The Yovanovitch (Jovanovic) system semiautomatic pistol was first described by Dr. Joseph Howard Matthews (1881-1970).  The University of Wisconsin eventually published the first edition of his three volume work <I>Firearms Identification</I> in 1962.  On page 611 (Volume I) the author says: “One Yugoslav pistol which is of native origin is the 9mm Yovanovitch.  L. Yovanovitch was an officer-engineer-inventor who designed and developed this pistol, then sold it to the Yugoslav Government.  It was manufactured by the Voino Tekhnichki Zavod… The barrel and bolt are contained in a tapered tubular housing which runs the entire length of the arm.  The pistol is disassembled by turning a milled head at the rear of the housing.  It has a mechanical thumb safety located in front of the left grip piece – a lever set in a vertical position with the “Safe” and “Fire” positions indicated in Serbian.  The grips are of plain wood, without serrations or checkering.  The inscription on the barrel reads PATENT L. YOVANOVITCH MODEL 1931.  There are no proof marks or other markings…  It is said that a substantial order for pistols was obtained from Haile Selassie of Ethiopia in 1954 and that these were made and delivered.  This statement has not been confirmed, but, if true, it is likely that they were the 9mm Yovanovitch.  A former officer in the Mikhailovitch Army states that pistols of both 7.65mm and 6.35mm calibers, of the same design, were made.  The former were for police and similar use, rather than for military use.”

Since 1962, authors, as well as official institutions, have accepted the statement without any checking.  Consequently, in the current FBI National Crime Information Centre 2000 Operating Manual, (December 2000, p.154), “Model Yovanovitch, Country – YG” (Yugoslavia) recorded as “Code YOV.”  However, the true story about the weapon is quite different.

Lazar Jovanovic (Yovanovitch) was born in Belgrade 1898 to a prominent Serbian historian and politician Ljubomir Yovanovitch.  After World War I, he enrolled in Faculty of Engineering of Ghent University in Belgium.  He soon thereafter left his studies (he never graduated) and returned to Belgrade and dedicated himself to arms construction and the shooting sports.  Yovanovitch came into contact with well-known manufacturers of target rifles and pistols – gunsmith & firearm dealer Carl Widmer (C. Widmer Büchsenmacherei und Waffenhandlung) of St. Gallen, Switzerland, and Julius Gottfried Anschütz GmbH & Co. KG., located in the Thuringian city of Zella-Mehlis, Germany.  On July 16, 1932, Yovanovitch designed a single shot .22 target pistol based on a specific bolt rotation system: the bolt is rotated in a helical motion (of rotational motion to forward motion).  The constructor filed the specification No. 612 at a Yugoslav Patent Office on July 16, 1932.  Finally, Yovanovich was granted Patent Number 10.491 on November 1, 1933.

Due to this patent, C. Widmer, assisted by J. G. Anschütz, started the production of target pistols Model Widmer-L.Y (Lazar Yovanovitch) in 1934.  Regrettably, Yovanovitch was inexperienced in business matters and his design was not patented out of Yugoslavia so that J. G. Anschütz soon renamed the pistol as Model “International” and continued its production without any participation of the Yugoslav constructor.

On the other hand, Yovanovitch was simultaneously working on the construction of semiautomatic military service pistols.  The initial versions were a .22 LR and .380 ACP caliber pistol with an under-barrel tubular magazine, designed for military competition shooting.  However, this weapon was never manufactured.

In 1930, Yovanovitch made only one piece of the first version of the .380 ACP semiautomatic military service pistol to be his personal weapon.  Technically, the M1930 is a blowback operated semiautomatic pistol.  The recoil spring is located around the barrel, the trigger is of single action type and the gun is striker-fired.  The pistol featured three safeties – magazine safety (which blocks the firing when the magazine is removed), automatic grip safety at the front side of the grip and mounted manual safety at the left side of the gun.  The magazine catch is located on the side of the grip, next to trigger guard.  The breechblock is locked in the rear of the slide with the cross bolt lock, which secured against falling out by the safety pin with spring.  Furthermore, the pistol has a cartridge counter – pointer at the grip and magazine.  8 pointer pins, each with own spring, are built in the wooden grip.  The magazine right side has a slot through which the follower pointer disc glides.  The follower pointer disc is screwed into the follower left side.  As the follower moves up, the disc pushes the pins one by one, and this stabs the hand of the shooter with its point.

With the .380 ACP M1930, Yovanovitch took part in the 29th IISSF World Championships 1933 in Granada, where the men’s 25 meters Rapid-Fire Pistol was first introduced, but only as a test competition.  Shortly before he left for Spain, on March 8, 1933, the Yugoslavian International Shooting Sport Federation (SSKJ) issued to Yovanovitch Permit No. 893, required to transport the weapon abroad.  The document says that Yovanovitch traveled abroad with “one single-shot target pistol chambered in .22 rim fire, serial No. 449, and one 9mm Semiautomatic Pistol of his own design (M1930)”  With that same pistol Yovanovitch took part in XI Olympic Games in Berlin.  The men’s 25 meter rapid fire pistol competition (automatic pistols and revolvers of all calibers) was held on August 6, 1936 at the shooting ranges a “Deutsche Versuchsanstalt für Handfeuerwaffen” e.V. Berlin-Wannsee.  After the first series (three series of six shots – every target visible for eight seconds; 53 shooters from 22 nations competed) the 25 marksmen, including Lazar Yovanovich were eliminated, because they did not achieve 18 hits.

Yovanovitch concluded that his personal weapon M1930 was too complicated to become a Military Service Pistol.  In order to interest the Yugoslav Military in his weapon, he designed a somewhat simpler weapon in 1931.  The M1931 was also a blowback (unlocked breech) operated semiautomatic pistol.  The recoil spring is located around the barrel, the trigger is of single action type and the gun is striker-fired.  The pistol featured two safeties – magazine safety (which blocks the firing when the magazine is removed) and mounted manual safety at the left side of the frame.  The heel magazine release is located at the butt of the pistol grip and is a simple catch.

The extractor on the pistol has a double function being both an extractor and the spring loaded lock for the threaded takedown breechblock at the rear of the slide.

Drawn up, the extractor head allows the breechblock to be rotated counter clockwise and then removed from the slide.  With the breechblock removed, the separate striker and striker spring can be pulled out to the rear.  Pressing the trigger releases the slide and recoil spring, allowing it to run forward off the frame.

The pistol uses a striker firing mechanism; pressure on the trigger causes the trigger bar to move to the rear and down, where it disengages from the disconnector striker’s nose and frees it to go forward under spring pressure and fire the cartridge.  There is a safety catch on the left side of the pistol that prevents the trigger from moving when engaged.

Constructor filed specification No. 494 at a Yugoslav Patent Office on July 1, 1934 and offered his M1931 pistol to the Military-Technical Committee of the Yugoslav Royal Army.  In order to provide support of the high court and military circles, Yovanovich made a single piece of the pistol and presented it to the Yugoslav King Aleksandar I Karag?orgevich.  The weapon was completely gold plated with the ivory grip panels inserted with the golden king’s Cipher (AI).  There was a Cyrillic inscription engraved on the slide: “Patent L. ?ovanovic / Model 1931.”  However, the Patent Office of Belgrade disapproved Yovanovics’ patent, and the Military-Technical Committee showed no interest in the M1931 either.  Consequently, this version has never been manufactured by the Military Technical Institute at Kragujevac and never became a Military Service weapon of the Yugoslav Army.  Yet, the failure did not discourage Yovanovich.  In the same year, that is to say 1934, he designed a toggle-locked, short recoil action weapon for higher-powered cartridges.  Having a bad experience with Widmer and Anschütz, this time he engaged another agent in a prominent Swiss Patent Agency, A. Braun Héritier Eschmann AG patent attorney firm.  A. Braun Braun Héritier Eschmann AG was established in Basel (Bâle) in 1888 by Amand Ritter, as one of the first patent agencies in Switzerland.  In 1898, Amand Braun joined the firm and managed it from 1921 until his death in 1943.  On October 15, Amand Braun provided Yovanovich’s design with Swiss Patent No. 180,095.  On the base of the patent, Yovanovich designed a toggle-delayed blowback semiautomatic pistol, and on June 1, 1934, he got the Yugoslav patent No. 10,940 for it.  Therefore, the Military-Technical Committee of the Yugoslav Royal Army found this version too complicated for practical use.

