1918 Erfurt

[Balder]

Originally posted by reich1900
Were any of their pistols marked in any special way? I have a 1918 Erfurt and was wondering maybe I have something rare? But I'm not counting on it. HA!HA!
Bernie

For some reason, none of the German-made SOE-guns I've seen have had any British markings at all. The Brits were eager to proof-mark allied guns, at least until 1944. My M1928 Thompson has the broad arrow as well as various inspectors' stamps, my father's M1911A1 also. But not his M1-carbine that came in a parachute drop late 1944/early 1945. As for not marking the German guns, I can see at least one good reason - if the SOE-agent was captured carrying a British marked German gun, it would give away the fact that this gun was supplied from the UK. It wouldn't really mean much to the agent in question, he'd most likely be executed anyway; but I believe that the Brits didn't want to let the Germans know that they had a store of German guns, nor did they want to reveal that they were being supplied to Norway and other occupied countries. This is one of several WW2/SOE issues I am currently looking into.

As for the recently acquired 1918 Erfurt, I posted it here just to check with the Luger Gurus if the markings were common for such a Luger - I didn't expect it to be anything special. Thanks for all of your inputs.

Regards,

Balder