The German POW likely grew up in the Black Forest and had spent years as a clock maker's apprentice carving motifs for cuckoo clocks. As a POW, he likely survived the war and returned to Germany. That type of wood carving is still very common on the region today.

@Autobotmatt428

2 жыл бұрын

Cool.

@dustyak79

2 жыл бұрын

With that information maybe someone could track the guys name down. or at least a likely person.

@TheHenirik

2 жыл бұрын

especially as he was still a pow after the actual war had ended, seeing as the engraving says 1920 well unless they left him there for the bolcheviks i guess

@Kez_DXX

2 жыл бұрын

That's good to know. I do have a few .999 silver coins and my family's cuckoo clock needs repair. May as well get two birds with one stone and get get some custom grips for my new 1911 Stupid bad signal made my message post three timee

@skepticalbadger

2 жыл бұрын

It's not... that well-executed. It's relatively crude. I doubt he was involved in the clock trade.

Whenever you think Ian can't get his hands on anything rarer or with a more interesting story he will always manage to.

@araknidude

2 жыл бұрын

it’s like he can only ever fail to disappoint

@warmstrong5612

2 жыл бұрын

That's the power of Gun Jesus at work.

@andersjjensen

2 жыл бұрын

"Today on Forgotten Weapons we're going to take a look at the first stone axe ever made by a human. Obviously historical details are somewhat sparse on the inventor himself, but at least we get to take a look at the axe head itself, as the original handle has been lost to time. It is unmarked, as was common of the time since neither alphabets nor numbers had been invented yet..."

@spinogryz98

2 жыл бұрын

@@andersjjensen I hear Ian's voice in my head when i read it😅

@jkfozul2316

2 жыл бұрын

I was just a gun shop today and they had a beautifully ugly lever action thing up on the wall. If I recall correctly it was something of a labor of love for the fellow that made it. I think it was a Marlin something or another.

This is Mike Carrick, owner of the two pistols. There have been many inquiries about the grips being signed on the back. All four grips have nice smooth rear faces, and there are no marks of any kind on the wood. The method of attaching the silver inlays is a small brass rectangular post soldered (?) to the back of the silver inlay, which is bent over into the wood. All four of the grips are the same on the back, reinforcing the idea that one man made the four grips. Sorry for the late reply. I've been away from home for the last two weeks.

@acomingextinction

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the update and for sharing your pistols with Ian. You've got some terrific historical artifacts.

I came across one of these at a firing range in Bisley, England, during the late 1960's. The owner had no idea where it came from, nor who the original owner was. He'd picked it up in a gun shop in France, a couple of years after WW2. The quality of the carving was impressive, not to mention immaculate. The grips also had Silver inlays, with similar inscriptions. The gun looked like it had had a hard life, as the finish was badly worn in places, but it may have been one of the 'Black' guns. Thanks for this video, as it has now answered the questions I've always wanted to know about its history.

@richardelliott9511

2 жыл бұрын

@@levergatRapha or worse... destroyed.

@GARDENER42

2 жыл бұрын

@@levergatRapha As a semi auto, it couldn't be converted (semi auto "long weapon" ban came in a decade prior to the handgun ban). Hopefully it was exported, rather than "deactivated".

@GARDENER42

2 жыл бұрын

@@levergatRapha Pretty much, with a few strange contraptions based on semi autos. That's why (pre covid travel ban) I spent 6-8 weeks in the US every year to keep my proficiency with handguns. By heck I'll be rusty once i get over again...

@Sn0ws519

2 жыл бұрын

@@levergatRapha We just banned the VZ58 and a couple others here in Canada. A lot of people were super pissed about how that went down. It's starting to look like handguns are going to be the next to be banned, sadly quite a few of the political parties here are pretty anti-gun.

@MisoElEven

2 жыл бұрын

@@Sn0ws519 At least the Czech Republic made some progress.. putting a right to defend yourself with a gun into their constitution (last year I think it was). Vz58 is easy to ban because it looks just like an AK to the general public so as soon as you get to the "lets ban assault weapons" phase youre going to lose these handy guns too.

Hello Ian. Has anyone taken off the hand grips to look at their back sides? If I was carving such a piece, I might have signed such an area. Just a thought.