When on April 6, 1941, Germany and Italy attacked the Kingdom of Yugoslavia; Lazar Yovanovitch enlisted as Petty Officer First Class in the 1st Hydroplane Squadron, The Bay of Kotor.  Before leaving for Kotor, he left his M1930 pistol at home in Belgrade.  Regrettably, shortly after, Yovanovitch was taken prisoner by the Italians on April 17, and escorted to the POW Camp P.G. 63 Marinaro Aversa near Arezzo.  On signing the armistice with Italy, and before the Germans entered Aversa, he managed to flee from the Camp on September 13 and reached Switzerland.  He settled down in Sainte-Croix in the canton of Vaud, and continued his constructional work.  In Switzerland, he patented several target rifles and pistols.  However, in 1951 Yovanovitch moved to Canada and opened a small private arms manufacturing workshop on 71 St. Elisabeth Street, Longueuil.  There, in 1958 he manufactured one more piece of the M1931 pistol.  The weapon had standard wooden grip panels, and the left side of the slide bore an impressed inscription: “Patent L.YOVANOVITCH / MODEL 1931.”  Yovanovitch built into the pistol the old barrel taken from the Official Yugoslav Military Sidearm – 9mm Browning M1910/22 pistol.  Accordingly, genuine Belgian manufacturer markings remained on the barrel “Fabrique Nationale” (F.N.) as well as the caliber mark (Kal. 9 m/m).

For that pistol on February 27, 1959, the Chief and Director-general of Québec Provincial Police, Hilarie Beauregard issued him Firearm Permit No. 84,159. “This permit authorizes Mr. Lazar Yovanovitch to have a pistol elsewhere than in his dwelling-house or place of business for the Protection in the interest of his business – Demonstration purpose and Repairs Service – Target practice.”

In fact, the Canadian government realized the Act to amend the Criminal Code of 30 June, 1951 inadvertently banned a substantial number of ‘sporting’ rifles and shotguns, and 26 June, 1954 adopted a new Act respecting Criminal Law.  The Form 76 series of permits disappears, replaced by the Form 42- Firearm Permit.  While the Form 76 specified that a handgun can be carried “…for the protection of life or property, or for target practice,” the Form 42 now states the purpose for which the firearm is required (target shooting, self or property protection), and authorizes it to be possessed: “…Since the Code does not specify how the handgun is to be transported and because it is not expressly prohibited, the concealed carry of firearms by authorized citizens is still permitted.  It remains perfectly legal for authorized permit holders to carry their handgun concealed upon the person.”

Because of a tough financial situation, in 1960 Yovanovitch was compelled to sell his pistol, and the only M1931 pistol in USA.  It was the very piece seen by Dr. Joseph Howard Matthews on the basis of which he created a myth about the Yugoslav weapons “manufactured by the Voino Tekhnichki Zavod.”  Also, on the grips is a crudely hand-written 4-digit number (3344), which Mathews declared as a serial number.

Yovanovitch returned to Belgrade on September 7, 1974 and died soon thereafter on January 28, 1975.

The M1931 pistol remained in the USA, published by Mathews in the late 20th century and later it was sold in an auction in Switzerland and later, in 1977, in Austria (Linz).

The gold plated M1931 pistol was given to the Military Museum of Belgrade after the assassination on King Aleksandar in 1934.  Sadly, in 1944, this rare item was stolen from the Museum.  Now, the only preserved piece in Belgrade is Yovanovitch’s personal M1930 pistol owned by the author of this article.

TECHNICAL DATA:

M1930 Pistol

Designed: 1930

Designer: Lazar Yovanovitch

Manufacturer: L. Yovanovitch in Military-Technical Institute Kragujevac

Number built: 1

Type: Semiautomatic pistol

Action: Blowback

Cartridge: 9×17 mm Browning .380ACP

Total length: 8 inches (203 mm)

Barrel length: 4.25 inches (108 mm)

Rifling: six grooves with the right-hand twist of one turn in 9.4 inches (240 mm).

Land Width: .045” (1 mm)

Bore Diameter: .3504” (8.9 mm)

Groove diameter: .358” (9.1 mm)

Feed system: 8-round, detachable box magazine

Height: 4 3/5” (117 mm)

Weight unloaded: 20.8 oz (590 g)

Sights: Front blade, rear notch

M1931 Pistol

Designed: 1931

Designer: Lazar Yovanovitch

Manufacturer: L. Yovanovitch in Military-Technical Institute Kragujevac and in his own workshop in Longueuil, Canada.

Number built: 2

Type: Semiautomatic pistol

Action: Blowback

Cartridge: 9×17 mm Browning .380ACP

Total length: 7 ¼” (184 mm)

Barrel length: 4 ¼” mm (108 mm)

Rifling: six grooves with the right-hand twist of one turn in 9.4” (240 mm)

Land Width: .045” (1 mm)

Bore Diameter: .3504” (8.9 mm)

Groove diameter: .358” (9.1 mm)

Feed system: 8-round, detachable box magazine

Height: 4 5/8” (117 mm)

Weight unloaded: 19.3 oz (520 g)

Sights: Front blade, rear notch

The history of the Yugoslav contingent of German select-fire Mauser pistols, i.e. the 7.65mm, 7.63mm and 9mm (Luger) Mauser Schnellfeuer Pistol of the 1930s has been recorded several times by many authors. Most of this information is only partly correct.

From 1932 to 1935 the Mauser automatic pistols were really tested in Yugoslavia in calibers 7.63×25 mm (Mauser) and 9x19mm but modified according to the requirements of the Yugoslav Artillery-Technical Department.

About this contingent the most accurate data are presented by authors Weaver, Speed and Schmid: ”…According to Thierry Gousset of Niort, France, three pistols were taken by the French from the Mauser factory shortly after the war… The second of the three items… is a rare and unusual early Schnellfeuer, serial no 3,112, chambered in 7.63mm and so marked on the special barrel, which appears to have been a preliminary sample for an order for 100 units chambered in 9mm Parabellum which were sold to Yugoslavia for troop trials in the 1933-34 period.

“This pistol displays two features that were not used on later Schnellfeuer models. First, the barrel is a separate component, threaded into the receiver… Secondly, the front sight… is a separate dovetailed unit which may be drifted to either side for windage adjustment.

“According to information received from Rolf Gminder, there was apparently some problem with the spring tension settings on these early pistols, which resulted in the actions becoming battered when subjected to extensive full-auto fire during tests in Yugoslavia. Although this problem was swiftly corrected in later production, the Jugoslavs did not order any more of these pistols.

“Jon Speed advises that he has not located any archival Mauser documentation supporting a sale/offer of C96’s to Yugoslavia”.

At first glance, it seems surprising that the Yugoslavs took the Mauser automatic pistols into consideration at all, knowing that this weapon had not been introduced as a service weapon by any other army. New archival material relating to the German automatic pistols designed for Yugoslavia, reveals the truth about this issue. This decision was influenced by the needs of both the Yugoslav Army, which most certainly were the results of their reorganization and the favourable financial terms offered by Germany to Yugoslavia. Private contacts with politicians and bankers of Belgrade were of importance too.

