Newbie

[durr3]

Great idea....I have just added more photos to my Gallery. Take a look if you are interested.

[durr3]

In my WWII Luger Album

[sheepherder]

I'm looking at your sideplate number [bottom of sideplate]...Can't quite make it out...First digit looks like "2" but the second is too blurry...Or maybe it's my eyes that are blurry...

Takedown lever has "22" which is good...

Lines & edges all look nice & sharp; commercial proofs look distinct...Finish is excellent...Strawing excellent...

[durr3]

It is 22 as well. I will be glad to help with any more questions. I would just like to ID as much as I can about where and when it was made. thank you

[Ben M.]

i met a older gent near my home that had some lugers he wanted to sell. 3-4 guns appears to be parts guns until i realized he had simply mixed up some parts from different guns during a cleaning session.

his mind was a bit foggy and he did not realize his mistake. i bought one and let his son know the value of the other guns so they could sell them too. all the guns were matching once we put the parts where they belonged.

[kzullick]

My Father was in WWII and Korea, he has passed on but told me many stories about his service in the Army. Myself being a longtime student of Military History know that some of his stories were fabrications. My Father-in-law was in the Army also, served in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam, he would never speak a single word about his service. Only after his Death did we find his Military records. He was without question the real deal hardass. God bless them both!

[Douglas Jr.]

I agree with Ron here: pretty interesting and curious handgun. Take the story with cautiouns but, well, as you said, it is what it is.
But, more importantly, it is your father's pistol - and it makes it the only one in world. Enjoy it as such.
All the best,
Douglas

[John Sabato]

Originally Posted by Douglas Jr.

I agree with Ron here: pretty interesting and curious handgun. Take the story with cautiouns but, well, as you said, it is what it is.
But, more importantly, it is your father's pistol - and it makes it the only one in world. Enjoy it as such.
All the best,
Douglas

Amen to that!

[durr3]

a photo of my father with Sgt. Merk, who also received one of these Lugers. The Russians were friendly during this time and pal'd around with the GIs. I will be posting more details and facts to support "the story". Plus, it is my understanding that near the end of the war, Lugers were put together at the factory using mismatched numbers. More details to follow.

[durr3]

Would somebody help me confirm the issue about "new" mismatched numbers. I read it in John Walter's book on Lugers. This would explain the numbers thing. I am still working on all the info for verifying the source of the Lugers for you guys.

[sheepherder]

Originally Posted by durr3

Would somebody help me confirm the issue about "new" mismatched numbers. I read it in John Walter's book on Lugers.

I have one of Walters' Luger books (he wrote several) but don't recognize that term...Which book & what page???

[Edward Tinker]

That story of mixed numbers is true, but more likely p38's, ppk, etc. then krieghoffs were made up of whatever parts, while salvaged lugers were sold in the px.

With few exceptions, us soldiers met only a few Russians, and never made it to Berlin until after the war. Now, it does not mean that some Lugers weren't found in an important building. I am talking to a guy right now that his dad found a Luger, in a glass case in Suhl. It is a very early gun and I have little doubt the story is not true.

It sounds and looks like a gun that was special to someone important. Remember, lots of high ranking Germans had their items boxed up and sent west away from the Russians. This stuff was found by GIs and plundered, I mean consficated.

[alanint]

All indications, (frame serial number) are that this is an early pre-WW2, pre-alphabet commercial pistol. It has no Mauser hump, so that would indicate that the frame is also DWM manufacture, which would put it completely out of any "last ditch, late war, mismatched pistols" scenario. Even in the unlikely event that this was a last ditch pistol, they would NEVER have taken the time to straw any of the parts nor would it be finished so nicely!

As a pre-war commercial pistol in a non-issued caliber, it is very unlikely that it came out of an unopened crate, still wrapped in factory grease, sitting in a goverment building. Even if the Reich Chancellery did indeed have an "arsenal", it would have almost certainly ben stocked with goverment issue weapons, i.e. 9mm Pistols, and more likely P38s, not Lugers, which were subsitute standard at that point.

It is a very interesting pistol in outstanding shape. I have no trouble believing your father brought it back from WW2. It may have been matching when he got it, but somehow had the toggle train swapped out along the way. All I'm saying is that there is almost no chance this came from an unopened crate at the Reich Chancellery building.

[durr3]

Mr alan, The gun has not been in anyone's possession other than my father since it came from Berlin. So, nothing has been swapped out and he insist's that he picked it from a crate, wrapped in wax paper and covered in cosmoline. The man shown in the photo with Dad is Sgt. Merk who gave him the gun in Berlin while they were both stationed there.

[durr3]

Sorry, I should not have put the quotations around new mismatched. I have the gun, but Dad has the book. I will get the book and verify the page etc. thanks

[durr3]

Can anyone identify this marking and it's meaning? thanks

[hayhugh]

I can not see any marking in the photo posted?

[Edward Tinker]

We are not doubting you, and some troops met up with Russians but perhaps it was the occupation right after the war?

On 12 April 1945, the day of President Roosevelt's death and eighteen days before the Russians took Berlin, Ninth U.S. Army units crossed the Elbe River near Magdeburg, some fifty miles from the German capital. (See Map X inside back cover.) They established a second bridgehead farther south on the following day. German counterattacks forced them to withdraw from the northern position on the 14th, but the Americans held the southern bridgehead. These elements were ordered to hold in place while other units arriving at the Elbe were turned toward objectives south and north along the west bank of the river. On 5 May, a week before the Russians liberated Prague, the Third U.S. Army pushed spearheads inside the Czechoslovak frontier and, on the day the war ended, was in a position to advance in force to the Czechoslovak capital. Despite the pleas of the Czechoslovak leaders and the appeals of Mr. Churchill, these units were not sent forward. Many observers have concluded that only a political decision, perhaps made weeks before, could have held General Dwight D. Eisenhower's forces at the Elbe. Careful examination of the Supreme Commander's action indicates that he halted his troops short of Berlin and Prague for military reasons only.

here is one website info

Following Germany's World War II surrender, Berlin was occupied by Armed Forces of Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and the United States. US forces took charge of America's Occupation Sector in July 1945.
First US troops in Berlin were from the 2nd "Hell on Wheels" Armored Division who were soon replaced by elements of the 82nd "All American" Airborne Division and 78th "Lightening" Infantry Division. Shortly, these two divisions were withdrawn; replaced by the 3rd "Old Guard" Infantry Regiment which was inactivated in 1946.
3rd Battalion, 16th Infantry "Rangers" of the 1st Infantry Division, and 16th Constabulary Squadron (Separate) occupied Berlin's US Sector from 1946 until 1950 when 6th Infantry Regiment "GATORS" was activated to replace them.

If your dad and friend were stationed there, it could have been right after the war, during occupation duty and trust me, i have seen real stories of a box of lugers (30-40 of them) that were hidden in an attic and found years later - Berlin was pretty leveled, but much still standing.

[durr3]

It was after the war during the cleanup. He told me that much. He is going to tell me the whole story again in a few days. He just was released from having some surgery done. He still has his papers from the service. Seems like he said it was in July or August of 1945.
I will update asap.

[durr3]

heyhugh, if you look almost the exact center of the pic on top of the pistol, you will see a marking that looks like some kind of bug or something.