Match owner to serial number

[bobcat1151]

Hi Forum members.
I've located a WWII Mauser P.38 byf42, with a low (<450) serial number.
Engraved in the handle is the initials of the owner. Is there any chance to identify the owner based on the serial number?
Appreciate any lead.

[Sarge]

First - Totaly unlikely that any initials are those of the German soldier who carried the pistol! 
Like the Americans, the Germans did not NOT scratch their initials on their weapons, that would have gotten them in trouble for defacing government property! 
There are NO rekords of who carried any particular weapon in the US Army in WW2 and we won the war. 
You will never know who carried that P.38.  Is there a letter after the ser nr? 
Sarge

[bobcat1151]

Hi Sarge.
Firstly, I know that my dad aged 17 at the time, lifted the pistol from a dead soldier. Since then, it's been keept in a secure place, only to surface after his recent passing.
Many germans serving in Denmark "the milk front" did have a somewhat different view on their own system.
However. What is the likelyhood that the issuing authorities recorded the name of the person WHO was issued the pistol?
I call it Mauser as it is a Walther P 38, produced at the Mauser plant in '42.
Bobcat

[Warbird]

If I understand your inquiry correctly, you're looking for the name of the dead German soldier that your father took the pistol from.  Seems like quite a grisly task to me and, I must say, in all my years of collecting, I have only seen one instance where a wartime German pistol was connected to its original owner.  To my knowledge, no lists of issued German wartime weapons has surfaced thus far so I think it is unlikely that you will ever discover the dead German's name.

However, you may be able to link your father's unit at the time (from the pistol "Capture Paper" required to bring it back to the U.S.) and German units associated with it in battle.  That might bring you somewhat closer to an answer.

[donp326]

I call it Mauser as it is a Walther P 38, produced at the Mauser plant in '42.
Bobcat

A Walther P.38 then its ac 42 not made in the Mauser plant.  However a byf 42 would have been made at the Mauser plant in late 1942 to early 1943 as parts including slides made in 1942 were still being used into early 1943 by Mauser.

[jcorl]

Don,  Any active duty military with your father's date of birth and SSN can access his military record, unless it was accidently burned up in the St. Louis VA storage facility a decade or so ago.   Allot of vet records were destroyed, but some were located at other facilities.  That file, if still in tact,  might give you great comfort.

 

[donp326]

Jcorel I was not asking the original question just commenting on the what P.38 is it part.

[jcorl]

Jim Corl

[desertdude]

I have a similar question. I have a 1937 S42 and know the GI who took it from a German officer and where. The holster has a name tag embroidered and glued inside the flap. Most certainly the German officer. The name is 'Knopp A' and im trying to reach the family to learn more of this officer. There are German war records but difficult to track.