The Yugoslav General Staff in 1931 took into consideration for the first time the project to create Special Forces equipped with proper weapons. Primarily these were the Mountain units, and later the assault or Chetnik troops were planned and paratrooper forces as well.

Official interests of the Mauser factory before the military and official circles in Belgrade were represented by Damjan Brankovic and his deputy, Mr. Veljovic. Brankovic started promoting the Luger P-08 pistols first and the Mauser-Schnellfeuer afterwards. In the course of 1931 he connected the German representatives with one of the most influential politicians – Milan Stojadinovic. In order not to be openly involved, Stojadinovic transferred all contacts to Jovan Gasic, the Chief of his Cabinet. Gasic established the relations with the members of Artillery-Technical Committee as well as with Colonel Petrovic, the director of V section of the Military-Technical Institute at Kragujevac. According to a report by French Military attaché of September 24, 1935, the German Government directly offered to Belgrade to compensate the debts by a delivery of armaments worth 10 billion dinars. The General Staff was considering the idea of placing an order for the Mauser pistols included in this sum too, as these pistols were being tested at Kragujevac already for three years.

The Beginning of the Cooperation

Immediately after World War I, the Mauser factory started preparations for entering the new potentially large markets of the Kingdom of SHS/Yugoslavia. The first step was to protect the patent rights on their own most interesting products, including all Mauser Pistols. The preparation consisting of the patent rights protection was initiated by Mauser’s agents in Belgrade who came to know that a new competition for a service pistol was in prospect.

Indeed, in late 1931 the competition was announced in time of a pressing need for new pistols but also coincided with the need for arming the newly founded mountain regiments. Entirely unofficially and before the competition was announced, many firms, primarily the Spanish ones, had offered a variety of pistols to the Yugoslav Ministry of the Army. Also unofficially, these weapons were trialed without prejudicing any decision at all. The Mauser factory was also ready to accept a similar informal presentation of its automatic pistol. Damjan Brankovic was rather optimistic in this regard and a little bit hastily advised to take into consideration the possible financial aspects regarding the arrangements with Yugoslavia, as soon as possible. In a confidential letter from July 18, 1932, which he sent to Oberndorf, he writes that the Spanish automatic pistols have the same ballistic performance as well as German. Nevertheless, they are cheaper than the German weapons, and Mauser will probably offer a new, lower price.

Surprised by the Spanish competition, management of the Oberndorf factory immediately took all measures to discredit the undoubted copy of Mauser-Schnellfeuer’s. The Technical Department of ‘Mauser’ on July 22 and 23, 1932 submitted a report to its sales department, i.e., Director Frosch, about the ”Royal” pistol that was already tested in Yugoslavia. This letter lists all the disadvantages of the Spanish arms in relation to the German original. After reviewing the Spanish pistol that was purchased by the company ”Genschow,“ concluded that the ”Royal” does not have all improvements implemented in the German automatic pistol. Original Mausers had 10- and 20-round detachable box magazines while the ”Royal” has a 10-round integral charger-loaded box magazine. Also, on the German model, was located a Univesal Safety, which is patented in several countries. Pistols with detachable box magazines have a special construction of the bolt locking block. When the breechblock is pulled back, the hammer’s head rises into a lug’s notch, axially placed at the back end of the breechblock and on its under-side, and holds the breech open and the breechblock is caught by the hammer’s head. When the pistol is loaded with a detachable magazine, it remains unchambered until the breechblock is pulled back and released. Finally, the German select fire pistol had the lock frame, bolt lock, hammer, cachting lever, lock frame cachting lever and bolt recoil spring stop made of chrome-nickel steel of the finest quality. Thus, the life expectancy of their arms was longer than the Spanish guns.

According to the agreement between the Ministry of the Army of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and the Mauser factory’s representatives in Belgrade, the decision was made to inspect the standard Mauser-Schnellfeuer pistols in 7.63mm and 9mm (Luger) calibres without any changes.

The Obernodrf factory managers sent Josef Nickl and Alex Mauser (one of the managers) to the Military-Technical Institute wherein the weapons were to be inspected. Josef Nickl stayed in the Jadran hotel in Kragujevac and from there on November 17, 1932 he informed director Wirthle that the pistols and detachable box magazine, necessary for trials, arrived in Yugoslavia.

The first trials at the Kragujevac factory internal range were conducted on December 26, 1932 and on January 5, 1933. Alex Mauser submitted a detailed report about the results to the Main Office of Oberndorf.

Tests in semiautomatic firing was done with 3,000 rounds in three series of 800, 700 and 500 rounds. The weapon was loaded with a 10-round detachable box magazine and also from the top with 10-round stripper clips. Marksmen shot usning a detachable shoulder stock-holster mounted on the pistol.

Test in full-automatic firing was performed by the program – up to 20 rounds with 2 minutes break. During the first 100 single-shots there were five jams. The blame for these jammings were attributed to the shooter, the Serbian master Zlatkovic. Although an excellent shooter, Zlatkovic that morning was not enough prepared because of excessive amounts of alcohol that he had drunk the previous day. After being reprimanded that he must hold steady to the gun, the rest of the first series of shooting was conducted without interruption.

However, after completion of all tests, a lot of flaws were found in the weapons. The disconnector was not working properly and they had to change the trigger spring and disconnector. During burst fire with the pistol the front sight blade fell off twice. After 1,300 rounds, the mechanism for automatic fire broke and the magazine catch lug on the magazine also broke and the detachable magazine box fell out from the frame. After 1,700 rounds, the bolt opened too early, the bolt stop was pushed out and the firing pin broke. Alex Mauser changed the bolt stop and bolt locking block several times. The rear slider sight was stuck and could not be moved. Also, the sight leaf fell off. These failures could be eliminated only in the factory workshop. German representatives for most of the failures blamed poor quality of ammunition – gun parts were getting too dirty, but had to admit that a lot of parts must be changed due to failure.

Almost a month later on 31 January, 1933, a report was sent to the Technical Directorate in Oberndorf. This report pointed out that “…. on both pistols there was found wobble and fallout of the front sight blade. On the 7.63mm caliber pistol, there must be strengthened marks on the sight leaf for a distance 300, 400 and 500 meters. In addition, on the same pistol, the front blade was so small that at dusk or in poor weather conditions, aiming was virtually impossible…”

It is obvious that the Yugoslav experts were idealistic and too optimistic focusing on the automatic pistol’s preciseness only. Primarily, this weapon was not intended for precise long-range actions; similar to every other automatic weapon it could be used in close combat, in urban areas or on the intersected hilly ground but at the range of 100 meters at the most. The idea to adopt the automatic Mauser pistol as the chief weapon of the Special Task Units was an illusion, which would be proved by all useless efforts made by the Oberndorf constructors to meet the Yugoslav requirements.

I and II Nickl’s Designs of the Yugoslav Mauser ”R-F” (Schnellfeuer, ”S”) Pistol

Considering all the noted faults as well as the verbal requirements of the Yugoslav Commission, Nickl worked out a project on the basis of which one ”Yugoslav” pistol prototype in 7.63mm calibre (No. 12,004) and another one in calibre 9mm (No. 12,003) were manufactured. The first mechanism functioning inspection took place on January 25, 1933 at the Rheinisch-Westfälische Sprengstoff AG factory near the Rottweil ammunition range. Average muzzle velocity recorded on discharging the 9mm cartridges was 343.05 m/s, and 405.6 m/s on discharging the 7.63mm ammunition. The Technical Department informed director Zillinger about these prototypes who passed the information about pistol redesigns to Colonel Petrovic, the chief of the Royal Serbian Arsenal on February 4th, ”…. Pistols Mauser 7.63mm and 9mm (Luger) now have: barrel screwed up in the slide, horizontaly adjustable front sight, tangent rear sight with the ability to adjust bullet derivation, modified 9mm detachable box magazine and slightly lower mounting of the shoulder stock.”

