Non German weapons used by Germans in WWII

[rayg]

I believe that the waffen proof marks were applied by German inspectors during newly manufacture of the weapons at the factories the Germans took over or of weapons that were previously manufactured and submitted back to the factory for repair or acceptance.
For the most part, the majority of captured weapons, which was what my original post was about, made before the German occupation did "NOT" receive the waffen stamps as the Germans generally accepted the prior factory proofing.
Some of the captured weapons apparently did recieve some type of a stock stamp like the LK5 mentioned in my initial post. The opinion of some collectors is that those LK stamps were for assignment or inventory stamps for possibly the Luffwaffen. But so far, no documentation has been found to support this. But again rifles from France, Poland, Yugo, czech, Russia, and Brit have been found with those stock stamps. Again theory is that these weapons were assigned to the Luffwaffen air bases. As it is known that the Luffwaffen used second class weapons, ie, old models or captured weapons. I was hoping folks would check the stocks on their weapons from those countries or any other country that was in German occupation to see if that stamp was present. Here is a photo of the stamp on my MAS-36. As you can see it's a small stamp and could be missed easy, Ray

[tiriaq]

W. Darrin Weaver's book "Desperate Measures" discusses German use of captured weapons in some detail. All were assigned a unique model number. Some were marked, many or most were not.

[Johnny Peppers]

The WaA/613 is the acceptance stamp and the eagle/swastika is the proof stamp.

[Harlan (Deceased)]

Thank you rayg and Johnny.

I found that FN 1922 at a pawn shop (inexpensive) and bought it because of the German stamps it had on it. The pawn shop owner didn't know what kind of pistol it was, but I found what type it was searching the internet. It was one of John Browning's designs he couldn't sell in the US so he sold the design in Europe. It has three safeties (lever, grip, and magazine) but the 1910 version wasn't safe enough from starting of WWI! One little .380 round assassinated both Arch Duke Ferdinand and Princess Sophie in Serbia which lead to the start of WWI.

~ Harlan

[Alfred]

I have a Browning P-35 here with NAZI markings. A friend found it while settling his father in laws estate, along with a nice little Remington .32 rimfire pocket revolver.

The father in law was stationed in the Pacific so its unlikely he brought it back, but he was a close friend of the Commandant of the Citadel Military Academy and it may have been a gift from him. The entire graduating class of 43 enlisted in mass and served with distinction, so it was probably brought back by one of them.

The pistol shows hard use and though still in good operating condition it needs a replacement of one grip panel.

PS
The 1922 Browning has a longer barrel than the earlier model, and uses a extension to the slide to accomodate the extra length.
The pistol was bought pre war by Yugoslavia in .380 and by several other countries in .32 ACP.

The father of a friend brought back a very nice specimen of the earlier shorter barreled Brownin that he'd found on the body of a German airman he'd shot down while bombing his position.
He had the young airman's wallet and other ID as well.
The pistol was a beauty, with a silver Luftwaffe Eagle inlaid in the grips.

[bussche]

Czech tanks, French tanks, Yugoslav machine guns, Russian anti-tank weapons, anything they could get. They were a horse drawn army and Germany had only a very few auto and truck companies. We had about 30 to choose from. Their problems were just as much economic as material based. Imagine how much money went out the door when several hundred MG34s were lost? That's why they went to stamped steel weapons like the MG42 and MP44; way cheaper to make. That was also the main reason that they saddled their soldiers with Mausers when everyone else had semi-autos. They had enormous stocks of 7.92X57mm (thousands of millions) and the cost of scrapping it would break the bank. It is a great argument to say that the German doctrine was built around the machine gun with bolt actions to protect the gun. A better way to say it is - they HAD to be built around the MG, they had no choice. We were done with the bolt action by the end of the Guadalcanal campaign.

Definitely anything they could get, check out this t-34/76 they pulled out of a swamp in Estonia in 2000:





More info here:
http://englishrussia.com/?p=299

[bussche]

More photos:


















And plenty more where these came from here:
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=71&t=99382

[gunner]

Also US tanks were used and some of the B-17 FF too.

Regards

Gunner

[browningautorifle]

I have a book on aircraft that were captured and used by Germany. They used just about everything. Also I'm sure I'm not the only one who saw Goering surrender what appeared to be a S&W M&P revolver on the film footage of his capture. Anyone know where that gun went?

[Harlan (Deceased)]

Here's a photo of a captured B24 taken by a member of Patton's staff as they approached Berlin. Several years ago the gentleman mailed a CD to me of photos he took on the way to Berlin.