4 Attachment(s)
Austrian M1 Carbine Slings
During the course of researching the use of the M1 Carbines by the Austrians I had the opportunity to go through a number of large boxes containing various slings removed from carbines with Austrian Gendarmerie markings. Most of which were leather. I divided them into 5 primary groups shown below. Looked at many more but these 5 groups were consistent.
Attachment 71166
Far left, they were a mixed batch of slings from other weapons modified for use with the carbines. 2nd left were consistent stitching, buckles, leather patterns as those marked Stolla but had no Stolla or 1ABT markings. 3rd from left I think had Stolla markings but no 1ABT.
4th from left were stamped ...
Attachment 71165
Far right were stamped ...
Attachment 71163
Only two were found with these markings...
Attachment 71164
I was told by several retired members of the Austrian Gendarmerie the 1ABT was 1st Abteilung, the 5C was 5th Company. They related this was a civilian department within the Austrian Gendarmerie that handled procurement acceptance. That the 1GBA was the predecessor who handled procurement before the 1ABT5C. Also, the last two numbers were the year this department accepted the slings from the contractor, Stolla & Son of Vienna (Stolla Wien). Several other Austrian sources repeated this information.
Abteilung has various meanings depending on the context in which it is used. It can be a military unit or a civilian unit within the military. An Abteilung can be a division, battalion, or other size (larger, smaller, civilian, etc). Easy to get things confused that are confusing.
I had to rely on the Austrians for this info as it was all foreign to me, and the Austrian terminology is sometimes different from the same words/phrases in German.
For clarification, I've seen hundreds of these slings and own several dozen of them. The majority were marked 1GBA56 or 1ABT5C62. Or had no markings. The Stolla logo was sometimes stamped as an impression in the leather, sometimes stamped with ink. Some slings included handwritten info on a particular land within the gendarmerie, a few had an ink stamp indicating same. Some had names handwritten on them.
Maybe the 56 or 62 would mean something different in Germany. I dunno. Only know what was shared by several independent sources and how many slings I saw with 56 and 62. And only two with 59.
Jim
USCarbines.com
P.S. I had my slings before knowing these even existed.