The Germans managed to inspect the tactical-technical features of the weapon on February 6, 1933 on the factory’s prototypes of the 7.63mm Mauser pistol No. 11,491 and on the 9mm pistols Nos. 12,140 and 12,141. The ”Wu” & ”Pr/We” Departments informed the ‘Wp” about the results on February 7, 1933: ”Target group size was slightly better than those achieved during testing on the 31st January 1933. However, it is noticeable that the 9mm pistol at 500m, and after several repetitions, the average target group size is grouped to the left, while at all other distances is grouped to the right. The new, wide front blade is better than the last. The tangent rear sight is uncontrolled and moves as in the previous test”

On 7 February, 1933, the Germans further test two automatic pistols in Yugoslavia. As the weapon in 7.63mm, No. 11,491 failed to satisfy all performances, they manufactured another one in the same calibre, number 12,004 instead as well as the first variant of the 9mm calibre pistol No. 12,003 instead of the 9mm pistol Nos. 12,140 and 12,141. Pistols were with the barrel screwed into the slide and the special ”Yugoslav” tangent rear sights.

On February 22, 1933, the Technical Office had a detailed description of Nickl’s ”Yugoslav” prototype (otherwise known as Yugoslav Model I). The barrel is screwed in the slide-barrel extension so that it can be changed and had a horizontally adjustable front blade as on pistol Luger P-08. In order to keep a slim form of a pistol, the chamber was located in the slide. Barrel length without chamber increased from 98mm to 117mm. Barrel length with chamber was 141.5mm.

To correct deflection of a bullet path at distances over 400 m, which is resulting from right hand twist rifling, a new type of tangent sight was created. On the sight leaf which is in height set for distances from 200 to 1,000 meters, the notch rear sight adjusts to the deflection of a bullet path on the selected distance, ie, notch rear sight is moved laterally so that is the same target group size ensured for all specified ranges. Namely, instead of the classical sight leaf made of one part, on the new tangent sight is a two-part sight leaf where the upper part was graduated with range marks in meters and have a base with a rear sight notch. The right edge of the upper part are obliquely tapering toward the base of the rear sight notch. On the left side of the lower part are slots cut in the edge for sight slider button and lug type pivot that goes into the pivot ears. The sight leaf is placed parallel with the longitudinal axis of the barrel. The upper part of the sight leaf can be rotated in the horizontal plane in relation to the lower part. The sight slider has a sight slider button and stepped hole for sight leafs. The bottom part of the hole at the sight slider slides along the upper leaf, which is parallel to the longitudinal axis of barrel, and the upper part of the hole pushed sloped side edge of upper leaf, which is sloped in relation to the longitudinal axis of barrel. Thanks to such construction, the axis of the rear sight notch and axis of sight slider at a distance of up to 50 m are located just above the longitudinal axis of barrel. During setting up for other distances, up to 1,000 m, rear sight notch in relation to the longitudinal axis of barrel moves to the left, which is the correct deflection of the bullet from the path to the right. Namely, the upper internal edge of the sight slider hole during moving the sight slider forward, pushed the sloped side edge of upper leaf and rotated, together with the rear sight notch, to the left. Thus the corrected deflection of the bullet from the path to the right, which is due to right hand twist rifling.

As the upper sight leaf, which at the rear was narrower than the lower sight leaf, it would not move. The rear sight slider has two teeth that were entered in the cuttings on the rear sight blade, and so fixed the whole tangent rear sight.

The front sight on the barrel is horizontally adjustable with a wide rectangular front blade from Luger P-08 pistol. The detachable shoulder stock/holster is set to 6.5 mm below, so the hammer can not hurt the hand that held butttstock grip.

The Model I pistols were tested during April at the Military-Technical Institute at Kragujevac simultaneously with several competitive designs. On May 4, 1933 Damjan Brankovic informed the Oberndorf factory managers that in competition were pistols Mauser, Astra and Bergmann.

In addition, the Commission concluded that later sent Mausers in calibre 9mm and 7.63mm were not sufficiently precise.

Certainly, the Technical Office could not be pleased with the report, and ordered the development of new, better guns. Nickl also concluded that he had to improve the first design of the ”Yugoslav” pistol. Besides, which will be seen later, due to good relations with the Yugoslav military, Brankovic and Veljovic sent the tactical-technical demands of the Ministry of Army of Yugoslavia in advance. That way, by early June of 1933, according to Nickl’s designs, another prototype of the Mauser automatic pistols intended for further trials at Kragujevac were manufactured. These were the 7.63mm Nos. 3,111 & 3,112 and 9mm Nos. 3109 & 3110. On June 13, Nickl informed Director Wirthle that the changes consist mainly in the fact that on the second ”Serbian” model pistol 7.63mm and 9mm chamber located in the barrel, the barrel is screwed into the slide, set the adjustable front blade from a Luger P-08 pistol and the adjustable rear sight is the same as in Model I.

A week later, the Ministry of Army of the Yugoslavia placed an official order for 2,000 pistols as well as the necessary tactical-technical demands to meet their requirements. Guns would be tested by a summary procedure, to 5,000 rounds.

Each part of the pistol must withstand, without damage, 5,000 rounds – half in the semiautomatic mode of fire and the second half in full-automatic fire. The bolt can not unlock before the bullet travels 3/4 of the rifled part of barrel.

To fulfill these requirements, the factory concluded that all parts of steel NC II after heating at 820°C, to cool in the oil, then re-heat at 650°C and left to cool in the ashes. The extractor should be produced by modification of the original extractor with the Mauser M1898 rifle. Similarly, the firing pin also must be produced of steel from which is made the firing pin on the Mauser rifle M1898. Thus, the firing pin has been thermaly improved to the characteristics of steel NC II.

Only a day before on, September 22, 1933, Damjan Brankovic informed the Oberndorf managers about the plans and their designs which, according to his knowledge, the Ministry of the Army of Yugoslavia had chosen to inspecting. ”As we heard from high military circles, in the shortest time will be carried out new tests. On the test will be attending the following companies: Mauser Werke AG, Oberndorf; Fabrica de Armas de Fuego de Unceta y Compania (Astra) Guernica; Theodor Bergmann u. Co., Berlin; Bonifacio Eccheveria (Star) Eibar and La Société Anonyme des Anciens Etablissements Pieper (Bayard), Herstal-Liege.”

Obviously, the previously disputed Royal pistol was finally dropped out of the competition. However, in his letter Brankovic does not mention the commercial company Societé Anonyma Intercambio Commerciele from Madrid which would take part in the competition with the copy of the Mauser-Schnellfeuer pistol manufactured by Beistegui Hermanos firme SA, Eibar.

By the end of September of 1933, according to all requirements, the workers of the Oberndorf factory perfected four Mauser pistols (instead of five previously planned) with Nos. 3,111 & 3,112 in 7.63mm calibre and Nos. 3,109 and 3,110 in calibre 9mm.

The weapons were sent to Yugoslavia and the trials started in October to last until December 26, 1933 at the rifle range at Kragujevac. At the very first day of the trials it turned out that the Yugoslavs were only partly satisfied with the pistol’s preciseness, and Premauer informed the general manager Von Lossnitzer and the Technical Office about it.

Noticeably, these reports do not mention any significant improvement of the weapon’s preciseness. The pictures of the hits at the longer distances suggest that the Yugoslavs could not be happy with the results. Besides, the Belgian Grand Rendement M1928 showed itself as a favourite. Obviously, the German representatives tried to minimize the importance of this fact.

What was going on during the course of the trials can be best seen in a report of December 15th 1933 which was written by Alex Mauser in the Belgrade hotel Srpski Kralj. In these tests, participants were F.N. Herstal, with the 9mm Grand Rendement M1928 pistol, Bonifacio Eccheverria, Eibar, with 7.63mm and 9mm Star pistols, Société Anonyma Intergambio Commerciele, Madrid, with two copies of the Mauser pistol, that are by the members of the Commission, despite Alex Mauser’s opposition, called Spanish Mauser (7.63mm Pistola Ametralladora Royal MM 31 and Mauser-Werke A.G with 7.63mm and 9mm automatic pistols.

