Dads ww11 souvineer, 3rd army,infantry, ending in Berlin

[ghostdog]

Well at least one of many, I will post more as I have time, thanks to all vets past and present.

 

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[Monty]

My Dad brought back a Luger and a SS dagger and some low life broke into his car and stole it. It nearly broke his heart. He got the gun at Normandy and the knife in the Ardan Forest during the Battle of the Bulge. He was in the 3rd Army Artillery and went all the way from France to Berlin. That's a beautiful keep sake. Monty

 

[ghostdog]

Thanks Monty, I have the holster,,2 matching clips,and key,also a couple of dagggers,I post other photos when i can , trying getting through other issues right now. dad was in the 3rd army infantry,went to the same battles as yours did, regards.

 

[Monty]

Small world huh? Dad once told me about the Battle of the Bulge. He said they hardly had any ammo at all but the Germans didn't know it. He said they would fire a few rounds of what they had left every day to keep up the facade. And that if the weather hadn't cleared for air support they would have been completely out the next day. They had already given the artillery crews M1 Garands to replace their M1 Carbines and were going to put them on the line with the infantry. Would love to see the daggers. The one dad had was the one that had the round SS, a swastika and an eagle on the hilt. I can barely remember it. He also had some wooden shoes he got in Holland, a silver necklace made out of silver Belgian coins and a little double barrel side by side 9mm shotgun and .22 long rifle he also got in Belgium. I have the little rifle/shotgun combo in my gunsafe. I lost one of the hammers when I was trying to restore it. My son and nephew who were about 8 or 9 came along and took it out of the solvent I had it soaking in and lost it. Little turds! I guess I should make a wall hanger out of it since it won't shoot any more. Monty

 

[Minstrel]

That is a very nice looking weapon. Here is one my father brought back, condition is not near as good as yours, it saw a lot of action before Dad got it. He was in the "T" patchers, 61th Combat Eng., led by General Walker. They left Texas for North Africa, then to Salerno, Italy (2000 went in and only 600 came out the other side) and then into the rest of Europe.
Thought you all might like to see it.
Minstrel

 

[Monty]

That is a nice P38 and I'll bet it still has the Nazi markings. After the war all the captured guns had the waffen marks ground off. One that still has them is a collector's piece for sure. It replaced the Luger as the official sidearm. The Luger was mostly machined and was too expensive and slow to mass produce. You might equate it as the Thompson was replaced by the grease gun in our forces for the same reason. Just an amusing little anecdote as my wife would say. Monty

 

[GL]

Lugers are sexy.

 

[Minstrel]

That is a nice P38 and I'll bet it still has the Nazi markings. After the war all the captured guns had the waffen marks ground off. One that still has them is a collector's piece for sure. It replaced the Luger as the official sidearm. The Luger was mostly machined and was too expensive and slow to mass produce. You might equate it as the Thompson was replaced by the grease gun in our forces for the same reason. Just an amusing little anecdote as my wife would say. Monty

It has all the markings: #2349 with a "Z" just past it--numbers match throughout. I have the shoulder holster that Dad made for it--used to carry it under his jacket. He brought a lot home, including "2" Ernst Rohm daggers, most had the name ground off after Hitler had him executed in 1934 but these still had it on, a Naval Dress dagger (ivory handle, silver sheath) lots of bayonets etc.
I used to shoot the P-38 when I was in my teens, would bench rest it at throw away beer bottles in the woods on a range I built and pop them off at 100 yrs. Most accurate pistol I have ever shot. The toggle bolt Luger was too finely machined and would cause problems in dusty climates or extreme cold. It was really just too well made and as said above that process made it too hard to mass produce. I also have all the letters he wrote to his Mother during the war and some of his brother's also.
These were Dad's also:
Minstrel

 

[ghostdog]

Thanks guys, my luger is of Krieghoff make, the holster is brown, have 1 dagger wood handle with eagle,blade inscription,brown sheath,other is black handle,chrome blade,black sheath,and a german paratroop knife with spike . Dad recieved the French croixde whatever,cirtificate,for action at the battle of reduction of coleman pocket. gotta sign off now.