I can’t remember where the hell I read about that guy, but I came across it when I was researching the Winter War and the Continuation War. When the Soviets saw the back of him, they were grateful to watch him leave their territory. If I am not mistaken, there was a Finnish pilot who was shot down inside Soviet lines, who then proceeded to capture small arms and equipment from the Soviets sent to take him prisoner, using that gear to conduct a small-scale guerrilla campaign all the way back to Finnish lines. From what I remember reading of the matter, that was pretty much the Finnish attitude. There were a couple, however, that felt that the pilots ought to continue to do as much damage as they could, once on the ground. Some felt they should be passive, and await rescue by others, or go quietly into captivity should that not happen. There’s certain amount of difference between the way various countries thought about what the pilots ought to be doing, once shot down. Their record on the Eastern front is mostly pitiable, outside of the Fallschirmjager elements. As it was, most of the assets taken up from the Heer, like heavy weapons and so forth, were wasted when the inadequately trained and inexperienced-at-ground-warfare Luftwaffe troops were massacred. Had the Heer had their way, the Luftwaffe ground troops would have been run through their replacement system, and sent out through their replacement system as fully trained and indoctrinated ground troops.
LEICA LUFTWAFFE SERIAL NUMBERS FULL
Frankly, from a purely military standpoint, you have to pity the poor bastards–They were never allowed to reach their full potential, thanks to the ego-driven nature of their utilization. Denigrating them due to their poor performance, however, is a bit less than charitable–They were what they were due to the Nazi mentality, and Goring’s massively inflated ego. If anything, we ought to be grateful that the Luftwaffe manpower was never properly utilized. What the Germans did with that manpower was insane on the face of it, and the primary blame should go onto Goring, who didn’t want to see the size of his cherished toy diminished. This means they did not get the benefit of Heer training, or the weaponry. The difference was that they were trained by the Luftwaffe for ground operations, and kept under Luftwaffe command.
Make sure to check out Legacy Collectibles’ YouTube channel! They have a bunch of videos on interesting firearms and firearms collecting.Ĭouple of points… The “trash” in those Luftwaffe Field Divisions was from exactly the same manpower base as the rest of the vaunted Heer and Waffen-SS formations.
LEICA LUFTWAFFE SERIAL NUMBERS SERIAL NUMBER
Other Luftwaffe guns exist, but their serial number blocks have not yet been identified. Specifically, Luftwaffe guns will have magazines serialized on their floor plates. Identifying Luftwaffe-issue Walthers is tricky, as they were not specifically marked – but we do know a few specific serial number batches.Īs with other state and military organizations, Walthers made for the Luftwaffe were sold as special contracts, with unique serial numbering procedures.
The Luftwaffe bought more than 500,000 pistols during World War Two, including not only Walthers but also the Luger, P38, HSc, CZ38, Femaru 37, and FN 1922. Courtesy of Legacy Collectibles, we have a pair of Luftwaffe-issue Walther pistols to look at today, one PP and one PPK.
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