Despite the failure, Alex Mauser tried to beautify the report. Namely, Mauser-Schnellfeuer is really the only pistol that could be fired in semiautomatic and automatic mode. Both pistols offered from the Societe Anonyme Intergambio Commerciele dropped from the competition during the examination of accuracy. On the first pistol, the bolt was not locking to the barrel, and on the second gun came uncontrolled burst-firing in semiautomatic mode. Because of the same faults, the next day the 9mm Star pistol was excluded from further examination.

For testing in continuous semiautomatic firing, there remained the 9mm FN and 7.63mm Star pistols, both without the possibility for full-automatic fire, and the 7.63mm Mauser automatic pistol. This testing consisted of two parts: First, 2,000 rounds in semiautomatic mode, without pause, as long as the pistol functioned without the need for cleaning and measurement of the angluar dispersion of a series of rounds from 200 m, and second, 2,500 rounds in full-automatic mode – after every 20 rounds a 2 minute pause. Measurement of of the angluar dispersion of a series of rounds from 200 m, number of successfully fired rounds without cooling weapons, and a list of all observed stoppages.

The FN pistol endured the test without damage, and was not observed with any significant wear of parts. However, the barrel was completely worn out. After 500 rounds the trigger was so hot, that further shooting was impossible. Finally, after 4,500 rounds there were recordings of 29 jams.

The Spanish Star pistol fired the first 2,000 rounds with 4 jams. However, after 3,000 rounds, there appeared consecutive jamming. The extractor was broken and, after installing a new extractor, cases were jammed, and after 3,500 rounds the pistol ceased to function.

With the Mauser pistol, during semiautomatic fire, the bolt was not loading a round from the magazine into the chamber and not extracting and ejecting the shell casing. The situation was bettter when the pistol was loaded from a stripper clip. After 800 rounds, the extractor was broken.

Test in full-auto fire mode was passed with 4 jams: after 1,000 rounds the extractor was broken, then the safety lever, and, finally the firing pin was also broken. All other parts were without damage.

That same evening (December 15, 1933) Mr Veljovic said to Alex Mauser that Yugoslavia was planning to order for the mountain troops at least 45,000 pistols and for this purpose it approved a secret loan of 200 million dinars. But soon they found that the information was false.

After the Germans had offered Yugoslav Prime Minister Stojadinovic the clearing payment of dept to be solved by military material deliveries, during 1935, the Ministry of the Army reconsidered very seriously the idea to obtain Mauser Schnellfeuer pistols. In September of 1935 a staff major Béthouart, French military attaché in Yugoslavia, informed the French Intelligence Service that the Yugoslavs were negotiating the purchase of the Mauser Schnellfeuer pistols. Nevertheless, the Military-Technical Committee finally realized that this weapon was unsuitable for Special Task Units, particularly for the Mountain Troops. That way, the issue of the purchase of the Mauser automatic pistol was put ”ad acta” again. This meant that Yugoslavia never officially purchased this type of weapon until 1941, with exception of the pieces intended for trials at the Military-Technical Institute at Kragujevac.

As far as we know, until now have been saved only two of the Yugoslav Model ”R-F” Mauser pistols: pistols Nos. 3,109 & 3,112 as, we have seen, are in the Mr. Gousset collection.

Tactical – technical data:

Caliber: 7.63 mm
Overall Length: 296.5+1.5 mm
Maximal Width: 36 mm
Maximal Height: 150 mm
Barrel length: 117 mm
Barrel length with chamber: 141.5 mm
Distance between front and rear sights: 247 mm
Number of grooves: 6
Twist rate (right-hand twist): 200 mm
Weight of Pistol
With empty 10-round detachable box magazine (100 gr): 1.30 kg
With empty 20-round detachable box magazine (150 gr): 1.35 kg
Length of detachable shoulder stock/holster: 355 mm
Weight of detachable shoulder stock/holster: 460 gr
Length of pistol with detachable shoulder stock/holster: 630 gr
Weight of pistol with detachable shoulder stock/holster: 1760 gr
Muzzle velocity (Vo): 430 m/s.
Muzzle energy (Eo): 50.5 m/kg.
Sight Range: 1,000 m
Maximum range: 2,000 m
Bullet penetration (Fir) from 50 m: 20-22 cm
Rate of fire/min
Semi-auto, with change of box magazine: 60 rds
Full-auto: 120 rds

In view of history of semiautomatic pistols, Georg Luger was by all means one of the most famous. However, most of the works dealing with his construction and his designs were chiefly based on patent licenses and foreign records. The Prussian military archive in Potsdamer, Brauhausberg, which had possessed most part of the relevant documents concerning both the development of the weapon and its designer were destroyed during Allied air raids in 1945. It wasn’t until the 1970s that neither foreign nor local researchers had any idea that the Archive of the Historical Institute of Montenegro possessed twenty letters sent by Luger to Major Iliya Haydukovich during the period from 1906 to 1914. As far as we know, this is the largest collection of Luger’s letters. Up to now, only three other Luger letters had been published (sent to Swiss Captain Paul Probst in the period from July to August of 1904), and a facsimile of a post card sent by Luger to his son Bartholomew. Unlike the mentioned records, the documents in the Montenegrin archive contains valuable information about both the author, sales of Maxims and the weapon he was working on.

The hundredth anniversary of the Luger system P-08 Parabellum pistol, as one of the most famous pistol designs, was commemorated in Germany and most of the European countries as well as in the USA. In the course of the 19th and 20th centuries, Georg Luger was regarded as a national symbol of German prestigious technological superiority. However, the fact that Luger only perfected Hugo Borchardt’s design of the Parabellum pistol has been totally disregarded.

The Letters

Georg Luger’s twenty letters and one telegram that he sent from 1906 to 1914 to Iliya Haydukovich, the chief of the military workshops of the Ministry of the Army of Montenegro are kept in the Archive of the Historical Institute of Montenegro in Podgorica (AIICG). This discovery is even more interesting because all of his letters are written in Serbian language. The same archive preserves his correspondence with the Minister of the Army of Montenegro, General Mitar Martinovich (1870-1954). Since Martinovich similarly to Luger received his education in Italy, these letters are written in Italian which, according to his own words, Luger spoke better than Serbian.

Most of Luger’s surviving letters are handwritten. He didn’t start to type his letters in Latin alphabet until April 30, 1911, and on January 28, 1913 he obtained a typing machine with Cyrillic alphabet and was using it until he stopped his correspondence in 1914.

The Maxim Machine Gun

Around the end of 1905, the Ministry of the Army of the Principality of Montenegro decided on purchasing twenty four machine guns abroad. With approval by Russian tsar Nikolay II Alexandrovich Romanov (1868-1918), the Montenegrin prince Nicolas I Petrovich-Nyegosh (1840-1921) entrusted the head of artillery, a brigadier Mitar Martinovich, Prince Danilo Petrovich (1871-1939) heir to the throne, and the Russian military attaché, lieutenant-colonel Nikolay Mihailovich Potapov (1871-1946), with choosing the machine gun model. On December 20, 1905 the Montenegrin delegation visited the Hotchkiss factory in France and became familiar with the M1900 Hotchkiss machine gun. The next day at the factory’s shooting range, the field trial was performed. The negotiations were over on December 26, 1905 and after three days the Delegation left for London. On December 30, 1905, Potapov and Martinovich visited the head office of the Vickers, Sons & Maxim Ltd. company wherein they negotiated the terms with Albert Vickers (1838-1919) and sir Arthur Trevor Dawson (1866-1931) on purchasing twenty four machine guns of the New Pattern Maxim M1901. Prince Danilo independently visited the British Arms Company Rexer, which manufactured Madsen machine guns. Together with factory’s experts, Prince Danilo tested the Rexer-Madsen machine gun at the Wraysbury’s shooting range, 35km west of London on January 3, 1906. On January 4, the complete Montenegrin delegation witnessed the field trial of the Maxim machine gun at the Erith Works shooting range. The Montenegrins concluded that the Maxim was best of all tested machine guns and decided to recommend it to the Ministry of the Army of Montenegro. The problem was that the British firm required 8,000 crowns per a weapon and the total sum for twenty four machine guns exceeded their budget resources. The Delegation decided to leave for Germany to wait for the Ministry of the Army’s final decision.

