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. Prior to Himmler’s appointment a period of reorganization and restructuring of all the separate German state police into a single national police force was taking place and contained no fewer then eight different main branches of service and numerous sub-branches controlling all aspects of policing. The new restructured German police went to great lengths to ensure its personnel were provided with the best in-depth training that was available at the time. The training took many forms and included numerous official and un-official training manuals and booklets that covered all aspects of policing. 

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Roughly, 8" x 5 1/4", 368 page weapon technician’s service manual with at green cardstock cover. The front cover features brown police wreathed eagle emblem and the Gothic scripted title, "Waffen- und schiesstechnischer Leitfaden für die Ordnungspolizei", (Weapon Technician’s Manual for the Order=Police). The book was compiled by Oberleutnant der Schutzpolizei und SS-Obersturmbannführer, Waffen-Inspizient, Hauptamt Ordnungspolizei, (Weapon-Inspector Main Office {of the} Order Police), Karl Fischer and was published by the R. Eisenschmidt publishing house in Berlin in 1943. The book is divided into main sections, with numerous sub-sections in most and an appendix. The main sections include, "Scheißlehre", (Ballistics), "Grundsätze für den Umgang mit Schutzwaffen", (Principals for the association with defensive arms), "Die Pistolen der Ordnungspolizei", (The Pistols of the Order Police), "Die Maschinenpistolen", (The Sub-Machine Guns), "Die Leutchtpistole", (The Flare Gun), "Die Uebungswaffen", (The Training Weapons), "Merkblatt für die Lagerung von Waffen, Ausrüstung und Gerät", (Instruction sheet for the storage of Weapons, Armaments and Equipment), "Die Munition", (The Ammunition), and, "Optisches Gerät", (Optical Equipment), among others. The book contains hundreds, illustrations and schematics including dual-fold, pull out pages and numerous charts and tables that reinforce the text. The book covers all aspects of police weaponry as well as ancillary items. The book is in overall very good condition with the pages showing light age yellowing but they are all intact. Printed Gothic script, German text.