As a former 4-31 Infantry Polarbear this is near and dear to my heart. Thanks for showing this. Also if anybody is interested. There is a book titled "The 31st Infantry Regiment a History of America's Foreign Legion in Peace and War." The afterword is written by Gen. Stephen Townsend who was my battalion commander when I served.

Amazing work. Forgotten weapon from a forgotten soldier from a forgotten expedition. Fits the bill rather nicely.

I still carry my Great-Grandfather's 1911 as my CC. I have never had a more reliable weapon and it's a comfort knowing i'm the 4th generation to carry it.

@TimberwolfCY

2 жыл бұрын

Man you know what? That's fair.

@scrooge6975

2 жыл бұрын

M1911 - A century of service. And ready for hundred years more...

@stefanmolnapor910

2 жыл бұрын

That's a beautiful story, thanks for sharing

@TheSlasherJunkie

2 жыл бұрын

The Lord’s caliber

@kentr2424

2 жыл бұрын

Still the best fighting pistol ever invented.......

I really hope that German POW got a good share of the tabacco because that looks like some really good work considering his circumstances. And I don't think I ever heard about American's serving in Siberia, I look forward to reading about that. Thank you.

@bibo2445

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah you haven’t heard of it because they don’t like to teach the exploits of american imperialism and all matter of foreign meddling

@minuteman4199

2 жыл бұрын

Canadians and Brits did as well, although I think they were in the Murmansk area.

@HingerlAlois

2 жыл бұрын

@@minuteman4199 Yes a lot of countries got involved in the Russian civil war, also Japan, Greece, France etc.

@notmilandia8461

2 жыл бұрын

I believe American soldiers were stationed in Murmansk and Archangel too. Russian civil war was really big thing that is largely forgotten now. Also other related wars and fightings are not well remembered these days. For instance, in Baltic states there were several forces operating; Red Russians, Freikorps, locals trying to fight for the independence and some smaller forces too. Also Royal Navy was operating there. I only recently found out that Royal Navy was conducting operations against St. Petersburg area and was using then Finnish area as base for their operations. That really wasn't teached in our history classes here in Finland.

@axelpatrickb.pingol3228

2 жыл бұрын

@@dzejrid Kings and Generals also did similar videos on those two units...

Engravings and fancy grips serve no tactical advantage whatsoever. But they do look hella cool to look at no matter what.

@hawx6295

2 жыл бұрын

You're pretty good

@youtubedeletedmynamewhybother

2 жыл бұрын

Actually, they buff your damage by 50%

@UltraSuperDuperFreak

2 жыл бұрын

Well. they do kinda give a moral boost for many users. That's an tactical advantage in my book :)

@222bobafett4

2 жыл бұрын

When I worked at a county courthouse in the US, one of the older bailiffs (police assigned to protect a judge) was a US Marine veteran and former PMC. He was kind but tough, and carried a .45 1911 with his Marine Corps uniform's insignia affixed to the grips.

@hawx6295

2 жыл бұрын

@@UltraSuperDuperFreak isnt this supposed to be a mgs3 reference? smh

It’s crazy how timeless the 1911 design is. A hundred year old gun that wouldn’t look out of place in any gun safe today.

It's a good example of how the majority of common soldiers didn't want the war and had little in the way of fanatical loyalty to their countries' leaderships. They were more than happy to wait it out in captivity, where they are both fed and no longer shot at. And at least that guy found some employment even as a POW, so good on him.

@Maria_Erias

2 жыл бұрын

I think WW1 is probably the best example of that. It started in out nationalistic fervor, but that died out after the first year or two. By the time us Americans got to Europe, the general soldiery was tired of fighting a stalemated meat grinder of a war so yeah, the opportunity to essentially sit out the war in a relatively decent POW camp where no one was going to order you into a suicide charge across No Man's Land and there was no risk of getting killed in a massed artillery barrage was a very welcome chance for those that were captured.

@paxwax1

2 жыл бұрын

@@Maria_Erias The last six months of the war? Maybe. Before that? Not at all.

