The Wartime P. 38 Pistols

Book excerpt: This book illustrates a sampling of German 1945-produced P.38 pistols. The Allied Air Campaign and fighting on three fronts had drained Germany of its resources and production capacity. Nevertheless, last gasp efforts were made to continue producing P.38 pistols. These pistols were assembled by using recycled parts from damaged pistols, formerly rejected military parts, and assembling spare parts from armorers' repair kits. Efforts to use a low cost and faster method of finishing parts and entire P.38 pistols was also done. Some of the pistols illustrated in this book have generally not been seen before. For many reasons they are not typically included in standard firearms texts. The author has made an attempt to introduce these previously overlooked pistols Not every type of 1945 P.38 pistol is included in this book, however, noteworthy examples that may have been previously overlooked as historical or collectable are included. This late war attempt to provide P.38 pistols for the Wehrmacht and teh Volkssturm produced some very unusual pistols; a number of which are not traditionally recognized by the public or collectors. The SchutzSlaffel (SS) overseers that drove slave labor to assemble trhese pistols went to great extremes to hide their origin. The slave workers were often sent to extermination camps in the very last weeks of the war. The potential details of how, when, and where these pistols were assembled is also explored. More questions may be raised by this book than are answered. Collectors, history buffs, and historians will hopefully be inspired from this text to help solve these mysteries. Enjoy the unusual P.38 pistols on the pages within and remember all the answers are yet to be found!