Turned over in a police firearms surrender, a trophy Luger from a historic Great War battle on the Western Front is now in a museum.
The pistol, a 1911-marked DWM, was collected by the Wiltshire Police during the UK’s National Firearms Surrender this summer. While the majority of firearms collected will be torched, the Luger was passed to the famed Tank Museum in Bovington for them to display.
“Firearms handed into the police during surrenders are sent for ballistic tests to ensure they haven’t been used in crime and are usually then destroyed,” said Wiltshire Police Armourer, Jamie Ross. However, an exception was made for the Luger, which was transferred in unmolested condition. “This live firearm is a part of history and I know that it is a welcome addition to the collection at the Tank Museum,” said Ross.
The intact DWM Parabellum was made in 1911 and, brought back as a war trophy the UK, is in a holster marked “Souvenir of the Big Advance at Cambrai November 1917.” (Photo: The Tank Museum)
While the very early 1st generation of semi-auto pistols such as the Bergmann–Bayard and Borchardt C-93 rightfully tanked within a decade due to faults in their design, the second generation guns, such as the Luger, Browning’s FN and Colt pocket guns, and even the Mauser 1910 and C96 Broomhandle still very much endure.
For anecdotal evidence of the above, check out this from the Silah Report’s IG page who came across this vintage Browning .32ACP in Syria recently. “This FN Model 1910 has seen much better days, but it still works,” they said.
On Armslist, you would see this listed as “Great Condition. No haggles. I know what I got.”
Of course, I am a bit biased. I still regularly shoot my FN 1910 and Mauser 1914 whenever I can. Both are very much older than I am– and I am no spring chicken!
An American combat engineer sergeant of the 5th Army with coffee and a donut from the Red Cross near Livergnano, Italy, 29 October 1944.
Mark Clark’s understrength 5th Army was at the time facing the Kesselring’s Germans at a stalemate along the Gothic Line directly North of Florence, the last grueling stop up the Italian boot before reaching Austria.
This week is the 161st birthday of the iconic sportsman, former assistant NAVSEC, short-term colonel and occasional statesman, Teddy Roosevelt. In honor of this event, I spent the past several months researching one of his guns, a custom M1903 Springfield that had been sporterized.
Roosevelt’s modified M1903, courtesy of the Sagamore Hill collection
However, it wasn’t some aftermarket bubba hack job on the rifle. This custom work was done at Springfield Armory during the M1903’s first year of production, under the close attention of the arsenal’s commanding colonel– with BG William Crozier acting as the go-between.
And TR took the rifle on several hunting trips ranging from Colorado to Africa.
“On the great bear hunt President Roosevelt after leaving Newcastle [Colorado] for the mountains 1905” — note the sporterized M1903, with its distinctive single barrel band and cut-down pistol grip stock.
Over the weekend in the freshwater Great Lakes harbor at Burns Harbor, Indiana, USS Indianapolis (LCS-17), the latest Freedom-class littoral combat ship, commissioned. She is the fourth such vessel, and second surface combatant, to carry the moniker. While I would personally have liked to see a cruiser, LHA, or destroyer carry the name due to the legacy of CA-58, the second Indianapolis, I am nonetheless happy to see the name on the Navy list once again. Indy is the 19th LCS to be commissioned and is expected to be assigned to Littoral Combat Ship Squadron Two in Mayport. She is the fifth such Freedom assigned to LCSRON2.
USS Delaware
Elsewhere in U.S. Navy news last week, the latest Virginia-class attack submarine, PCU USS Delaware (SSN 791) was delivered to the Navy by Ingalls. Notably, when she is fully commissioned as the 7th Delaware, it will end a nearly century-long drought on the Navy List for that name which was last issued to Battleship No. 28 in 1909, a vessel that was broken up for scrap under the 1921 Washington Naval Treaty. SSN-791 is the 18th Virginia and last of the Block III boats.
USS Gerald R. Ford
Further, USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) finally departed Newport News Shipbuilding and returned to sea for the first time since beginning their post-shakedown availability in July 2018 (!) to get back to the business of conducting sea trials, now well over a year since she was commissioned. Navy officials hope she will be ready for regular fleet service by 2024.
John S. McCain
Speaking of gone for a while, USS John S. McCain (DDG 56) is underway to conduct comprehensive at-sea testing. She has been sidelined for repairs and extensive, accelerated upgrades over the last two years, following a collision in August 2017.
“This whole crew is eager to get back to sea, and that’s evident in the efforts they’ve made over the last two years to bring the ship back to fighting shape, and the energy they’ve put into preparing themselves for the rigors of at-sea operations,” said CDR Ryan T. Easterday, John S. McCain‘s commanding officer. “I’m extremely proud of them as we return the ship to sea, and return to the operational fleet more ready than ever to support security and stability throughout the region.”
Tulagi?
And in South Pacific news, the planned 75-year lease on the entire island of Tulagi (Tulaghi) in the Solomon Islands looks like it is going to fall through. Well known to students of WWII, the Japanese occupied Tulagi in May 1942 in the days just before the Battle of the Coral Sea and was captured by the 1st Marine Raiders that August, forming an important PT-boat base during the Guadalcanal Campaign (JFK’s PT-109, part of Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron 2, operated from there.) They proved important in winning control of “The Slot” during that campaign. Likewise, if the Japanese had held Tulagi that summer, the whole operation would have been just that much harder to pull off.