@stuartdollar9912

2 жыл бұрын

The problem with this thinking is that Russia was a shambles by late 1917 and stayed that way until well after the Peace of Riga in 1922. Starvation, war crimes by both reds and whites, and disease took a heavy toll on everybody, including POWs. Hence, Ian's reference to the relative gratitude of the German POWs in Vladivostok at falling into the hands of the Americans.

Imagine trying to survive a pow camp in Siberia and doing a little woodcarving to make the guards like you. Pass the time and get some smokes. Then 100 years later your work is highly valued in an already crazy WW1 1911 collectors market.

@alexwieland-ducher8792

2 жыл бұрын

I must say not the worst outcome you could have gotten under the circumstances. I wonder if that ever happened with Russian weapons as well.

@StanislavG.

2 жыл бұрын

@@alexwieland-ducher8792 prolly not. You were given a weapon and you had to return it at the end, so what's the point in having it carved?

@StanislavG.

2 жыл бұрын

There are plenty of carved hunting rifles and such though, that were made by exquisite masters for a few bottles of vodka after the fall of the USSR

The "M.C." in the holster stands for Medical Corps. The significance of the Oak leaf and Acorn, it's the Medical Corp symbol for the U.S. Navy.

@cammobunker

2 жыл бұрын

Oak leaves and acorns is a *very* common and traditional theme in German and Central European wood carving going back centuries. The fact that this was an Army doctor, with about zero Naval connection, argues against your supposition that this has anything to do with Navy Medical Corps, especially since there are numerous examples all using more-or-less the same design, differing only in the engraving in the silver inlays and the shape of those inlays. This guy was obviously production lining these grips.

@samhansen9771

2 жыл бұрын

I understand that oak leaves and acorns also symbolize strength

@dcb1138

2 жыл бұрын

@Conor Hanley If they are deployed in a forward combat area, they can carry a side arm.

I enjoyed this immensely, a family friend was my father’s childhood physician. I ended up with a large bowl he picked up on leave in Beijing while serving with the AEF in that time period. At least that’s the story I remember from my childhood.

@samholdsworth3957

2 жыл бұрын

👍

“They kind of kept coming up with reasons to keep them there…” Hm, sounds familiar.

This is really cool. When i was in the army i was in the 27th infantry regiment (called the wolfhounds). They were the regiment that went to Russia as mentioned by Ian. It’s cool seeing a piece of that history.

@pauldesautelle8750

2 жыл бұрын

C Co 1-27th Infantry (mid 80’s)

These are some of the coolest 1911s I've seen in recent memory. I've heard of the US involvement in that theater of the war, so it isn't out of the realm of seeing some cool custom work done to the grips. I fired a WWI era 1911 and it was really nice for how old it was.

@shawnr771

2 жыл бұрын

I had a .45 in the 80s that was stamped M1911 in one font and then handstamped A1 MOD out to the side in a larger font. The serial number was 05911. I signed it out alot.

In my humble opinion a 1911 is the most gorgeous and timeless pistol humanity came up with

I dig those carvings immensely! Usually i find it difficult to relate to people who value intricate cosmetic changes to guns, but those acorns and oak leaves hit the spot.

My grandfather was in the Wolfhounds, 27th Inf. He served in Korea, using a recoiless rifle. Gorgeous pistols, love the 1911.

@shawnr771

2 жыл бұрын

Recoiless Rifles aren't.

@jacobs.9797

2 жыл бұрын

@@shawnr771 This is true

"The United States sent several thousand soldiers to eastern Siberia, to protect war supplies from the Red Russian forces and to help rescue the Czechoslovak Legion" (c) What a neat way to name foreign intervention in RSFSR 1918-1922 :) Along with US troops there was UK, Australia, Canada, France, Italy, Poland, Japan, Germany and some other countries. Thanks for amazing video and beautiful 1911!

@axelpatrickb.pingol3228

2 жыл бұрын

I mean, that is partly correct. The US forces aren't there to physically intervene on any side, hell they're the only forces that prevented the Japanese from taking the Russian Far East...

@tonylife94

2 жыл бұрын

@@axelpatrickb.pingol3228 But they actively helped the White Army in the fight against the Reds. They even took part in the repression against the local people, which supported the Reds (ironically, this made the Reds even more popular among the people). Nevertheless, the interventionists pursued their own interests, and not the interests of anti-Bolshevik forces. The invaders sought to remove from the jurisdiction of the central Russian government the national borderlands under the rule of puppet governments, which contradicted the interests of both the Reds and the Whites.

