Erfurt LP-08's After 1914...?

[Pete Ebbink]

Okay, the total (or almost total) lack of Erfurt LP-08's (artillery) pistols after the 1914 date still keeps me up at night.

I think I read in one of my luger books that one theory has it that the Erfurt LP-08 machinery was shipped away from Erfurt, and possibly to DWM...but I cannot for the life of me find that reference...

So,...did Erfurt stop making LP-08's after the 1914 production run because they shipped all the machinery to DWM.

When I review the DWM and Erfurt guns production numbers in Jan C. Still's great book, "Imperial Lugers & Their Accessories" on page 15, the following trends pop up (in my mind...) :

DWM makes the following LP-08's :
1914 - 5,000 LP-08's
1915 - 15,000 LP-08's
1916 - 20,000 LP-08's
1917 - 90,000 LP-08's
1918 - 25,000 LP-08's.

What is obvious here is that there is a really big jump in the number of LP-08's that DWM cranked out after the 1914 run and an even more significant jump between 1916 and 1917.

What could have cause that jump ?

In 1914, Erfurt makes 23,000 LP-08's. None thereafter (assume the reported 1915 and 1917 single specimens are fluks...).

At the same time. Erfurt's regular P-08 production runs as :

1911 - 10,000 P-08's
1912 - 21,000 P-08's
1913 - 23,000 P-08's
1914 - 7,000 P-08's only...
1915 - None reported.
1916 - 80,000 P-08's
1917 - 180,000 P-08's
1918 - 175,000 P-08's

Why did Erfurt's regular P-08 production volume drop so much in year 1914 when in 1911 through 1913 their prouction numbers were ramping up as would be expected during war time preparations ?

Is seems likely that the Erfurt factory was pre-occupied with their 1914 LP-08 activities...so their P-08 numbers suffered in 1914.

Then in 1915, there are no Erfurts lugers; either P-08's or LP-08's...

What were the Erfurt folks doing in the time frame between end of 1914 through 1915 ? Maybe a plant wide shut down to retool and reconfigure the production floor ?

And what caused Erfurt's P-08 output to jump from 7,000 in 1914 or the ~ 20,000 in years 1912 and 1913 to nearly 80,000 in 1916 ?

SPECULATIONS & QUESTIONS :

1. IS IT POSSIBLE THAT ERFURT REVAMPED THEIR FACTORY FLOOR IN YEAR 1915 AND SHIPPED THEIR LP-08 MACHINERY TO DWM SO THEY COULD JUST CONCENTRATE ON P-08 PRODUCTION ?

2. ONCE THE DWM FACTORY GAINED THE OLD ERFURT LP-08 MACHINERY IN 1915-1916, IS THIS WHAT LEAD TO DWM BEING ABLE TO JUMP THEIR LP-08 PRODUCTION FROM 20,000 IN 1916 TO 90,000 IN 1917 ?

Okay, I can go to sleep now...

Let me know if you folks think I am "all wet" with my logic train...

Regards,

Pete... <img border="0" alt="[typing]" title="" src="graemlins/yltype.gif" />