Mounted Police EM Sabers

SCHUPO

Well-known member
Gents,

Since I posted my Christmas sword for an officer of the Mounted Police of Aachen I thought I would post an example of the item of issue sword for the Mounted Police of Germany. The Polizei nomenclature for this sword was "Sabel fur Berittene (S.f.B.)" or sword for mounted policemen. The Carl Fischer manual, "Waffentechnischer Leitfaden fur die Ordnungspolizei" indicates the grip is Hartgummi (hard rubber) but they will be found made of wood as well. This particular sword has a hard rubber grip and was made by Simson Co. in 1915 and is Prussian marked and dated on the spine of the bright blade. The bright finished blade is also carefully sharpened per WWI wartime regulations as is often seen. The obverse guard is Weimar Republic Government property marked "1920" and the underside of the guard is Polizei property marked to the Polizeiwehr Bayern ("Pw.B."). The Bavarian Polizeiwehr was only in existence from late 1919 to 1922 when it was broken up by the Allied occupation authorities for being too militarized. This sword was used by the mounted riot police and was only issued for a short period of time. This sword is a good example of the German method of reworking and re-issuing earlier serviceable edged weapons and other equipment. The markings indicate this sword was in service from 1915-1945.

A good example of the regulation enlisted version of the Mounted Police Saber as opposed to the lighter officer saber as seen in the Christmas sword.

 

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Here is another of these S.f.B. item of issue Mounted Police swords. This one was made by Alexander Coppel in 1905 and has Prussian inspection markings on the spine of the wide bright finished blade. It also has "1920" Weimar Republic Government property markings on the obverse of the bright finished P shaped guard. The reverse guard has Prussian Police property markings of "S.Li.30" indicating issue to the Schutzpolizei. Liegnitz District. Weapon # 30 in the unit inventory. These unit markings are per the known "1922 Prussian Police Property Markings". So, this sword was in service from 1905-1945.

I might point out that this particular so-called "Blucher style" of saber was also used by other mounted troops over time. This saber was not limited to use by the Police but the unit markings indicate use by the German Police in general and the Prussian- & Bavarian-Police in particular. Below is a period uniform plate for the Prussian Police showing a Mounted Policeman in a blue greatcoat. Notice he is also wearing a Bandelier fur Berittene over his shoulder as well as his saber. His Bandelier not only contains a leather pouch for extra ammunition but has a whistle on a chain on the front strap. Property markings for military units, i.e. Light Artillery, will also be found on these swords.
 

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Gentlemen,

I have an earlier mounted Prussian Land Gendarmerie saber that I thought I would share. It is an interesting example of one of the several swords worn by the Prussian Gendarmerie (Rural Police) over time. Ingo Lohken in his "Die Polizei-Uniformen in Preussen 1866-1945" lists the various swords worn by the Land Gendarmerie prior to 1918. He states that Mounted Gendarms wore the "Kavallerie-Sabel M52" as well as the "Kavallerie-Offiziers-Sabel M52" since 1890. He states these swords were worn with both a D-guard and a basket-guard configuration. The sword that I have has a plain polished bright steel D guard.

This particular saber was manufactured by Gebruder Weyersberg in 1854 and has the usual Prussian inspection markings found on these swords on the spine of the bright finished blade and the components of the hilt. The sword is also property stamped to the Prussian Land Gendarmerie (LG) on the back of the blued steel scabbard and on the polished steel guard. I believe this sword started out life as a standard M52 saber with a basket guard and the basket branches were removed by police armorers altering it to a plain D guard during the period of use. This also occurred in the Bavarian Police where the guard baskets were removed by grinding them away from their short swords altering them to D guards. The Prussian Police and Wurttemberg Police also altered their M89 IOD by replacing the guard containing the Prussian eagle & the Wurtt. Wappen with a brass plain D guard. This refurbishment process continued over time by police armorers in over 100 district workstations.

This is the first example of this Model 52 Police variation that I have come across.
 

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Here are a couple of item of issue full size Mounted- or Officer-Swords from Saxony.

The tombak sword was manufactured by Carl Eickhorn for the Saxon Land Gendarmerie (Rural Police) and is shown as such in the "WKC Waffenfabrik Catalog" as their #198 Sachsen Polizei-Sabel. It has the typical Saxon Police tombak P guard that does not have "ears" on the backstrap and does have an extension on the juncture of the knuckle bow and cross guard that supports the sword knot. The scabbard is black painted steel made in the normal manner. This is the first Saxon Gendarmerie sword that I have found.

This Gendarmerie sword is pictured alongside a Saxon Municipal Police sword from Leipzig. This sword has no maker but has Saxon Polizei property stamps from Leipzig on the guard. It has a polished steel hilt and a blued steel scabbard. Interestingly, the backstrap does have "ears" to pin it to the grip and does not have a protrusion on the guard to support the sword knot. These swords were probably bought from standard stock in the usual police low-bid process.

The sword knot is the distinctive Saxon Portepee with an exaggerated acorn shaped ball and crown and green interwoven in the ball insert and the strap.
 

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The Saxon Officer Portepee differs a bit depending upon the time period and the fact that since Officers bought their own kit there was often a difference in style between the Portepee makers. The one I showed above is a later post-war (WWI) Weimar Republic period example with a black cloth strap. Notice the green stripe in the strap and the typical woven lace oversize crown. Since most Polizei personnel were at least NCOs, or Beamte, some could wear the Officer version of the Portepee. Generally speaking, many Police Departments also allowed personnel to continue to wear swords and knots that they wore honorably during WWI so one will see odd combinations in period photographs.

Here are some other Saxon knot examples below. The family album photo shows a Saxon Policeman wearing an Artillery Officer sword and the photo of the Policeman with the short sword comes from a large Saxon Police training book. Notice the complicated tie of this Saxon Portepee.
 

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