@NickfromNLondon

2 жыл бұрын

See my comment below about the British deployment.

@frankbass7561

2 жыл бұрын

@@tonylife94 Supporting the killing of commies. Always a good thing.

@tonylife94

2 жыл бұрын

@@frankbass7561 Yep. The Reds won because of this kind of thinking. Especially when anyone could become a "commie" in the eyes of the White Army.

I really wish more people would sign their work when they do beautiful work like that. My old boss has a 1903 springfield with very similar oak and eagle engraving on the stock.

@TimberwolfCY

2 жыл бұрын

Good gravy! I wonder if it was the same guy....

@justindunlap1235

2 жыл бұрын

@@TimberwolfCY I wish I had a way to find out. Other than the soldiers named it was unsigned.

@markfergerson2145

2 жыл бұрын

@@justindunlap1235 Like the pistol grips, it's unlikely the prisoner was allowed to work on an intact rifle- the stick was more likely removed first, and the prisoner may have carved his name or initials inside somewhere.

I really love stuff like this that makes history come alive. I think all of us can relate to the German P.O.W. trading his skills to improve his life in poor circumstances, and we know the names of people who clearly met him.

People often forget the US involvement in the Russian Civil War, however even more forgotten is that it was part of an allied coalition to intervene to help the Whites, which included: Czechoslovakia, The UK, Canada, Australia, India, South Africa, France, Japan, Italy, Greece, Estonia, and Serbia. All of whom contributed actual troops on the ground to varying degrees.

All these little conflicts and associated weapons are really interesting. Would love to see them more.

Cool thing is that German pow now lives on forever trough his beautiful engraving work. Who say'd that smoking is bad for you.😄

@strahinjastevic7480

2 жыл бұрын

Everyone says that, because it is

@alexwest2573

2 жыл бұрын

He might not have done the wood work if he didn’t smoke/chew tobacco

@strahinjastevic7480

2 жыл бұрын

@@alexwest2573 weird way of justifying smoking

@aasphaltmueller5178

2 жыл бұрын

@@alexwest2573 I' d bet there was a whole supply chain, like cigarettes against food, chores and so on. The carver was quite surely a member of a group, and in normal circumstances the group profited, and he too. don't think he did latrine police or such.

@billd66

2 жыл бұрын

Even if he didn't smoke I bet he could have bartered the tobacco to his fellow prisoners for other goods.

On the side note, Russians do not call Vladivostok as Siberia, sometimes Far East, but mostly Primorye. Which means, by the sea, or coastal region. It has unique weather and geographic and cultural features that make it apart from continental Russia, just like Alaska from the rest of US. But, really good story

@Howjadoo22

2 жыл бұрын

I've been trying to learn Russian recently, and Vladivostok is really interesting! It apparently gets a ton of tourists from China, Japan, and South Korea, and generally has people from over 70 different nationalities there. I was surprised to learn it was such an important city, considering you mostly just hear about Moscow and Saint Petersburg here in the West.

@alexprokhorov407

2 жыл бұрын

@@Howjadoo22 glad to hear that. I learned English when I was, well, starting when I was 5. Lived 16 years in the States. What I understand, Russian is hard. Best way to learn, is to understand the culture and visit. Just as I did in the US.

@Howjadoo22

2 жыл бұрын

@@alexprokhorov407 Yeah! I've been watching videos about different aspects of Russian culture, and I'd love to visit some day. I'm gonna try to start watching Russian movies and TV shows too, if I can.

@Howjadoo22

2 жыл бұрын

@@alexprokhorov407 Yeah! I've been watching videos about different aspects of Russian culture, and I'd love to visit some day. I'm gonna try to start watching Russian movies and TV shows too, if I can.

@alexprokhorov407

2 жыл бұрын

@@Howjadoo22 just don't take everything that you see at face value. Just like I respect Longfellow, and Pushkin, there are those who will make each nation red faced.

I‘m really curious to know if there isn’t any name or initials carved into the (invisible) back side of the handle scales. My guess as a POW is he didn’t worked on them while they where attached to the pistol. So why not engraving something on the backside as well?