They reached Berlin on January 15, 1906 and found there the decision from Cetinye on purchasing only twelve machine guns. Consequently, Potapov, Prince Danilo and Mitar Martinovich addressed to the management of DWM on January 17th, with a request for obtaining a draft of the agreement for purchasing the machine guns. Although, the seven-year agreement between DWM and Vickers, Sons & Maxim about mutual cooperation on production and sales of the Maxim machine guns had expired as early as 1898, the German plant was still producing the machine guns for commercial markets after the British original designs. Some parts were even produced in Erith Works and Crayford Works in Kent. This enabled DWM to deliver to the Montenegrins the same weapon that had been already tested in Britain. The Montenegrin delegation visited the DWM factory in Martinikenfelde on January 18th and on the 19th they were present at the field trial of the German made machine gun. On the 20th of January, Mitar Martinovich and the factory managers Paul Theodor Eduard von Gontard (1868-1941) and Max Kosegarten signed the agreement on purchasing twelve machine guns of the Maxim system in Russian calibre .3 inch (7.62mm). During a week-long stay in Berlin, Mitar Martinovich became acquainted with the factory’s associate and expert Georg Luger and the two of them became friends. As German was not spoken by the Montenegrins, Luger translated the talks into Italian to Mitar Martinovich.

Head of the Military workshops, artillery Major Iliya Haydukovich, received the finished machine guns from the Martinikenfelde factory manager Felix Haenisch on July 3, 1906. Due to several days of his stay in Berlin, Haydukovich too became a close friend with Georg Luger.

The quality of the construction on which Serbia will decide in 1908 proved that Montenegro had purchased their Maxim machine guns too early; not waiting for the weapon to be developed completely. Some details from Luger’s correspondence with Iliya Haydukovich suggested such a conclusion. Luger warned the Montenegrins by his letter of July 10, 1907 that twelve machine guns, which were bought a year ago, were incompatible with the Montenegrin hilly terrain because of their weight. Besides, in his letter of February 13, 1913 discussing possible purchase of the armour shields for the old machine gun type, Luger said that it was impossible to produce them without insight in the mount’s type. Sixteen days later, Luger writes that he was unsuccessfully searching in London for the original mount for the Montenegrin Maxim M1906, or at least for its drawings. However, that machine gun type production was discontinued long ago and the documentation was destroyed. It meant that the M1906 was manufactured on the basis of the old British licensed documentation.

According to Luger’s and Haydukovich’s correspondence, it appears that Luger advised Montenegro to obtain the new up to date machine guns. Undoubtedly, the most interesting information are those “secretly” sent by Luger to Haydukovich on July 10, 1907. He literally writes: “The German army requested long ago from DWM to construct a machine gun of less mass because the existing weapon was not suitable for transporting on impassable mountainous terrains.” The factory team, supported by Luger, managed to decrease the machine gun mass from 27.5 kg to 15.5 kg. Additionally, the wheeled version of the sled mount mass decreased from 64 to 30 kg. Thus, the weapon became suitable for the hilly terrains. Luger also suggested to the Montenegrins to wait until the new machine gun system was thoroughly examined and adopted by the German Army when the mass production would start, and to order it for their own needs afterwards. Apparently, Luger wrote about the most recent German version of the Maxim MG-08, which was being developed at that time. However, his given information was too optimistic in comparison to the result of the actual DWM production. The final version of the MG-08 had a mass of 20.8 kg (without water), or 25.3 kg with water in water jacket and the German sled mount, which could be carried or pulled by two men on shorter distances, had a mass of 37.5 kg. Nevertheless, it was still a step forward in comparison to the old wheeled version of the mount M901 of 67 kg weight. Unlike the wheeled mount, the new commercial tripod that was used on Serbian M1909, Bulgarian M1908 and even on the Montenegrin machine gun M1912, weighed 22.5 kg, which considerably exceeded the 15 kg that was optimistically mentioned by Luger.

Upon the Montenegrin urgent request for delivery of a new shipment of the machine guns, on March 30, 1911 Luger informed Haydukovich as follows: “That it is not possible to assemble more than 6 weapons from DWM combining Russian barrels in 3 linien (7.62mm) calibre with existing parts produced for German, Serbian and Bulgarian patterns. Assembling the weapons of different parts would last about two months and the price would be half of the sum paid in 1906.” In other words, Luger offered six Montenegrin machine guns to be assembled from the 7.62mm barrels combined with parts of German MG-08 or Serbian M1909 patterns as well as of M909 tripod by June of 1911. This time the Montenegrins were more cautious and gave up the idea of purchasing the offered mixed guns. A year later, Luger informed the Minister of the Army, Martinovich, that the German factory was ready to produce new 7.62mm Maxims for Montenegro at 20% discount in comparison with other commissioners. In early August of 1912, “Dipl.ingén. Georg Luger, Chef Constructeur b.d. Deutschen Waffen- und Munitionsfabriken” went to Cetinye from Berlin again.

On August 6, 1912, Luger and Brigadier Martinovich signed the agreement on delivery of 50 machine guns of the new Maxim system in 7.62mm calibre (commercial pattern of 1909) at the Ministry of the Army office in Cetinye. On the same day at 5 PM, Luger had an audience with King Nicolas who thanked him very much for his unselfish support in purchasing the machine guns. The agreement anticipated that DWM would deliver to Montenegro 50 machine guns with tripods but without armour shields, 100 spare barrels in 7.62mm calibre, 500 cloth belts with 250 cartridges and 300 wooden chests (each holding one cloth belt with 250 cartridges). Total price for the machine guns and accessories was 314,165.75 crowns. DWM gave a 29% discount price to Montenegro and the final total price was 223,057.68 crowns.

If the Germans had strictly observed the terms of the agreement they would have delivered the machine guns during January of 1913. However, because of the stagnation of the operations of Skodra (The First Balkan War), the Ministry of the Army of Montenegro insisted on rapid delivery of the weapons. In order to push things along Haydukovich left for Berlin twice: staying there from September 3rd to November 14th first time, and the second time from November 22nd to December 12th 1912, when he returned to the country with the weapons. Due to Luger’s support, Haydukovich’s mission was a success. The machine guns were completed in record time and transported by train from Berlin to Bari over Switzerland and Italy via Milano. In Bari, the shipment was loaded on the Greek steamship “Antigona” which reached the seaport of Bar (Antivari) on December 12, 1912.

Meanwhile, battle experience proved that the purchase of the machine guns without armour shields was a big mistake. Without shields, not only was the crew exposed to the opponent fire but the water jacket was often damaged disabling the weapon for further action. The Ministry of the Army tried to order the armour shields subsequently for both the new M1912 machine guns and the old twenty weapons of the M1906 pattern. On February 13, 1913, Luger informed Haydukovich that 25 shields for the new weapons would be finished in five days (on February 15), and the remaining twenty-five pieces would not be available until the end of the current month. On the other hand, DWM was incapable of manufacturing armour shields for the old M1906 weapon because the original mount and relating technical documentation did not exist any more. DWM suggested the Montenegrins to send to Berlin one tripod of the M1906 machine gun in order to manufacture the 12 requested shields for it. It appeared soon that there was a problem with delivering of the new type shields, too. By his letter of February 29, 1913, Luger informs Haydukovich that 50 new shields will start the journey via Milan not until March 2. Unfortunately, that contingent was stopped in Bari because of the Italian sailor’s strike (Luger’s Letter of March 13, 1913). That meant that the shields would not be available during the First Balkan War.

