one to watch and the evidence that has been uncovered about Hitler and the possibilities of him actually escaping from Berlin.

interesting topic to talk about.

[Edward Tinker]

people complain about the history channel, but they have some good programs.
Smithsonian channel too

I haven't seen this show, will check it out

Ed

[Karl]

Even in the blurry photo that gun looks to be in awfully good shape for a piece of steel buried in a bunker for 60 plus years.
KFS

[skeeter4206]

That was my thought as well. In the show they just so happened to show an MP-40, K-98, StG-44 and this luger. All seemed to be in pretty good condition considering that it was supposed to be buried under sand since 1945.

I'm curious about the inscription on the side of the frame. The top part of the inscription I could not make anything of. The bottom portion of the inscription appeared to be numbers.

Could this be an inscription that the german military put on the side of the frame? I knew some of the Krieghoff's had some versions with an inscription on this portion of the frame, but didn't look like this one. Curious if anyone had any idea of what this inscription meant and maybe to a certain year and manufacture of that particular luger.

Hmm! could it just be a movie prop that was brought in for the show? Interesting story about the bunkers, but cant say I believe the firearms came from the bunkers.

[wlyon]

I have the same doubts you do. Bill

[DavidJayUden]

I'm not at all up on this program, but something being buried in the sand and dirt is hardly the same as being in a sealed bunker that was covered over by sand. No?
dju

[skeeter4206]

For those that haven't seen this series on the History Channel and is interested in the outcome of WWII and Hitler, this show I think would be interesting to watch.

They have uncovered an area in Argentina, where there is an old compound in the middle of the jungle that points to the possibility of proving that Hitler actually escaped from berlin.

First they found that a street in berlin was used as a makeshift runway. Possibly an exit point for him to fly somewhere.

Denmark, which is the bunkers I am talking about, is a possibility. As the allies were coming through France and the Germans were coming from the west. Denmark seemed to be a good place to go to on his possible journey to South America. Evidence has showed that NAZI's were there in Argentina with documents that talk about this area of south America.

No real hard facts, but makes you wonder. I think next week they show pictures of what appeared to be an aging Hitler. You got to wonder the possibilities. Never actually recovered a body with proof that it was him.

[skeeter4206]

http://www.history.com/shows/hunting...161124053348:s

I think this will take you to the link to watch this weeks episode.

[SIGP2101]

Usually replicas would have something written in that spot.

[alanint]

All of these weapons were staged for the show. Nobody found any of these in a buried bunker. Those Danish bunkers sat empty for years after the war before the sand consumed them. Any valuable artifacts left inside would been recovered by the military or by locals long ago. I also say replica on the Luger.

[GerColctor]

An StG44 (MP-44) found, along with other firearms in an empty bunker built in 1942? When were those bunkers covered over in sand? Why? Doubt anyone would have left an MP-44 behind, as they were the "new" infantry weapon, the first assault rife and very much desired.

Doubt Hitler's escape plans, if he really had any, would have taken him thru Demark, a conquered, mistreated country

As mentioned above, those weapons were staged for the picture.

[ithacaartist]

As I understand it, Adolf was pretty well physically shot by 1945, to say nothing of his mental health. He probably had Parkinson's, and he definitely had a quack for a doctor, who injected him with all sorts of crap. Then there's the DNA evidence from the bone fragments that were examined after years behind the iron curtain...

It may be titillating to ponder the possibilities, but it's best to stick close to the probabilities. Good evidence is what proves out an hypothesis.

Heh. We used to call it the "Hitler Channel" before they got onto bogus ghost and psychic shows. Lots of WWII documentaries back then!

[Jim Mac]

Back in the mid 70's growing up on okinawa, we used to go to some of the old battlegrounds with metal detectors. Even a place called kakazu (sp?) Ridge that was sort of a tourist spot with japanese bunkers. We dug up a japanese canteen lots of bullets. I even dug up a japanese gernade inside one of the bunkers. So its possible for stuff to still be around just waiting for the right person to do it up. Then again there was alot of ordinance dropped on that tiny little island. Jim

[Diver6106]

While I think it is possible to have hidden or unknown bunkers in Europe and South America that were built by Nazis, they would have been reused or looted long ago by locals after the war. Never under estimate the curiosity of an adolescent kid. As for Hitler, he is long since dead, it would be a better show to claim a search for abandoned Nazis bunkers and facilities.

[Pistol]

This show is very interesting. Seems the Nazis were up to something in South America.

[DonVoigt]

Originally Posted by Pistol

This show is very interesting. Seems the Nazis were up to something in South America.

History books are full of what "they" were up too in South America!

[Douglas Jr.]

Originally Posted by Pistol

This show is very interesting. Seems the Nazis were up to something in South America.

Well I live here and never met a SS down here.
I met a German Night Fighter Ace and Holder of the Knight's Cross with Oakleaves in a public event in a book store in 2011 and I know of a couple of former Wehrmacht soldiers still alive, but that's all. I live near the spot where the remains of the infamous Auschwitz doctor Josef Mengele were found back in 1985.

South of Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Paraguay all had German colonies settled since the 19th Century, some of them still speaking dialects long forgotten even in Germany. It was a natural place to hide, but I think that the size of such nazi emmigration is enormously exaggerated.

[Olle]

Originally Posted by Douglas Jr.

Well I live here and never met a SS down here.
I met a German Night Fighter Ace and Holder of the Knight's Cross with Oakleaves in a public event in a book store in 2011 and I know of a couple of former Wehrmacht soldiers still alive, but that's all. I live near the spot where the remains of the infamous Auschwitz doctor Josef Mengele were found back in 1985.

South of Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Paraguay all had German colonies settled since the 19th Century, some of them still speaking dialects long forgotten even in Germany. It was a natural place to hide, but I think that the size of such nazi emmigration is enormously exaggerated.

It's probably exaggerated due to the sinister and thought provoking nature of the issue, but there must have been quite a few Germans moving to South America after the war (whatever their reasons might have been). I spent several weeks in Buenos Aires in 1982 (IIRC), and I remember seeing a lot of old nazi paraphernalia in the flea markets and antique stores. I visited with a guy who was very involved with the local industry and business, and he said that he knew several wealthy families that were still devoted nazis. Still, I don't know the numbers, it's just something that really stood out due to the nature of it.

Regardless, I have to agree that a lot in that TV show seems to be staged, like those guns in Denmark. It takes years for the sand to cover a bunker, and to think that anything would remain in them is rather far fetched. They're sitting on beaches where locals and tourists swarm in the summer, so I would assume that they were picked clean just a few months after the war. And to think that those guns could survive salt, humidity and sand for 70+ years in that condition is proposterous. I grew up on the Swedish west coast (very similar conditions), and I can tell you that nothing survives without corrosion. I mean, that's how I learned to weld and do bodywork...