@shawnr771

2 жыл бұрын

Very good question. You would think an artist would sign his work.

@Mike-im5bo

2 жыл бұрын

We are in accord. It would be great if the artist had signed his work!

@pripjatyfighter3786

2 жыл бұрын

I think exactly the same (because the carver mostly put his inital at the "invisible" side of his work, today too)

@monroetoolman

2 жыл бұрын

My first thought. I bet he put his initials on the back...

@alexsis1778

2 жыл бұрын

Grips would definitely be easy to do without having the pistol in hand since they're fairly standardized. But at the same time being a POW to the US in a place like (the wrong side of) Siberia during the middle of a civil war (especially if you're able to trade your services)... its kind of one of those situations where you're in pretty much the best place you could possibly be. Escape across the entirety of Siberia would be effectively impossible and anyone else who might pick you up along the way would be far worse even assuming they didn't just shoot you on sight. You've also got not only the communist revolution in Russia at the time but the Warlord era in full swing in neighboring China as well. Your only other easily reachable escape country would be North Korea which at the time was still under control of the Japanese Empire. I'd be more than happy to hangout in Vladivostok and carve some grips.

Pull the grips off and see if the dude signed the back. I bought an OLD Llama 45 with wood home made grips. One had split and I replaced them with plastic factory grips. The one that did not brake was signed and varnished over on the back.

@mfree80286

2 жыл бұрын

@@tacticalmattfoley Here's where modern tech wins... shove a borescope up the mag well and see if there's a hint of anything visible through the frame cuts.

The Czeck Legion could take care of themselves, quite well. Its that boat part where they needed a bit help.

My grandfather actually served in the 27th infantry division in the expedition to Siberia

That's really cool. Thank you for making the video about these. I've never heard much of anything about us involvement in Siberia in that time much less artifacts from it.

Strictly speaking, Vladivostok is not in Siberia. The Vladivostok region and its surroundings are considered to be "[Russian] Far East". Although, from the American perspective, anything to the east from Ural mountains is Siberia (sort of)...

@Gerwulf97

2 жыл бұрын

Good to know

@alinanet94

2 жыл бұрын

That's not true. The Russian Far East includes the Primorsky Krai (translated in full as Maritime Territory), the Vladivostok is its the administrative center. So the Vladivostok is definitely in Siberia.

@danilromanov275

2 жыл бұрын

@@alinanet94 im not quite convinced with that info, there is siberian federal district and far-east federal district, and Vladivostok is the part of the last one

@alinanet94

2 жыл бұрын

@@danilromanov275 saying that Vladivostok is not in Siberia is like saying "Los Angeles is not in the western part of the USA, it's in California" or "Paris is not in the western Europe, it's in France". Siberia is a geographical region, its borders do not match with the borders of the Siberian Federal District.

@sergeireischel1610

2 жыл бұрын

@@alinanet94 Speaking of geographical regions, Russian Far East is a legitimate one, spanning on the 36% of the russian land - the eastern part. Including Vladivistok. So cut this crap about Siberia, John Snow

Busy roll marks on a slide are usually such a turn off, but on an old 1911 it just looks so good. Cool story.

I believe both the 27th and 31st Infantry Regiments deployed to Russia from the Philippines. Their "official" mission was to protect military supplies sent to Russia and to safeguard the passage of the 'Czech Legion' to Vladivostok via the Trans Siberian Railroad. A significant portion of the Czech Legion returned to Europe via the US.

There's a memorial to them in Michigan since a lot of the polar bear soldiers came from here.

Ian truly is the Gun Jesus. He has reached a status where everyone who has something interesting and worthwhile wants their relics blessed with a video. I'm rather sure that it adds to the value of a collectible to "the one" featured in a video by a highly respected historian.

I'm not a fan of the engraved firearms or grips, but i recognize a good job when i see it; and that's a great job.

us army 27th infantry "wolfhounds" was my last unit I served with in the army. to this day the unit keeps a mascot Kolchek (russian wolfhound), named after the russian admiral kolchek who gave the 27th infantry regiment the nickname "wolfhounds" for their fierce fighting spirt.