For the services he had rendered to Montenegro, King Nicolas I awarded Georg Luger in 1906 with the Order of Danilo of IV class (Officer) and in 1910 with the same Order of III class (Commander).

Intelligence Data

According to the correspondence, it seems obvious that Luger professionally supported and advised the Montenegrins. On July 10, 1907 he wrote to Haydukovich: “I am bound by my word to support and defend your interests and behave as being one of you.” He gave detailed data about other countries’ armaments asking for conspiracy of confidentiality in that regard. On December 30, 1906, he informed Haydukovich that, “Turkish Government had commissioned 50 machine guns.” In the letters of May 19 and July 10, 1907 he reports that the work on finishing the Turkish machine guns were being accelerated. That weapon was 7.65mm calibre and “adopted to fit the wheeled version of sled mount M1901 that could be pulled on the wheels or carried on horseback. The mount mass was 67 kg and machine gun and carriage mass was almost 100 kg (sic), which means that the weapon was too heavy for the hilly terrains.” Luger did not hesitate to mention that the “two Turkish officers responsible for receiving material were completely ignorant as to the machine guns and, in addition, they showed no interest in learning anything, but were only embarrassed because smoking in the factory was forbidden.” On the other hand, Bulgaria ordered 112 and Rumania 16 machine guns from DWM at that time. The letter of July 10, 1907 tells us that 50 Turkish machine guns were finished at last and sent by a ship from Hamburg to Constantinople. Bulgaria and Rumania decided on the wheeled version sled mount, featured like the Turkish mount. Three months later (October 12, 1907), Luger writes to Martinovich that Bulgaria expanded its order from 112 to 144 machine guns.

The next reports did not come until 1911. Thus, Luger informs the Montenegrins that Bulgaria ordered 88 more machine guns (total of 232 weapons), that Serbia will have 230 Maxims in two months (in June of 1911), and Rumania, which previously had bought 28 machine guns, ordered 250 more weapons, and announced an expanding of the agreement to 350 machine guns in total.

The most detailed report is that of May 22, 1912. According to Luger, Turkey purchased 330 Maxim machine guns in total as well as 80 Hotchkiss M1900 weapons and possessed 800,000 Mauser rifles in 7.65mm calibre. Serbia bought about 180,000 Mausers in 7mm calibre and 230 Maxims M1909. Bulgaria possessed 230 Maxims, of which two thirds were of the old M1904/1907 pattern and one third of the new M1908 pattern as well as 200,000 Mannlicher 8mm M1888 and M1895 infantry rifles. Rumania was in possession of 300 machine guns of the new Model 1910 pattern and 28 of the old Model 1907, 250,000 Mannlicher 6.5mm M1893 rifles and about 100,000 old single shot breechloader Henry-Martinis. Finally, Greece possessed 100,000 Mannlicher-Schönauer 6.5mm (M1903) rifles and 25 Maxim machine guns, and at that time, it was inspecting the Schwarzlose 6.5mm M1907/12 machine gun.

Luger Parabellum Pistole

In the letter of December 30, 1906, Luger informs Hajdukovich that he sent a “Parabellum” P-04 pistol as a gift to General Martinovich on December 28. It took much time to prepare the pistol for sending. Actually, the engraver made two unsuccessful attempts to engrave the monogram with the crown above it. The third attempt was not much more successful either, but as he was time limited (the pistol was to reach Cetinye as a Christmas gift by January the 7th according old calendar) the weapon bearing a failed monogram was sent in spite of it. An unanswered question is whether Luger commissioned the standard Prince Nicola’s cipher (NI surmounted with crown) commonly found on the rest of Montenegrin arms or it was General Martinovich’s monogram. Another problem was that Austro-Hungary did not allow ammunition transit for the pistol and Luger inquired about whether it was safer to send 1,000 cartridges by ship, via Hamburg. On January 8 he informed Haydukovich that he was about to travel by ship to the USA for three weeks because of pistol business at Springfield Armoury. Obviously it was a trip for the Parabellum .45 ACP trial, which lasted from January 15-26, 1907 at Springfield Armoury. In his letter of February 12, 1907 he informs Haydukovich that on his return to Berlin he was told that the Montenegrin Ministry of the Army had already received the engraved Parabellum in velvet-lined walnut case, including accessories and extra magazine, and that he had finally provided Austrian transit license and sent disputable ammunition to Montenegro.

In addition to the letter of May 19, 1907 to his friend, he sent an old description “for own pistol which, as you know, we call Parabellum” which was made for Swiss pattern in 7.65mm (Pistole Ordonanz 1900). A few months later in July he sent to Cetinye the “description of pistol public trials that took place in Switzerland in 1898 and 1899, which was published in French in 1900.” In the enclosed letter, Luger did not miss to mention, “Borchardt is mentioned in this document because, this time, he took part in financial matters only!” Obviously, Luger intended to deny any importance of Hugo Borchardt (1844-1924) in pistol development and ascribe the fame to himself while praising the commercial success of the weapon. Accordingly, he wrote on July 10, 1907 that, “his pistols were in hot demand and were being made for Russian officers. Due to these circumstances, I had the opportunity to meet and talk with Russian military attaché von Taticheff and colonel von Michelson.” In fact, Luger met relatively unimportant officials of the Russian embassy Aleksei Borisovich Tastishchev (1904-1990) and military attaché, colonel Alexander Alexandrovitch Mihelson. Three months later, on October 12, he stated that “a large quantity of Parabellum was being manufactured for Russia, Germany and Switzerland,” and on August 9, 1913 he writes as “he is busy with pistols because a quantity of 125,000 weapons have been ordered for the German army and 18,000 for Holland and the USA.” Obviously Luger exaggerated because of commercial reasons. Actually, the USA had never decided on the Parabellum pistols and according to the surviving documents, not more than 5,000 pistols in standard 9mm calibre had been marketed in the USA.

However, in the mentioned letter of May 19, 1907, Luger writes that the description of a new German pistol design in 9x19mm calibre (Selbstladepistole 1904, the precursor of P-08) was still being worked and he wouldn’t send it until it was officially published. Actually, the German army forbade the weapon delivering before that. Haydukovich needed the description because Luger had presented him the P-04 9mm pistol on the occasion of their meeting of July 1906 in Berlin. In fact, Luger wrote about the Rule “Leitfaden betreffend die 9mm Selbstladepistole (Luger), Berlin, Kriegsministerium,” which was not published until the second half of 1907.

In the letter of March 30, 1911 Luger informs Haydukovich that he gives him the standard German Kriegsmarine pistol P-08 as a gift. He sends his dismantled weapon and because of the Austrian embargo on selling the arms to Montenegro, he wrote in the mailing declaration, which he addressed to “Mr. Iliya Haydukovich” that he was sending Physicallische Instrumente. Namely, he did not mention either the rank or closer data about the recipient in order to keep the Austrians from finding out that the recipient was a military officer.

We believe that the Parabellums presented to the Montenegrin officials were indeed an expression of friendship because Luger was aware that Montenegro was short of money to order this weapon for its army. The Serbian market was more interesting in this regard. In his letter of July 10, 1907 Luger wrote to Haydukovich: “Next week I leave for Serbia to negotiate there about my pistols. Regrettably, I do not have the recommendations for HM King Petar I Karagorgevich (1844-1921) and the ministers. With God’s help I might be lucky over there.” Presumably, Luger sent to Haydukovich the quoted letter of July 10, 1907 hoping to obtain a private support from the court. Actually, Serbian King Petar I Karagorgevich married the eldest daughter of the Montenegrin prince Nicolas I, the Princess Zorka (1864-1890) in 1883, which means that the Serbian king was son in law of the Montenegrin ruler. However, Luger was not quite familiar with inter-dynastic frictions and disagreements between the two rulers and the Montenegrin officials were unable to recommend him to Serbia.

