BACKGROUND: On June 17TH 1936, Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler was appointed to the newly created position of Chef der Deutschen Polizei im Reichsministerium des Innern, (Chief of the German Police in the National Ministry of the Interior), effectively giving him full control of all police agencies within Germany. As a result of this appointment and the restructuring of all the separate German state police into a single national police force new regulations were instituted on June 25TH 1936 to bring about uniformity in dress for all police through-out the country. One of the new uniform regulations dictated the color of all leather accoutrements according to branch of service with the Ordnungspolizei (Order Police), the Schutzpolizei, (Protection Police), and Gemeindepolizei, (Local Municipal Police), personnel wearing black leather while Gendarmerie, (Rural Police), and Polizeibeamten, (Police Officials), personnel wore brown leather. Of Note: The Ordnungspolizei, Schutzpolizei, and Gemeindepolizei, also utilized white leather accoutrements for special occasions. Regulations also dictated that all ranks wore a pistol on the right side of the waist belt for the standard service dress and a wide variety of pistols and holsters were utilized including the standard P38 pistol. In 1935 the Heereswaffenamt, (Army Ordnance Office), began looking for an alternative pistol to replace the P08 Luger which had been in service since 1908. Although the Luger was favored by the troops it was expensive to produced and was prone to allowing dirt into the toggle breech affecting its firing. In 1938 the Heereswaffenamt accepted the new P38 pistol, developed by the Carl Walther Waffenfabrik. The new P38 pistol didn’t completely replace the Luger which was still being manufactured until 1943 when it was finally discontinued. The P38 originally came in a molded "hardshell" holster until a "softshell" holster was introduced in late 1943.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Blackened leather construction holster with steel fittings features a fold over top flap with a sewn on vertical leather closure strap with a single stud eyelet to the obverse. The right front of the holster body also has a stitched on, spare magazine pocket. Belt loops complete. Nicely maker marked "gxy 1944". Scarce.