Historical S&W M 19 of Ulrich Wegener

[ElmerKeith]

Former GSG-9-General's M 19 is now part of the exhibition in "Haus der Geschichte - House of History" in Bonn, Germany.

Ulrich Wegener used and fired this gun when entering the aeroplane of Lufthansa"Landshut" in Mogadishu, October 18th, 1977 to free the hostages captured by terrorists.

In this picture he is shown with the former chancelor Helmut Schmidt who gave the order to rescue the hostages.

 

[Desert Rat 416]

Great history. Good to know others still found the Model 19 a practical weapon in the age of high capacity plastic autos. Thanks for sharing this.

 

[MikeyB]

My guess he like the idea of having a man stopper vs. 8 shot 9mm Walther P1(P38).

 

[dfariswheel]

Odd. The holster appears to be a version of the old "Dirty Harry" shoulder holster. I'd bet that it IS a shoulder holster that was modified.
It would have been better as a cross draw because of the open back.

Richard Marchinko wrote that the Navy SEALS recommended S&W revolvers to GSG9 but the Germans first decided to use .38 Special S&W Model 60 snubs, instead of the Model 66's we recommended. Later the Germans realized the .38 didn't have the power they needed, so they went to the Model 19/66 with a 2 1/2" barrel.
Wegener preferred the 4".

Also interesting that it has what appears to be a US quarter in what looks like cheap Mustang grips.

Another point of interest: What appears to be some sort of rifle cartridges in a bullet loop carrier.

 

[ToddS112]

I wonder what the significance of the US quarter was?

The GSG-9 was and still are some bad ____. They don't seem to play games trying to negotiate with bad guys.

 

[semperfi71]

Thanks for sharing that. Very interesting part of history.

I shot my M19-4 4 inch today at the range.

 

[ElmerKeith]

Thanks for sharing that. Very interesting part of history.

I shot my M19-4 4 inch today at the range.

Was it just a coincidence or did you take your 19-4 to the range after reading this?

About the Quarter inletted into the stocks: I am quite sure that Mr. Wegener had some education in the U.S. while founding the GSG-9 after the desastrous fail to rescue the hostages during the Munich-incident at the Olympic Games 1972.

 

[CALREB]

I was always ticked off that their boots didnt come in extra wide.
And I couldnt afford one of those cool HK sniper rifles. Bob

Seems like today we never hear of the work of units like this, I always thought it was a good deterrent.

 

[shawn mccarver]

Odd. The holster appears to be a version of the old "Dirty Harry" shoulder holster. I'd bet that it IS a shoulder holster that was modified.
It would have been better as a cross draw because of the open back.

The holster looks more like the Lewis police special or the similar Bucheimer. I also think there was something similar in one of the old Bianchi or Safariland catalogs recently posted here by Mike Priwer.

 

[Double-O-Dave]

ElmerKeith: mein frau is Deutch - if you need a native translation, but one or both of us may have to brush our teeth with soap if that becomes necessary.

Regards,

Dave

 

[tecolote]

Came across this thread just today, and I'm sure it's a Lewis Police Special. It looks just like mine, marked " K 4" and although a crossdraw design works fine strong side with my M10-5.

Here's another photo from the same ceremony showing other GSG9 members wearing Lewis Police Special 2 inch version, I assume for their M60s carried crossdraw...


Regards,

Tecolote

 

[old bear]

Odd. The holster appears to be a version of the old "Dirty Harry" shoulder holster.

I believe the holster is one of the Lewis models, these were in favor with many at L.A.P.D. in the day. This photo is the first time I've seen one worn standard side, instead of cross draw.

 

[shouldazagged]

Seems like today we never hear of the work of units like this, I always thought it was a good deterrent.

I suspect they may prefer it that way.

 

[norsemanhp]

Very interesting piece of history.

 

[nyeti]

I cannot get into a ton of details, but I am aware of some of the back side of this.

Not buying the Marcinko thing, but it's his book so he can tell it the way he wants. I heard it different from a non-book writing source on Wegener and his initial 2.5" Model 19.

The reality outside of the gun itself is the time, and ammunition. A lot of the CT teams were training together back in the 70's and 80's. 9mm sucked in those days, and was often ball. This was sort of the last glory years of the revolver, and that is where most of the good bullet development was, especially in anti personnel rounds from the L/E world versus military stuff. You can do a lot of different things with a .357 revolver. Training loads, low penetration, high penetration, super blasty stuff (they were jokingly referred to as ".38's with a flash bang"), and tons of bullet configurations. The beauty of the Combat Magnums and the French guns was they could have the sights adjusted to do some very surgical work with any load selected. These guys were VERY good with revolvers. The SF guys from our side of the pond at the time also loved the .357 revolvers and most had very good skill sets with them along with the 1911's and BHP's. Also keep in mind that those 1911's and BHP's were not as reliable as legend persists, especially with any kind of non FMJ ammunition. Close quarters work inside an airliner (especially when backed up with a guy behind you with an MP-5), or vehicle, where you were moving people physically and extreme close shots and contact shots that needed immediate incapacitation made the .357 magnum revolver a very viable tool in this role.

I made a phone call on the grips. The story was a little fuzzy but they were a gift from and the quarter had some significance from who the grips were from.

Sorry for the vagueness, but I respect that much of the stuff from this world should not be in books or on the net.