Every gun has a story. With an interesting or unique gun in ones hands, who wouldn't say: “If only this gun could talk!”. Unfortunately most guns only come with a serial number and not their story. This time though, standing in the basement of the Museum of Danish Resistance 1940-1945 in Copenhagen, whilst on the prowl for something completely different, I was lucky enough to stumble across a Luger P08 with a story to boot.
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- Judge Karl Zahn´s SB Luger P08. Notice the ”1920” stamp above the year of manufacture “1918” and the Schivy safety. The small transverse milling ridge in the receiver is also clearly visible.
The pistol was originally manufactured by the Deutche Waffen & Munitionsfabrik (DWM) in the year 1918 as a LP08 (Artillery 08). This is apparent from the small transverse ridge milled out of the leading edge of the receiver allowing for addition of a tangent-leaf back sight and the 20cm (7.874 inch) barrel. Only later it was re-fitted with a 10cm (3.976 inch) barrel. The stamp “1920” above the manufacturing year “1918” is a Reichswehr property stamp from the Weimar period, this was included to differentiate between guns that were owned by the Reichswehr from others. The letters “S.B.” engraved in the pistol grip indicates that the pistol was affiliated with the Shutzpolizei in Berlin. S.B. is an abbreviation for Shutzpolizei Berlin and “17095” is the inventory number.
The Polizei Luger also differs from a standard P08 by having a Schivy safety, also known as a sear safety. When the sideplate covering the trigger housing is removed, the sear safety blocks the sear bar preventing the Luger from firing during dismantling. The safety is a leaf spring riveted to the receiver directly above the sear bar. The sear safety most likely became a National Police requirement in the mid-1930´s.
It was however none of the above that drew my attention, but the jagged bullet hole in the front of the trigger guard. The projectile had completely pierced the metal almost in the middle of the guard completely removing the trigger. It then continued its devastating journey, striking the right side of the frame, removing a chunk of metal just above the magazine release button. The bullet then hit the magazine which crumpled into a non-functional piece of scrap and finally exited through the right hand side of the pistol grip in the process shattering the wooden grip beyond recognition.
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- All parts have matching numbers, even the magazine. The magazine is engraved with the text: “Haenel Schmeissers Patent”.
Naturally my curiosity was tickled to a degree that my ongoing research project was long gone and forgotten. I rushed to the archives in a bid to uncover any information that might be available. This time I was lucky. Often no information is available for items found in the storage room, however, in this case a short description of the event that led to the owner’s demise and to the history of the Luger was present. The story was told by resistance fighter Gunnar Harboe, who was involved in the shooting at first hand. In 1972 Harboe had donated his war trophy to the museum complete with a short description of the event.
At the time Harboe was a member of the illegal resistance group known as “Lysglimt” (Lightflash). The group had specialized in helping saboteurs, Jews, downed pilots and other people wanted by the GESTAPO across the sea to the safe harbour of neutral Sweden. On 5 May 1945, Denmark's Liberation Day, Lysglimt's task changed from illegal undercover resistance work to that of a full blown legal and highly visible army unit patrolling the streets. Their purpose, to maintain peace and order and to arrest known collaborators, traitors and informers.
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- The engraved text ”S.B. 17095” and serial number “458 c” are clearly visible.
On this very day they were told to arrest Mr. Karl Zahn serving in his official capacity as a judge in the GESTAPO headquarter “Shellhuset”. Mr. Zahn, born in Germany 21 December 1888, was also the owner of a glove manufacturing factory in Copenhagen. He was unquestionably a high profile official and as such had a direct phone line to the Headquarters of the German occupational forces in Dagmarhus allowing him to directly call on them avoiding the regular switchboard should he or his business be attacked by saboteurs. Into the bargain he had been given a waffenschein (CCW gun permit) and was issued a Shutzpolizei Berlin Luger P08. Not privileges an average Joe could even dream about.
The plan was to arrest him at his private residence in a small town just North of Copenhagen named Charlottenlund. However, things quickly got out of hand. When Senior Criminal investigator Carl Poulsen and Harboe pushed the doorbell, Poulsen in a clear and authoritative voice announced: “Police open the door”, they were met with gun fire, shots from inside the house cutting through the closed door, with one of the bullets grazing his scalp.
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- Notice the left side grip plate is fractured because of the pressure caused by the bullets impact into the magazine.
When they finally gained access to the house they found Zahn lying dead on the Danish flag “Dannebrog”. At the front door they found the Luger P08 next to his right index finger and thumb!
Unfortunately I have not been able to get a more detailed description of the event. It would have been nice to know what kind of submachine gun Harboe used, make and model of Zhan’s backup gun and why was he lying on the Danish flag; after all he was German born! And finally, did he commit suicide or did he die from the gun shot wounds from the battle? I am afraid that we will never know, because the people involved are no longer around and the story died with them.
Sources:
The Museum of Danish Resistance 1940-1945, Copenhagen.
Efterlysningsliste til brug for feltpolitidetachementet, april 1945.
Information Nr. 306 – Nordisk Nyhedstjeneste Nr. 271 - 13. oktober 1944.
det er noget lo.. at jeg ikke er så god til engelsk 