27th Infantry Regiment Wolfhounds. Nec Aspera Terrent. This was cool to see. One of the last, if not the only, Army unit with a live mascot.

hehe that is one expedition i did read about beforhand. Funny thing for Ian, there was another one in Archangle that ended sooner but involved more active fighting. I do remember reading that this regiment had to trade their Springfields for Mosins because rifles and Ammo were stockpiling in Archangle and even befor the war on the western front endet no one was ready to ship weapons and ammo to a port with warehouses full of weapons and ammo

Ahhh, the good ole days.... when worrying about caches of weapons falling into the wrong hands was a thing

Great find Ian.....As soon as I opened your Vid, I hustled to the book shelf and found a book I read years ago titled "The Ignorant Armies" by E.M Halliday" published by Bantam Press. As I recall, it's an in-depth look at the weapons, tactics and the problems our ill-prepared troops had dealing with the climate. Think I will re-read it sooner than later.

Matson -June 5 1893 - Oct. 19 1955?! Imagine the changing world he witnessed growing up! 2 World Wars, cars, Flight! Etc.

Wow, just wow! Superlative! What a story. Really nice finds. Oak leaves seemed to be a major theme in days gone past. Man that is really cool, thanks for sharing Ian.

The story of the Czechoslovak Legion is an incredible one; Kings and Generals has a fantastic video on their channel that I highly recommend.

@paganec666

2 жыл бұрын

You are fascinated by murderers and marauders, by bloody path that they carved through Russia?

@TheWhiteDragon3

2 жыл бұрын

@@paganec666 They were abandoned by their allies and had nowhere to go except around the entire world to get home while everyone around them was trying to kill them, so yeah, I'm very impressed with their success.

@paganec666

2 жыл бұрын

@@TheWhiteDragon3 Czechoslovakians been under French command and should be evacuated through Vladivostok port, they wasn't abandoned they had weapons and supplies though all travel time

@TheWhiteDragon3

2 жыл бұрын

@@paganec666 Take a wild guess why they seized weapons and supplies. The reds viewed them as the threat to their power base, and the white army warlords were paranoid of them.

@paganec666

2 жыл бұрын

@@TheWhiteDragon3 What? They been fully equipped and seize additional arms and food by sacking local arsenals along they way and they actually FOUGHT for whites. They shelled dozens cities and town with artillery, committing execution of pro civilian bolshevics supporters count of the dead goes for thousands

Very cool. Thank you for the additional history lesson. The BNCOC buildings of Fort Polk in the 1980s had been POW barracks during WW2. One of buildings used by the 11H class was extensively and beautifully carved throughout. Every interior wall was carved.

Excellent work Ian. Please do keep up the good work and thank you very much.

To think that an unknown POW is remembered for the little trinkets that he did up for servicemen warms my heart more than I expected, makes me want to put more creativity into the world like that man did, mayhaps Ill be remembered with such fondness one day.

Have the Polar Bear patch from my great aunt's second husband. He was our local barber in our village of Scofield, Michigan and our first firechief when our Vol. Fire Dept. was organized in 1952. Passed away at age 94.

Reminds me of the carving on cuckoo clocks , but less relief given the thinness of the grips.

Thinking, ‘Yeah, no problem fitting Vladivostock on there..’ dude knew his craft.

One of the soldiers assigned to Siberia was later 4 star General Robert Eichelberger commander of the 8th Army in WW2. One of the least known but best commanders of the war.

Engravings... Provide every tactical advantage i can fucking think of

The 31st Infantry Regiment Polar Bears, often referred as America’s foreign Legion, staunchly remain in touch with this part of Regimental History. The regiment, with only the 4th battalion remaining active, is now garrisoned at Fort Drum Within 2 BCT 10 LI.

Wow you did it again, Ian, one more fascinating piece of History presented to me on KZread. Thank you

7:12 - If I remember correctly, I did see something like that in the trailer for that one WWI documentary where they took real footage & gave it color & sound, which I still haven't seen but still want to

One of many overlooked/forgotten parts of the war, thanks for showing these very cool guns

Really cool video and thanks for enlightening us to a lesser known military operation.

It's really nice to have a bit of a personal story attached to one of the firearms we see here. This is cool.