Japanese Navy Type 1 land attack planes (Betty) make a torpedo attack on the Tulagi invasion force, 8 August 1942. The burning ship in the center distance is probably USS George F. Elliott (AP-13), which was hit by a crashing Japanese aircraft during this attack. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Catalog #: NH 97766
As the crow flies, Tulagi could have been a strategic key to that part of the region as it is directly between Hawaii and Australia. This is especially true if you could pick up those keys for cheap on an extended multi-generational lease.
”I want to applaud the decision of the Solomon Islands attorney general to invalidate the Chinese effort to lease the island of Tulagi for 75 years,” said Secretary of Defense Mark T. Esper. “This is an important decision to reinforce sovereignty, transparency, and the rule of law. Many nations in the Pacific have discovered far too late that Chinese use of economic and military levers to expand their influence often is detrimental to them and their people.”
Happy Birthday, Royal Marines, founded 28 October 1664.
Two Royal Marine Snipers and an FN MAG-equipped GPMG Gunner of 42 Commando prior to the Assault on Mount Kent. Falkland’s War, June 1982. Note the WWII-ish L42 bolt-action Enfield sniper rifle and the Vietnam-era AN/PNV2 Starlite scope on the shooter in the center of the frame.
42 Commando included a company (J) that was formed around Naval Party 8901– the ill-fated two-platoon force of Marines who garrisoned the islands during the Argentine invasion in April. Repatriated, they came back for a little payback.
…I just blew 30 minutes watching Cat Shit One, based on the comic written by Motofumi Kobayashi, although they updated the original’s Vietnam LRRP team to a more Sandboxy setting.
Outside of Buckingham Palace this week stood A coy, 5 Rifles, mounting the Queens Guard, a role they assumed on public order duties from F Company Scots Guards, relieving the latter for training. Unlike Guards units, the Rifles do not carry bayonets on their SA80s, nor wear white gloves as they are “working infantry.”
Formed in 2007, the current unit is a mechanized infantry battalion assigned to 20 Armoured Brigade, within 3rd (UK) Division -“The Iron Division.” The Rifles regiment itself was formed from the historic Devonshire and Dorset Regiment, Royal Green Jackets, Light Infantry Regiment, Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Light Infantry, and the Rifle Volunteers– regiments with honors from around the globe.
In an ode to these previous units, they have a faster than normal marching pace at 140 paces per minute, maintaining the tradition of the Rifles motto, “Swift and Bold.” Their current uniform is distinctive and includes elements of all of their historical units. The silver bugle of the LI, Croix de Guerre sleeve insignia of the D&D, “Egypt” back badge of the RGDW, and black buttons of the RGJ.
As noted the HQ London District: “Variety is proving the spice of life for 5 RIFLES who after their public role guarding the Queen, the Crown Jewels at the Tower, and the Royal Palaces, will deploy back to BATUS in Canada again in April. Then in winter, they will deploy on OP CABRIT in Estonia as part of the NATO Enhanced Forward Presence.”
Billed as a dream match using DNA from two of the most iconic handguns of the old and new world, the new Dan Wesson DWX has been announced.
Teased this week, the new gun has a release date only of “2020” and is promised in both full-size and compact variants.
“It started as an experiment — a grand melding of Dan Wesson and CZ pistols,” says the company. “Borrowing the crisp single-action fire control group of a DW 1911 and combining it with the ergonomics and capacity of a CZ, the resulting pistol emerged as something great.”
The Dan Wesson DWX. Concept art firearm vaporware? We shall see…
Using a locked-breech barrel system and a CZ-style takedown, the 9mm DWX incorporates a 5-inch match-grade barrel without the 1911’s link system or barrel bushing. However, it contains many 1911 parts while coming to the party with a 19+1 magazine capacity based on the CZ P-09/P-10 and aluminum CZ 75 grips.
Yesterday, an unusual thing happened in South Africa. A pair of Russia’s dozen or so operational Tupolev Tu-160 “White Swan” (NATO: Blackjack) bombers touched down at the AFB Waterkloof outside of Pretoria after a non-stop journey from the Motherland. Based in Saratov, the distance involved is something like 7,500 miles in a straight line but the Russkis came the long way, trekking over the Caspian and Arabian seas, as well as the Indian Ocean, in a 13-hour flight. Ground crews arrived earlier this week with support equipment in an Il-62 and An-124 Ruslan.
Escorted by SAAF Hawks (I guess the country’s Gripens were busy) the visit coincided with the start of a Russia-Africa summit in Sochi.
Although the two countries, as the Soviet Union and Apartheid-era South Africa, fought a series of bush wars throughout the 1970s and 80s through proxies in places like Angola and Mozambique, things have changed over the past few years.
As noted by the SADF, “South Africa and Russia have strong diplomatic links that were established between both countries in 1992. Our relations are not solely built on ‘struggle politics’, but rather on fostering mutually beneficial partnerships based on common interests.”
From St. Petersburg:
The purpose of the visit is the development of bilateral military cooperation and the development of issues of interaction between the Russian Aerospace Forces and the South African Air Force.
The event will help to increase the combat training of the flight personnel of the two countries. Comprehensive friendly relations between Russia and South Africa are built in the spirit of strategic partnership and mutual understanding.
Of note, during the Boer War, the Boers enjoyed much support from St. Petersburg, being something of a cause celeb among Tsarist officers and functionaries. In fact, several hundred Russian volunteers actually made it to the Continent to fight the British, as sore feelings of the Great Game and Crimean War were still fresh. Among its members was Cadet politician Alexander Guchkov who later became the Minister of War in the doomed 1917 Provisional Government.
