My Father's WWII Luger

[SuperTech1]

Greetings,

This is my first post! My father recently passed away and I inherited his German Luger that he acquired during WWII. According to his writings, after the battle at St. Vith several German officers surrendered to them near Giessen and he and his squad acquired souvenir pistols and guns from them sometime in March 1945.

I'm not interested in selling, but am curious as to value for insurance purposes. I am attaching a few pictures. I hope they're viewable.

There are two locations with what appear to be initials stamped into the front of the grip and on one of the magazines (#2). All the serial numbers seem to match. The serial number is 369 I believe.

Thanks for any information you can provide.

[alanint]

A close up of all the proofs would be helpful in valuing as well as wether both mags match the pistol's serial number.

[SuperTech1]

Yes the serial numbers on both magazines match. One reads 369 with the number 1 below it, while the other reads 369 with the number 2 below it.

I hope the following pictures are what you mean by "proofs".

[Edward Tinker]

So, far I can tell you that it is a police luger (sear safety and unit marking) made by DWM in 1920.

So they may or may not have been "officers" in the army, although most US GI's either didn't know the difference or didn't care to distinguish the difference

Value for police guns is a bit less, two matching mags for an army is much rarer, but not unknown for police guns.

Value is from $1500-$1800 perhaps a bit more, or a bit less in todays market...

What markings does the holster have on it?

Its the "army" style, so it might have been swapped at one time or not...



Ed

[SuperTech1]

These are the only markings I found on the holster. I didn't find any markings on the "field strip tool" either.

Thanks for the info!!

[SuperTech1]

"So they may or may not have been "officers" in the army, although most US GI's either didn't know the difference or didn't care to distinguish the difference "

After looking at this I can certainly believe you!

http://books.google.com/books?id=SSW...age&q=&f=false


After doing some research on this fine site and other places on the internet it appears that the police unit markings on my father's Luger translate roughly to:

Schutzpolitzei of Hanover 2nd District Item 8

It's amazing what you can learn about these "pieces of history"!

[rolandtg]

A very fine heirloom.
It looks like it's been well cared for for the last 60+ years.

[Edward Tinker]

From Don Maus' new book (History Writ in Steel)

S.Hn.
Prussia
Schutzpolizei Hannover
Protection Police, Hannover district

Rather than item number 8 it would be waffen (weapon) #8

[SuperTech1]

Thanks! That would make more sense. I was unable to determine what the cursive "L" stood for.

Originally Posted by Edward Tinker

From Don Maus' new book (History Writ in Steel)

S.Hn.
Prussia
Schutzpolizei Hannover
Protection Police, Hannover district

Rather than item number 8 it would be waffen (weapon) #8

[Don M]

SuperTech1,

Your pistol has a very interesting grip strap marking. As you have determined, it is from the Schutzpolizei of Hannover. The script letter is actually an "S" and I supect it stands for "Süd"; however, this is conjecture. A very similar marking is pictured in Fig. 9-8 of my book History Writ in Steel.

Do the magazines have similar markings on the spines? Can you determine the lower-case letter suffix below the serial number on the front of the frame?

In the event I publish an update of my book, I would like to include a photo of the grip strap marking of your gun. If you agree and send me your name, I will certainly credit you. If you have a higher resolution version of your photo, that would be even better. Thank you very much and congratulations on owning a very interesting Luger.

[SuperTech1]

Don,

Thank you for your kind comments. I am attaching a couple more pictures. The letter below the serial number on the front of the frame looks like an "a" to me. I hadn't even noticed it before. The marking is only on the number 2 magazine which I have included a picture of. The last letter on the magazine is what I was looking at when I thought it was an "L" but I suppose it could be an "S".
I would be honored (on behalf of my father) to have a picture of his Luger included in your book update. I will PM you my name.
Thanks again!

Originally Posted by Don M

SuperTech1,

Your pistol has a very interesting grip strap marking. As you have determined, it is from the Schutzpolizei of Hannover. The script letter is actually an "S" and I supect it stands for "Süd"; however, this is conjecture. A very similar marking is pictured in Fig. 9-8 of my book History Writ in Steel.

Do the magazines have similar markings on the spines? Can you determine the lower-case letter suffix below the serial number on the front of the frame?

In the event I publish an update of my book, I would like to include a photo of the grip strap marking of your gun. If you agree and send me your name, I will certainly credit you. If you have a higher resolution version of your photo, that would be even better. Thank you very much and congratulations on owning a very interesting Luger.

[Don M]

Thanks for posting these photos. These provide more evidence that two abbreviations for Hannover (Hn. and H.) were in use simultaneously as discussed in HWIS.

[Don M]

Thanks for the photos. They provide additional evidence that both Hn. and H. were used as abbreviations for Hannover. I suspect the #2 mag was a later replacement.

It is interesting that your dad captured this rig near Gießen, which was in the state of Hessen and not very close to Hannover. This and the holster suggest that the rig was in the hands of the military at that time. It would be very interesting to learn how it got from Hannover to Gießen but I doubt we will ever know.

[Lyn Islaub]

Interesting post. I have 1920 S/N 2203a that was issued and marked to the same unit, however for some reason the weapon number was scratched out leaving only " S Hn II" on both the pistol and the magazine. Does it suggest that the Hannover Schutzpolizei received a significant number of weapons in the 'a' block in one batch?? Maybe.
Lyn

[Don M]

Hi Lyn,

If you have a copy of HWIS, you can see how many of these I have recorded in Tables 9-6 & 9-7.

[Drachenstein]

It is interesting that your dad captured this rig near Gießen, which was in the state of Hessen and not very close to Hannover. This and the holster suggest that the rig was in the hands of the military at that time. It would be very interesting to learn how it got from Hannover to Gießen but I doubt we will ever know.

Not really when you consider it's a straight shot via the autobahn.

[Don M]

I doubt it was a "straight shot." The evidence suggests the pistol and its bearer were transferred to the Landespolizei in 1933-34 and then to the military where they may have been in one of the police battalions in an occupied country. This group may have been recalled to Germany toward the end of the war. It would probably be an interesting story.

[SuperTech1]

While not really shedding any further light on the pistol's history I found an account in a document written by one of my father's fellow squad members. This is a redacted portion of his account of the incident.

"...A few days later we crossed the Remagen Bridge and headed toward Giessen Germany. We went across the bridge and captured Hahnen Germany on the 23rd of March 1945.

We captured 3 German towns between there and Giessen. While capturing Giessen Sgt. ***** ******** and myself captured 28 German officers. We could have taken a lot of souvenirs however I took 3 things. I picked a 9mm Luger, a 9mm Ruger, and a 7.65mm pistol made under the Browning patent. I have since given the Belgium 7.65mm or 32 cal. pistol to my daughter ***** ***.

After Sgt. ******** and myself captured those officers, we marched them to our command post and returned to our squad."

(My father was the Sergeant mentioned)

[Don M]

A great story. Maybe Ed Tinker could include it in a second volume of his "Veteran Bring-Backs."

[John Sabato]

Supertech1, Just curious.

Can you identify the US military unit that you father was assigned to? that is right after the time than several divisions crossed the Rhine during the Remagen Bridgehead expansion.