I carry a 1917 Colt 1911 on a daily basis and I can tell you those old 1911’s are excellent pistols. 🇺🇸👍🏼

Gorgeous engravings. I'd probably trade my skills for tabacco (specifically cigars) if I was a POW, lol.

This is the sort of stuff that made me love this channel so many years ago!

Who would dislike this video?!?! War is a terrible thing but only stories like this could come from such a thing!!

Beautiful guns and great story, thanks Ian!

I know this has probably been done, but has anyone taken off the grips to see if he signed his work?

slight correction: tobacco and cigarettes were not luxury goods in POW camps, they were the standard barter currency. commonly used as such outside of prison camps, too.

Nothing quite like a 1911 in .45 ACP Hard to see how _anyone_ couldn't love it dearly

In 2005 I played a German WW1 POW interned in a prison camp in Japan in the movie Baruto No Gakuen, taking place in the year 1919. :3

This remindes me of the bone ship models made by french POW during the napoleonic wars for pretty much the same kind of reason. Life on this prison hulks must have been hell. They have an amazing collection of those in the international maritime museum in Hamburg

In ww2 the 31st infantry regiment would be captured and forced on the Bataan death March, and when the Korean War started the regiment was stripped down to cadre strength and used to fill out the regiments of the 24th infantry division that had just sent task force smith to Korea. Among the soldiers from the 31st infantry regiment that went to fill-out the regiments of the 24th ID was my great uncle, who was killed in Korea. Anyways, pretty neat piece that has connection to that regiments history.

A side note Pre 1950ish I believe people preferring alternative names was more common E.g My paternal Grandfather was Born John but universally known as Jack My Maternal Grandmother was Eleanor May so everyone just called her May My paternal aunt was born Heather but yet again universally known as Eileen I could go on and on most of my great aunts and uncles all seemed to prefer either a nickname e.g one great uncle was called Sarge cause well he was a Sargent in the military so those born in the 40s or earlier seemed have a greater chance of going by a alternative name. Just my thoughts and assumptions no hard proof or anything.

@AtheistOrphan

2 жыл бұрын

I don’t know where you’re from but here in England that was very common pre-WW2 as well, my father was Stanley James Robert but was known as Jim, whilst our neighbours Charles and Cynthia were known as Ray and Joyce.

I'd love to see a page on the website collating good colour photos of these beauties if more come to light.

I really like this type of content when Ian has a story behind the gun.

The 1911 in Metro Exodus in Sam's DLC, actually pays homage to those 1911's with the carved grips.

Yay , embellishments are something I am learning now. Through jewellery making , engraving , gemstone setting and precious metals engraving techniques , I can utilize firearms specific embellishment inlay and engraving styles and techniques on jewelry and vice versa. Can't wait to get good enough to show off something. One concept I want to bring to market , though behind the times abit, are custom front sights and sight posts with mirror polished" sterling electrum" ( special made proprietary alloy ) inserts with one of a few types of proven ,optically relivant , structurally sound gems as the aiming point. With Options such as night sight inserts made of tritium and or led + fiber optic light pipe. Lab created Sapphire is already used for similar . A blue Sapphire on yellow laser or a yellow sapphire on blue laser are what make a green laser be green. Lab created Sapphire is often used in lens laminations for cameras and telescopes and binoculars...yup, I need to talk to a scope company . I just had a wild idea as I was working on my " too long didn't read ,Because we are doing as we are expected to and pushing censorship to stifle growing minds" sized comment here. " It is difficult to free people from the shackles they Revere" - Saul Alinsky ;12 rules for radicals.

Its like in the war movies how the main hero has his own customized gimmick gun

This channel never ceases to amaze.

Ur videos havent changed at all xD love it

Those are some gorgeous 1911s.

I am in the USN Medical Corps. The Oakleaf with Acorn represents the Med Corps (US military physicians) and is worn on the left collar of the uniform.

Another good one. Thanks Ian.

I've never wanted a 1911 before but I want this one because the Czech legion is legendary and this would be a great way to pass on their story......

Gorgeous woodwork. Hopefully that POW was able to live a good life if he was released.

@shawnr771

2 жыл бұрын

Hopefully they gave him a ride home.