Secondly, we must say that Luger was insincere in this regard. As the matter of fact, the Ministry of the Army of the Kingdom of Serbia decided on purchasing 100 modern machine guns during 1907. DWM submitted its commercial 7x57mm Maxim in response to the open competition. On behalf of the factory, Luger escorted the weapons to Belgrade and took part in all trials at Kragujevac, Chachak, and Valyevo. Hence, Luger was able to give necessary instructions on the spot and settle minor stoppages. At the meeting of March 6, 1908 the Commission, decided on the Maxim system machine gun for the Serbian Army with minor alterations. Therefore, several days later the additional trials of the Maxim machine gun were performed on permanent automatic fire of 15,000 rounds. The tests were over on March 10 and the Commission sent an official report to General Stepa Stepanovich, Minister of the Army. On May 20, Stepanovich ordered all the observations to be delivered to Berlin in order to make DWM able to react and improve the weapon as soon as possible. The improved weapon was returned to Belgrade in the autumn and on October 3, the Ministry of the Army ordered the Commission to check up whether noted deficiencies were removed. As the machine guns satisfied all the requirements, the Serbian Commission made the decision on March 6, 1908 to adopt the commercial Maxim M1909 7x57mm machine gun. The Serbian Minister of the Army, by his Act of November 2, 1908, approved the introduction of the M1909 Maxim system machine gun in 7x57mm calibre into service (standard Serbian infantry calibre of the 1899 Mauser system). Soon after, through Damyan Brankovich, the agreement was signed with DWM according to which the individual price of the machinegun was 10,000 dinars. The weapons were delivered to Serbia during 1909. Under the influences of Damyan Brankovich and Georg Luger, Serbia commissioned from DWM 130 more machine guns of the same pattern and calibre. The machine guns were delivered along with the M1909 commercial tripods weighting 22.5 kg and armour shields (Schild 08) in size of 620×740 mm and the weight of 13.8 kg. According to Luger’s information sent to Haydukovich on March 30, 1911, the shipment of 230 commissioned machine guns were to reach Belgrade by May of the same year. After the success in the First Balkan War, Damyan Brankovich informed Georg Luger on February 18, 1913 (after the Armistice lasting from December 4, 1912 to January 29, 1913) that “the Serbian machine guns were acting …perfectly and did credit to the Serbian Army.”

Consequently, Luger was not on a business trip to Serbia in 1907 for the sake of pistols but because of the machine guns. Next, Luger already had firm relations in Serbia due to Damyan Brankovich. Damyan J. Brankovich was the owner of Belgrade’s transport and trade association and a man with good connections in Germany. He was an agent of the Norddeutsche Lloyd Bremen-Bremerhaven as well as an agent of the Krupp concern, DWM and Mauser. Brankovich considerably influenced on Serbia to make the decision on the German Maxim machine gun, but he too made efforts to promote Luger’s Parabellum. Thus, he reported to Luger on February 18, 1913: “As to the pistols, I managed to keep the issue unclosed and hopefully it will be solved in our favour.” Unfortunately, WWI stopped further negotiations.

It seems strange that DWM did not submit the Parabellum to the Serbian first open competition for choosing a new service revolver in 1903. The Austro-Hungarian military attaché in Belgrade, Major Joseph Pomiankowski (1866-1929) writes to his chief of the general staff, Friedrich Graf von beck- Rzikowsky (1830 -1920): “Auch an die vielen….The matter of fact is that the Serbian Army did not adopt any of the offered pistols but retained the six-shot revolver 7.5mm of the Nagant system M1891.” Under such circumstances, it seems likely that Luger saw his chance to offer his weapon independently.

In spite of Luger’s death on December 22, 1923, Brankovich continued offering his pistol to the new state: the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The last attempt that followed was on May 4, 1933 at the time when Yugoslavia was testing Scfnellfeuerpistole Mauser-Nickl. Actually, August Weiss (1886-1980) moved to Oberndorf on May 1, 1930 with the aim to install the production line for the Luger pistols there. In that time DWM and Mauser AG united into the Berlin-Karlsruher Industrie-Werken AG, and the Oberndorf plant took over the production of all pistol patterns. All the machines, half products, old parts and prototypes of the Parabellum in 7.65 and 9mm calibres were brought there. The factory manager Zillinger sent through Brankovich to the Yugoslav Ministry of Army and Navy an offer for a shipment of 15,000 Parabellum pistols in calibres 7.65 and 9mm with a notification that the first batch would be assembled of existing parts transferred from Berlin. As late as on May 4, 1933, Brankovich answered with regret that the Yugoslavs were not ready to order anything but completed, newly manufactured weapons so that the negotiations about Parabellum purchasing finally discontinued.

Regrettably, no single piece of Parabellum presented by Luger to the Montenegrins has been preserved. King Nicolas I offered to the Austro-Hungarians an armistice on January 13, 1916 but Vienna accepted nothing but unconditional capitulation. On January 19 at 3 PM, the King left for Shkodra from Podgorica and proceeded to Italy and France never to return to Montenegro. Brigadier Mitar Martinovich, together with a group of the officers, withdrew with the Serbian Army and became a General of the Yugoslav army afterwards. However, during the chaotic operations of 1916, he failed to take his “Parabellum” with monogram along. The ministers who stayed in Podgorica together with the King’s son Mirko, considering that according to the article 16 of the State Constitution, they had rights of acting as the Government made decision to dismiss the Montenegrin army. The Order on disbanding (No.128) was issued to the Army on January 21, 1916. By decree signed on January 25, 1916 the Montenegrins were ordered to lay down their arms. According to the terms, the Montenegrin officers were permitted to retain personal arms (the swords and the Gasser M1870/74 11.3mm revolvers). However, in June of 1916, the officers were disarmed and sent to internment. The Austrians collected luxurious weapons as war loot and took them to Austria and further destiny of these pieces has been quite unknown.

The same case was with the machine guns. No single piece of M1906 and M1912 machine guns has been preserved. Only one Serbian Maxim M1909 survives in Belgrade and it is in possession of the Military Museum. The people presented this weapon to the Army and it bears Cyrillic dedication on the upper side of the receiver: “The people of the Nish District to their heroic Second Infantry Regiment of Prince Michael.”

It is even more interesting that on August 23, 2006 at an auction a rare 7.65mm Luger Model 1900 (old model) pistol, serial No.415 was offered. Standard specification with the chamber having the Serbian Royal Crest and the toggle with the DWM motif with early dished toggle grips, grip safety and chequered walnut grips. A year later, on October, 15, 2007, the same weapon was offered again at another acution house.

The weapon bears the manufacturer’s initials DWM and proof marks showing crowns over the letters B, U, and G. What makes the pistol an interesting piece is the Serbian Royal Crest. However, the crest is erroneous in many ways: The flints on the shield are not recognisable, the crown surmounting the shield is of an irregular shape and the eagle’s heads are not recognisable either. Luger possessed the original stamp of the Serbian Royal Crest, which was stamped on the M1899 Mauser rifle so that he was able to use it. It is hard to believe that the engraver himself made a number of mistakes in this point.

Besides, the Crest engraving differs significantly from the pattern in which the factory initials DWM were engraved. If it is really a genuine piece, the question that arises is why Luger who carefully recorded all the pieces he had given the Montenegrins as presents, has never mentioned the Parabellum intended for the Serbian officials.