Igor's P-38

[Murdock]

Went to the P38 forum, then pulled out my magnifying glass and looked at the two magazines again.

One magazine has no marks on the sides, bottom or spine, and the 7 weld spots that close the magazine body are slightly blurred in appearance. The other magazine has an EXTREMELY tiny mark on the bottom of the spine of the mag that looks to be (maybe) a Waffenampt mark or Reichsadler over either an 88 or 38.

The P38 forum states Spreewerke marks are frequently imperfect in how they were stamped, but that the 7 welds that close the magazine body are uniformly nearly perfect. So it looks like one bona fide original Spreewerke magazine and one "other" manufacturer. Apparently there were a number of wartime magazine fabricators, and not all of whom marked their product.

 

[Rudi]

Cool. The Spreewerke's get the ugly duckling treatment. I like them, beautiful swans. Glad you have it.

 

[Jack Flash]

I wondered what rifles are in the rather bacchanal photo on the back of the tank, so I expanded it.

I see Igor is armed with an M1 Rifle and has a clip of ammo for it half in / half out of the right chest pocket of his jacket. Interesting way to have a fast reload at the ready. He also has another wine bottle in his jacket at the ready! Note that one of his buddies is holding an M1 Carbine.

 

[Murdock]

Here's another one of Igor's souvenirs. This one was presented to him at one of the annual "Elbe Day" celebrations in April at the Russian embassy in DC, to which he was always invited. He said it was handed to him on behalf of Russia by the then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Admiral Mike Mullen, who was one of the US military VIPs present. "Shpagin" PPSh-41 (de-milled, of course). Typical of Igor, he just kept it in a closet and pulled it out for this photo. It's in a Veterans museum now.

By that time in his life Igor was no longer driving himself. He must have been chauffered to and from the party, because I don't think he carried this home through DC in the back of a taxicab.

 

[Murdock]

I wondered what rifles are in the rather bacchanal photo on the back of the tank, so I expanded it.

I see Igor is armed with an M1 Rifle and has a clip of ammo for it half in / half out of the right chest pocket of his jacket. Interesting way to have a fast reload at the ready. He also has another wine bottle in his jacket at the ready! Note that one of his buddies is holding an M1 Carbine.

And note the spare bottle of German white wine ready to go in the open neck of his field jacket, just as handy as his spare M1 clips and grenades. Per his daughter, Igor loved to load up on the caviar when invited to the annual celebrations at the Russian Embassy. He'd put what he could it in a little bag or something, and then "smuggle" it out of Russian territory back into DC when the celebration was over.