Holster War Story

[Orv Reichert]

Did you ever wonder why the earlier â??hardâ?? holsters are kind of hard to find while the later ones are everywhere?


During the winter of 45-46, Europe experienced one of the severest winters in history. Starvation was everywhere. People were freezing. There was almost no infrastructure still existing except for the occupying powers. Barter was the basic currency. Cigarettes and Candy were used like coins.


A friend, Horst Egon Graf, was aged 16 and just discharged from the Wehrmacht. He tells me that he often acquired the â??hardâ?? type Luger and P38 holsters and used them for half-soling his familyâ??s shoes during that period. He said that you could take a holster and a few cigarettes to the shoemaker and he would take the holsters apart and make new heels and soles for your shoes!


Orv Reichert

[Marvin]

Orv,


A great story and I this shows how bad the conditions were for the German population. My dad was in germany shortly after the war ended and was stationed in the Black Forest area of Germany. He said the ladies would pick every small twig from the forest floor to use as firewood to stay warm. He told me it just amazed him that every thing useable was traded for food or clothing.


Marvin

Look at the massive number of M43 caps soldiers are shown wearing during and just after the war. Despite that, few seem to have survived. The same for old uniforms. I suspect most were worn to bare threads after the war till new clothes could be bought perhaps years later.


A gunshow tale is that 100,000 WW2 German helmets were used as fill for the Vienna airport runway.


dm

I was a student in Germany in 74 in Wurzburg,lived in a small town in the country. I remember clearly seeing the "Landser" wearing the M43 hat working around the house and gardens. Also you could take any leather items such as briefcases,holsters,belts, ect, boil them, then scrape the fat off the top and put it in soup or use it as a spread. The Russians did that at Stalingrad. I'm this was also done other places too.


Roadkill

Very interesting Orv!


Tim