The “Great War” from 1914 till 1918 was never over for the German Military leaders. The Germans were not over their big defeat. During the Versailles Treaty, the Germans had a total economic collapse. There was no fighting at the fronts, but the people were fighting for a normal life. The Germans had to repay all the damage they caused from the “Great War”.  That’s why the German Reichmark was terribly de-valued, and the working classes had almost nothing to live on. When they wanted to buy a loaf of bread or other necessary food to live, they had to bring such an amount of money that is was almost laughable. A total chaos and depression in the country was the result.

 

The Military leaders and the German Government where desperately seeking a solution. The fighting from the war was over but they still were planning to fight for survival.

 

There was one man with radical ideas who had the solution-Hitler. This was a good thing for Germany, but a bad thing for the rest of the world. Because the world didn’t want to have another world war, and the German population finally had a structure and a strong leader, the world leaders from that time closed their eyes to what was happening. They made a big mistake!

 

Germany was rearming itself. It begun silently but when the world leaders saw through it, it was too late. The German military generals were planning a new order. The Third Reich.

The rest of the political missteps, horrors, and failures the Third Reich did at that time we all know. But this website is not about the political stands of that time, but about one of the pistols which was the result of the German rearmament from that time.

The German Army was ready in 1935 to search for a new kind of weapon which could perform better than the Mauser P.08. The P.08 had a shortcoming, the pistol had a lot of failures because of it’s design and working mechanism. When there was sand or dirt coming in it’s openings, the weapon would simply not work. Also the weapon was expensive to build. So the German army was searching for a new reliable pistol. After a lot of testing with different gun types, they had it narrowed down to just a few.   Sauer & Sohn, the Berlin-Suhler Waffenfabrik,  The Mauser Waffenfabrik with its HSV and the Carl-Walther Waffenfabrik with its Model AP,MP,HP where in the race. This race was  from 1935 till 1937 till the German Army made his decision. 

 There where several mechanical changes and name changes during this time with the Walther Model AP (Armeepistole)  to Model HP (Heerespistole) or Model MP (Militairpistole). The new original patents where done by Walther in 1936. The patents for the "verschluss" (locking) and "Signalstifte" (indicator pin) where signed to Georg and Erich Walther.  For the "Lauf" (barrel), "Verrieglung" (bolt) and "Verschlusstück" (lock arrangement) on the gun where signed to Fritz Walther and Fritz Barthelmes .

In 1938 the German Army chose the gun made by the Walther Waffenfabrik. So the name HP changed in Pistole 38 or P.38. The German Army used 1470 Pistole 38’s for testing purposes. The actual date for the Walther P.38 when it came the " offiziell ordonnanzwaffe" (official army weapon) was 26 april 1940.

The army initially ordered 800 pieces on April 1, 1939. Many of these pistols had mixed parts between the HP and P38.

The producing cost where a lot less then the Mauser P08.  The costs of an Mauser P08 or a Walther P38 where very different.  In 1939 the costs for a P08 where 11.50 Reichsmark. In 1940 the cost for a P38 where 5.60 Reichmark.

When you want to learn more about the Mauser P08, you can search the internet. There is a lot to find about this gun. If you want to learn more about it's successor, the P.38, just keep on reading.

In 1908 Walther produced his first automatic pistol. It was a line of pocket pistols in the caliber .25 (6.35mm.) or caliber .32 (7.65mm). In 1915 Walther turned it's interests to the military style  blowback operated Model 6 in caliber 9mm. The gun was not the success he hoped and in 1917 he turned back to the pocket gun and introduced in that year the Model 7 in caliber 25 (6.35mm.)

In 1929 the first revolutionary design came out. The Walther Model PP (Polizei Pistole) and two years later the PPK (Polizei Pistole Kurz).  They where the most advanced pistols in their time and they were the precursors to the later successes and innovation of the P.38. An example is the safety level. The firing pin is securely locked in place and blocked from moving forward. This allowed to carry the gun safely while fully loaded. Also the firing pin indicator when there is a round in the chamber was an revolutionary  innovation.

Fritz Walther fled when the American troops were replaced by the Russian troops in Zella-Mehlis. It took him some time to set up a factory for office machines. He still got some patents but because it was not allowed to make weapons in Germany, so he gave his permission to the weapon factories  Hämmerli and Manurhin to make sportweapons.

 

The P.38 "reborn"

When the German Bundeswehr, for the just formed "Deutchen Bundesrepublik" began to re-arm itself in the late fifties, they needed a pistol with the same handling as the wartime P.38. The Waffenfabrik Carl Walther was newly built in Ulm an der Donau, and it was soon clear that they got the order.  The P.38 was in production again in 1957. But not totally the same type as the wartime P.38. The looks were the same, but some parts were modified. The most important change after World War II was the use of aluminium handle pieces. These guns were well 170 grams lighter than the steel handle pieces. Also the name was changed in Pistole 1 or P1

Below: difference between the wartime firing pin and the post-war firing pins.