Incredibly Important WW2 War Souvenir, A Most Fine And Scarce Polish Third Reich Occupation Semi Auto Pistol, 9mm Radom vis 35. AKA The German WW2 Classified ‘P35’. In Superb Condition With Almost All Fine Blue & Waffen Amt Stamps

Deactivated to UK specification, complete with certificate, fully functional cocking, firing, etc..
Excellent plus condition, with numerous Third Reich Nazi inspection waffen amt stamps and excellent production low three figure serial number, with letter prefix. In our opinion, likely the very best condition historical example available on the worldwide deact market today.
A ‘Grade I’ RADOM VIS Mod. 35 Pat. Nr. 15567 "P.35(p)". There were several grades of quality, and finish, this one is the early premier grade, with the designation “P35” stamp which wasn’t on other grades.
Technical term for 1st Grade was; Finish:Hochglanz-Finish; brüniert { Deluxe gloss blue-finish, polished}
Griffschalen:schwarze Bakelitgriffschalen mit Fischhaut. With black Bakelite monogrammed grips, with VIS, & FB, later were brown or chequered wood.

The pistol was highly valued by the Germans, and most were issued it to German paratroopers, {the Falschirmjager} and the Waffen SS Polizei military police and Feldengendarmerie division.

Arising from the ashes of the old Austro-Hungarian, German, and Russian Empires in 1918 – countries that had wiped Poland off the map in 1795 – modern Poland was born immediately into war, having to fight the Bolshevik Reds to the east and remnant German Freikorps to the west well into 1921. With its military armed via a curious mix of surplus weapons – including Mauser, Mosin, and Steyr rifles for instance – and its larger neighbors only growing stronger, the Poles sought to form a domestic arms concern, Panstwowa Wytwornia Broni (PWB = roughly, State Weapons Plant) in 1922.

Originally designed as a Polish officer’s sidearm, the Vis pistol was manufactured from 1936 in Fabryka Broni (Weapons Factory), hence the initials “FB” on the left grip, located in the city of Radom. After the invasion of Poland by the Third Reich within four days of the occupation of Poland they took control of the Radom arms factory.

The manufacturing process at the German occupied Radom factory was just one of the three stages in the pistol’s production. As before the war, some small parts, including the rear sight, extractor, grip safety, decocking lever and magazine, were made at Fabryka Karabinów (Rifle Factory) in Warsaw and then shipped to Radom. At the Radom factory, slides and frames were made, and the pistols were fitted together. Knowing that the bulk of the work would have to be performed by local Polish workers, whom they did not trust, the Germans moved the barrel production and final acceptance to the parent Steyr factory in Austria.

If this move was to prevent the pistols from getting into the hands of the Polish resistance, it failed. The Polish resistance, historically respected as one of the best and effective resistance groups of the war in Europe and the East, quickly established a network among the employees that began smuggling pistols out of the factory. The initial supply of barrels for the underground came from parts pilfered by patriotic workers before the Germans established security in the conquered plant in 1939. When these ran out, an underground shop was established in Warsaw for the purpose of making the barrels. As one resistance report states, there were 200 barrels produced in a six-month period between 1943 and 1944, which gives an idea about the rate at which the pistols were smuggled. One participant describes in detail how the smuggling operation worked: “When we were directed by factory management to go on a supply run ... to fetch steel, oxygen, or other materials, my partner would meander around the truck, getting it ready for the road, and I would go to the steel warehouse to see my friend ... . The friend had a job at the warehouse, while other resistance members who worked at the weapon assembly division would bring the Vis pistols to the warehouse and conceal them on the shelves where the steel was. I would go up to the shelves and stuff two, three, and sometimes even four pistols under my waist, then head for the car garage and conceal them in the truck cab. I would put them under the seat, under the gas tank, or inside the spare wheel compartment by attaching them to the tire with chicken wire. Then we’d get on the road. At the gate, the security guard would check the truck bed and look around, but the pistols were always well concealed.”
For a time, the Germans were completely unaware of the smuggling operation, until one day in September 1942, when a six-person commando of resistance fighters was traveling by rail to execute a Nazi collaborator. The commando was armed with the smuggled Vis pistols. Once on the train, they were surrounded by the Gestapo, and a shootout followed. Four of the fighters escaped, killing one of the Gestapo guards and wounding two more, but one fighter was killed, and worse, another captured.

During the shootout, two cloned Radom pistols fell into German hands, one with its serial number removed and one with the number still intact. The removal procedure was not performed adequately either, and the forensic experts in Berlin were able to reveal the number on the first pistol anyway. Both were traced to police units in occupied Poland, which still had them. The Vis production line was closed at the Radom factory, and additional parts with duplicate serial numbers were revealed. As a result of the usually brutal investigation that followed, in October 1942, 50 people were hanged in a series of public executions—some at the train station where the shootout happened, and some at the factory grounds where the pistols were made. The discovered breach also had an immediate effect on production procedures. Beginning with the “J” alphabet prefix series, the frame and slide received two additional control stamps, which presumably made it more difficult to counterfeit.

It is well known occupied Eastern Europe had some of the bravest anti-Nazi citizens amongst its population ever recorded during the war, and without doubt suffered the most under the viscious and harshest of German occupation regimes. And in many respects it tragically continued after the wars end in 1945. Britain, being joined by France just two days after the invasion declaring war against the Reich, spent the whole of the war, following the declaration, supporting the resistance by supplying arms and supplies and vital intelligence as best as it could, and completely alone for around two years, after France’s fall, and America not joining the war till late 1941. Tragically, after six years of help, once Stalin took over the occupation of Poland after Germany withdrew, we were in no position to assist Poland any longer, especially alone. And the rest is history.

Not suitable to export. Small slice of the bakelite moulded outer grip plate lacking from underneath below the screw.

Code: 25718