I am very proud to be the steward of this new piece. I purchased it directly from the son of the veteran that brought it back. I like posting bring back items like this on holidays as a way to pay homage to the veterans that served the United States. This veteran in particular was not front line infantry, but worked for the 880th Heavy Automotive Maintenance company. As you can guess by the name, they repaired the heaviest vehicles including tanks and other armor pieces. The 880th HAM served in the following campaigns (in order of credit given): Ardennes-Alsace, Central Europe, Normandy, Northern France and Rhineland. I know they had a significant role in the battle of the Bulge, but finding information on them has been difficult. I am not even certain who they were attached to. If anyone can help me piece that together I would be appreciative. I enjoy learning about these types of units because it is easy to forget about the logistical difficulty of fighting a war on across an ocean. The supply chain from England to Normandy and to the front was vital to our success.
As far as the high power itself, the Nazi marked slotted tangents are definitely one of the most difficult variations of Axis pistol to locate. A little background:When the Nazi forces occupied the FN factory there were pistols in various states of completion. There was about a month where there was not even a Nazi ordnance inspector on grounds to proof items. During this time, there was minimal production, but once the WaA613 inspector arrived they started production again. Vanderlinden in his book FN Browning Pistols groups these WaA613 slotted tangents into 2 variations. Overall the slotted tangents run from serial number 45,500 to 52,000. He breaks them down into 2 sub-variations from there, one with Belgian proofs and one without. This is pistol appears to be right in between the variations. It is the the second sub-variation serial range but with first sub-variation features. As you can see in the photos, my pistol maintains the majority of the original Belgian proofs. It appears to only be missing the final Belgian military acceptance marks. In lieu of these marks, is an eagle WaA613 on the trigger guard web. The barrel does not have a WaA613, as it was already liege proofed. The magazine does have a WaA613 proof. I apologize for the long winded explanation, but this is a really interesting variant that deserves some explanation.
As far as the high power itself, the Nazi marked slotted tangents are definitely one of the most difficult variations of Axis pistol to locate. A little background:When the Nazi forces occupied the FN factory there were pistols in various states of completion. There was about a month where there was not even a Nazi ordnance inspector on grounds to proof items. During this time, there was minimal production, but once the WaA613 inspector arrived they started production again. Vanderlinden in his book FN Browning Pistols groups these WaA613 slotted tangents into 2 variations. Overall the slotted tangents run from serial number 45,500 to 52,000. He breaks them down into 2 sub-variations from there, one with Belgian proofs and one without. This is pistol appears to be right in between the variations. It is the the second sub-variation serial range but with first sub-variation features. As you can see in the photos, my pistol maintains the majority of the original Belgian proofs. It appears to only be missing the final Belgian military acceptance marks. In lieu of these marks, is an eagle WaA613 on the trigger guard web. The barrel does not have a WaA613, as it was already liege proofed. The magazine does have a WaA613 proof. I apologize for the long winded explanation, but this is a really interesting variant that deserves some explanation.