Doughboys seem to have done a good job of bringing home their sidearms.

hey Ian this is really interesting. I love hearing about all these not-so-bad war stories

The guy that carved those grips was a good artist. Let us hope he was repatriated and was able to pass his skills on to his children, and that through the web we are able to find out who he was.

@Joshua_N-A

2 жыл бұрын

20 years later, Volkssturm.

i definitely don't remember but i will tomorrow. what an interesting footnote and excuse to show some beautiful 1911's. :-)

Indy Niedell made an episode for the Great war channel about this. The British and the canucks made us deploy. Many us gi's didn't want to fight the bolo because they saw that the tsar kept his peasants down bad and drunk.

What a neat find! So unique!

Hunting weapons were decorated in similar style in Central Europe more often than military guns. I would contact expert for hunting rifles in Central Europe and try to get more info.

Awesome! I had no idea Americans had troops in Russia at that time! As a footnote, appearantly there are a lot of these military provenance arms in the collector market in the US. My question is, where do they come from? I get that some of them may have been simply 'forgotten' at the bottom of a bag.But given the quantity, and the difficulty of nicking weapons from the army, was there a program for CO and NCO to buy and keep some of their arms? I am not talking about surplus sales either, these guns, for example, would have been immediately refurbished if they ever made their way back to the armory in that condition.

@zeec2093

2 жыл бұрын

the entente intervened in the russian cival war at the time. there are a couple of videos on it, its very interesting i would recomend researching it

@madzaisa

2 жыл бұрын

> Awesome! I had no idea Americans had troops in Russia at that time! US troops also had "an expedition" into north region of Russia where they actually fought the Red Army. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Russia_intervention

@cammobunker

2 жыл бұрын

Your question sort of answers itself, really. The simple answer is, it really *wasn't* all that hard to nick things from the Military at this time. Think about it. In one case, we have an officer, and not only an officer, but a doctor. Doctor comes back to the US, and goes through out-processing, which probably meant signing a bunch of paperwork and hopping on the train home. Nobody is searching officers for contraband, so that pistol just comes home in his duffel. The other guy was a PFC, so his is a little harder, as PFCs are not routinely issued pistols, but the expedition to Siberia was a complete mess from start to finish. I'm quite sure that anything and everything was available and he just picked one up, perhaps as part of guard detail for the POWs. Then it was just a matter of keeping his mouth shut about it and keeping it in the bottom of the duffel. There are *loads* of bring back 1911s and S&W and Colt 1917s that simply were written off as "lost in combat" that Doughboys simply kept on discharge. Military record keeping wasn't exactly a model of efficiency at the time, and even today the Army loses guns. I mean, they know about them now, but they still lose some every year. Most are lost in things like training accidents and the like-lost in the ocean, fallen out of aircraft, destroyed in vehicle accidents, that sort of thing, but every year more than a few simply...vanish. GIs have a long and colorful history of stealing anything from oranges to bulldozers and cargo planes, so it's not surprising.

@Kaboomf

2 жыл бұрын

@@cammobunker Different country, but my grandfather got issued a Norwegian Colt by accident during the panicked scramble in 1940. He stood in the wrong line and got issued officer's kit, then realized his mistake and quietly sidled over to the line for enlisted and got issued a rifle as well. Pretty sure many militaries through the ages have lost track of weaponry in wartime.

@spinogryz98

2 жыл бұрын

@@cammobunker what about bulldozers and cargo planes?)

Wow! I think this might be my favorite video yet. Those are beautiful pistols and what an amazing story thank you very much for the great content sir

Wonderful pistols. Thank you Ian for sharing them with us. I will definitely be researching that part of the first World War.

Those wooden grips are sick!

This is the kind of weapon that brought me to this channel.

I remember hearing about the polarbear expedition at this little military museum in frankenmuth michigan when I was like 12. I think they some of the full uniforms and rifles of the soldiers there.

Thanks again for the interesting video sir, once again I learned something. It reminds me of the "cigarette rifles" built by unemployed German gunsmiths after WWII, some of which are really gorgeous. Most of them are unsigned and untraceable too. Stay well.

Thank you , Ian .

@loupiscanis9449

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you , Mike .