Erfurt 1918, P08 169th Regiment

[mauser1908]

Hi Everyone, I took a bit of a gamble on this one and it really paid off. I've been after a unit marked Luger for years now, this one was certainly worth the wait. All in all the condition is fantastic and presents with one matching magazine. The unit marking itself is rare on a gun this late, although it makes sense coming from Baden. If you look at the weapon number you can see the armorer corrected a mistake; he used the preceding die to strike an additional '5' then removed it with a file, and stamped '7' over it.

The 169th Infanterie Regiment was raised in Baden, with the majority of the regiment's men recruited there and to a much lesser extent Hesse-Nassau. Into 1915 the regiment belonged to the 29th Division and later the 52nd. Ultimately, the 169th would experience some of the heaviest fighting of the war; eventually being decimated in the Argonne by U.S. Marines in early November of 1918.

 

[mauser1908]

 

[chrisftk]

Sam; that's a kick-butt Luger with a great unit marking! I'm psyched this one turned out so well. I love seeing these late marked ones..

 

[cj556]

Killer Luger, glad the gamble paid off.

 

[joryfreeburg]

Nice one Sam…. That would fit awesome into any Imperial collection

 

[PrayingMantis]

That’s a spectacular find, Sam. Being from a Baden regiment is really neat, too.
When I looked for photos of IR 169 a lot came up, some quite good ones, but no officers or anyone with sidearms.

 

[cj556]

That’s a spectacular find, Sam. Being from a Baden regiment is really neat, too.
When I looked for photos of IR 169 a lot came up, some quite good ones, but no officers or anyone with sidearms.

Cyrus whereas this is an exemplary Luger, do you think it would be wise to include it in the reference?

 

[Alan Smith]

I've got a 1912 Erfurt P.08 that is unit marked to 169 Regiment and, when researching same, I discovered that there is an English language book available re: the unit's 1914 - 1918 history. You might want to check out the book (it is available in the US for around $30).

Imperial Germany's "Iron Regiment" of the First World War: War Memories of Service with Infantry Regiment 169 1914 - 1918 Second Edition - Rieth, John K.: 9780998804507 - AbeBooks

Imperial Germany?s ?Iron Regiment? of the First World War offers a rare English-language account of a premier German infantry unit. Renowned as the Iron Regiment for its fighting record in the legendary 1916 Battle of the Somme, its service spanned from WW I?s earliest battles through its ...

www.abebooks.com

 

[mauser1908]

Sam; that's a kick-butt Luger with a great unit marking! I'm psyched this one turned out so well. I love seeing these late marked ones..

Thank you, Chris!

Killer Luger, glad the gamble paid off.

Thank you, Marc!

Nice one Sam…. That would fit awesome into any Imperial collection

Thank you, Jory. 4” military Lugers are a secondary focus of mine.

That’s a spectacular find, Sam. Being from a Baden regiment is really neat, too.
When I looked for photos of IR 169 a lot came up, some quite good ones, but no officers or anyone with sidearms.

Thank you, Cyrus. Great photo! I think it would be fitting to acquire some ancillary 169th accoutrements, like this. I would like to follow Chris’ lead and get a set of shoulder boards to go with this one.

Cyrus whereas this is an exemplary Luger, do you think it would be wise to include it in the reference?

While I’m biased haha, I do think it’s a good idea to add imperial pistols in the reference as they don’t fit well in the other sections here. I also think we could cobble together maybe 30 or so lugers and at least as many pockets and other handguns for the reference.

I've got a 1912 Erfurt P.08 that is unit marked to 169 Regiment and, when researching same, I discovered that there is an English language book available re: the unit's 1914 - 1918 history. You might want to check out the book (it is available in the US for around $30).

Imperial Germany's "Iron Regiment" of the First World War: War Memories of Service with Infantry Regiment 169 1914 - 1918 Second Edition - Rieth, John K.: 9780998804507 - AbeBooks

Imperial Germany?s ?Iron Regiment? of the First World War offers a rare English-language account of a premier German infantry unit. Renowned as the Iron Regiment for its fighting record in the legendary 1916 Battle of the Somme, its service spanned from WW I?s earliest battles through its ...

www.abebooks.com

Thank you for the recommendation! You should post that pistol.

 

[PrayingMantis]

Cyrus whereas this is an exemplary Luger, do you think it would be wise to include it in the reference?

That is a fantastic idea, Marc. I completely agree; I’ll create a section in the Imperial Reference.

 

[feldmütze]

That's a good one Sam, especially with the late unit marking. I dipped my toe in the looger pond years ago with a somewhat scarce '14 Erfurt but stepped back out & refrained from getting into them.

 

[mauser1908]

@feldmütze Thank you, Mike! Four inch military Lugers are a second focus of mine. A four inch ‘14 Erfurt is damn rare, they only made 7,000 or so. I’d argue second behind a 1910 preproduction gun. The ‘14 Erfurt LP08s suck a lot of the oxygen out of the room as it’s the second rarest artillery Luger, but they manufactured 3x as many LP08s in 1914.