extra fotos -- Question on Ostmedaille in soldbuch -- s.Pz.Abt.501, the Afrika Tiger

[Humble480]

Wow! Thanks for sharing this beautiful Soldbuch. I have never seen a first-issue Soldbuch to an original Tiger I Tank crew member who fought in Tunisia and stayed with the unit for the rest of the war.

By his rank I would say that he became a Tiger tank commander.

The PAB25, "Afrika" cuff title, portrait photo, and p35 (Browning High Power) pistol entries are all exceptional.

The fact that he carried the same Soldbuch through the the entire war also makes it very desirable.

[Angel Farré]

P35 is a Radom pistol not a High Power that will be a P640

Angel

[Humble480]

Hi Angel,

In this case I believe p35 to be a Browning Hi-Power. Both the Random and the Hi-Power can be shown as p35. Here is my reasoning:

First, you must look at the serial number, which is 50101. The Radom p35 was made in "blocks" with 4 digits from 0001-9999 "a" block, "b" block, etc.

I have read somewhere that these early Browning Hi-Power pistols went to Tiger tank units, SS, and then later to Fallschirmjager (like the SS Fallschirmjager). They were very desirable by the soldiers.

I think the serial number "50101" actually makes this Browning Hi-Power he was issued very special - because it had the early "tangent" site.

The serial number is actually very close to tangent site / slotted variants. These were the pistols that were on the factory floor when the Germans took over the factory in 1940. They have a mix of Belgian and German proofs, because the Germans finished the production run and put them into use! They are very rare. Maybe there are 3000 or less in existence. (I will need to check my reference books).

You can see in this example that it is numbered "45331" for reference. This is a tangent site / slotted variant. After this production run I believe the Germans got rid of the stock slot. Later in the war they also removed the tangent sites.




(photo credit to www.legacy-collectibles.com)

https://www.legacy-collectibles.com/...ted-frame.html

[Angel Farré]

I think you are right. Despite using the P35 is for a Browning High Power

Thanks for the extra info.

Angel