Himmler's Pistols
Reprinted from "Auto Mag'' with the permission of The National Automatic Pistol Collector's AssociationSome collectors are extraordinarily lucky to possess pistols that are documented pieces of history. Whether one of the classic engraved gifts that Gauleiter Fritz Sauckel distributed to friends and acquaintances during his reign in Thuringen, or one of the Walther family gifts such as the famous Adolf Hitler or Helmuth Gommlich PPs, these pistols enable the collector to touch the grim but fascinating history of the Third Reich and World War II.
We know that Sauckel was a prolific giver of fine pistols, but so also were members of the SS including RFSS Heinrich Himmler. The exquisitely engraved and gold-washed pistol surrendered by Ss-Obergruppenfuhrer Karl Wolff to Major General Paul Kendall, commander of the 88th Infantry Divisionis on display at the West Point Museum. The ivory grip plates are adorned on one side with a Party eagle and on the other with an inlaid SS badge and a silver plate on which is engraved"H. Himmler". The circumstances surrounding the gift of this pistol are not known.
Another documented presentation from Himmler is the pictured PPK gift to SS-Obergruppenfuhrer Fritz Weitzel received on the occasion of his 35th birthday. Weitzel was an early dynastic SS member who rose quickly in the officer ranks. The engraving of this PPK#1002912 is in an oakleaf and acorn pattern similar to the Wolff PP and the grip contains a silvered plate of similar shape to that on the Wolff gun on which is engraved "Meinen lieben Fritz Weitzelzum 27.4.1939 H. Himmler".
Fritz Weitzel was responsible for SS expansion in the Rhineland and became a close confidant of Himmler, but his career has cut short on June 19, 1940 when he died during an air raid on Dusseldorf. The close relationship of Himmler and Weitzel was reflected in the dedication- "To My Dear Fritz Weitzel on 27 April 1939 H. Himmler."
A small group of Himmler presentation PPKs is pictured and discussed in Volumes II and III of Rankin's Walther series. These pistols are late war production, 430 359 K and 430 360 K, still in the white, unproofed, oak leaf engraved and with an inscription in relief on the left side of the slide, "Dem Tapferen! vom Reichsfuhrer-SS Himmler 1944." Another has been reported with serial number 430 358 K. The three pistols have varying grips, both white and artificial walnut colors but are unembellished. The lack of finish and proofing would indicate that these were not ready for presentation. One was taken from the Walther factory.
First pictured in Whittington's Vol. II and later in Jim Cate's first volume on the Sauer company, an interesting group Sauer H pistols identified as Himmler presentation pieces. The unusual weapons are of a late war variety which apparently had been pulled from production and a thumb safety added to the slide. The J.P. Sauer legend was engraved on the right side of the slide,w hile the left side is finished with the inscription "Dem Scharfschutzen - H. Himmler."
Cate has identified five other identical pistols within a very tight serial range from 475 376 to 475 418 and dated the production to May through June 1944. They were presented in cases such as this example #475 412. Cate and Whittington estimate production to a few dozen or more.
The conjecture is that these pistols were awards from Himmler for a shooting contest of some kind. There is no doubt that in the never-never land of Nazi Germany, shooting contests continued through the summer of 1944 as evidenced by Tirolean shooting badges with 1944 dates. There were target shooting awards issued by the Hitler Youth, marked "Scharfschutzen" from the late 1930s until the early 1940s. But these pistols are odd in that there is no mention of any particular shooting contest, a date or a winner. And with no acknowledgment of such an important shooting event like the Gau Party or SA Championships that would warrant the impressive gift of a Sauer H, one is given to doubt that these were intended forHJ target shooters at a time when the Allies were pushing through France and starting on their inevitable drive to Berlin from the East.
Snipers had been an integral part of the German armed forces in WWI and they were no less so in the Second World War. In July 1943, the Army High Command initiated an effort to recognize snipers with a specialty patch. This objective was realized on August 20,1944 with an order from the Fuhrer creating "Das Scharfschiitzenabzeichen des Heeres" - The Sniper Badge of the Army, pictured below which was issued to successful snipers with confirmed kills of 20, 40 and 60 enemy troops. The three levels of accomplishment were indicated by respectively, no piping, silver piping on the oval and gold piping. Over the next several months, this decree was modified to include snipers from other branches of the German armed service.
In particular, RFSS Heinrich Himmler was involved in all aspects of German sniper development, both in his capacity as Commander of the Waffen-SS, and later as Chief of Army Procurement and Commander of the Reserve Army, posts to which he was appointed in 1944 after the abortive July 20 Putsch. His involvement included the procurement of newly designed weapons and the rewarding of deserving Scharfschlitzen (Snipers). In a letter to Reichsminister Speer on November 29, 1944, Himmler discussed his own efforts to expand sniper activities with in military units under his authority. He noted his efforts to increase the success of the Scharfschiitzen by awarding more material things: a watch for 50 kills, a hunting rifle for 100 kills and a hunting expedition for 150 kills. Thus we have evidence that Himmler privately was directly rewarding Scharfschiitzen with gifts including firearms.
In the National Archives can be found schedules of the RFSS for many dates from 1938 through early 1945, though far from complete. Eleven instances arecited from December 7, 1944 through February 1945 where Himmler received reports, entertained, dined with or distinguished in some manner Scharfschutzen. The reproduced page in this article details Himmler's reception of five Snipers (Scharfschutzen) from different Volks-Grenadier Divisions at 1:30 pm on January 17, 1945 and lunch with them at 2:00pm."Dem Scharfschiitzen" means "To the sniper's." Scharfschiitzen was a term used at this period in the war to denote snipers. The word was recognized in official German records and was used as such by Himmler in his correspondence. All of these pistols are identical in manufacturing characteristics and markings.The engravings are all the same, to unknown Snipers, which would seem to belie the conjecture that they were for target shooting contests in mid to late 1944. We have documentation that Himmler provided private rewards for deserving Scharfschutzen, but apart from the very, very few scarce Scharfschutzenabzeichen in private collections such as the one pictured in this article, no material objects designating or rewarding Snipers have survived in collections. No private hunting rifles mentioned in Himmler's letter to Speer are known. But these pistols do exist. They have direct association with Himmler by the inscription on the slide and the eye witness testimony of the veteran who found his example in Himmler's residence in the last days of the war in Germany. So Himmler was still in possession of these presentation pistols as late in the war as his meetings with the Scharfschutzen, even though he had written Speer at the end of November that he was personally rewarding the Snipers with firearms.
The evidence is circumstantial but very compelling that these pistols are examples of the special rewards Himmler presented to worthy Scharfschutzen.That he had examples in his possession ready for awarding is evidenced by the recovery of one from his residence. The provenance of the other examples in collections is not known, so we can not say whether they had been awarded to Scharfschutzen or whether they were taken from storage before presentation.
They remain extraordinary examples of the personalty of war and the last efforts by Himmler to exhort German troops to victory with material rewards.
Joe Wotka, "Some Presentation Pistols From Heinrich Himmler", The Military Advisor, 2004
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