On August 3, 1943, he had begun this new job and had been issued Walther PPK #978 687. It came boxed, complete with ammunition, a spare magazine, a black holster issued with nearly all SS issued PPKs, but also with a second strapped holster, the shoulder holster. It was the pride and joy of the new assistant detective, a badge of honor and he carried it in the brown shoulder holster, cleaned, oiled and loaded.
The occupied territories were daily, becoming a more dangerous place for a young German detective. Murmurings of the coming allied invasions were becoming louder as time wore on. Large shipments of munitions were being intercepted on a regular basis, dropped from dark cargo planes passing quietly. Through capture and torture, call signs and signals were discovered and many of those drops fell into German hands, thanks to Erich's effort along with others in his department. Tens of thousands of captured allied arms were being shipped East for re-issue to the Wehrmacht in an effort to make up the manufacturing shortfall.
Everything was becoming to be in short supply. But Erich did his job until a night in December when he was involved in a shootout with saboteurs. He escaped with his life, but lost his PPK #978 687 in the night battle.
On December 16, 1944, he reported it's loss and it was written off. His weapon index card was pulled and #978 687 was lined out and it's fate was noted in handwritten notation "abgesetzt" lost and written off.
But Erich still had a job to do, so on that same index card, a new PPK #230 355 was entered and issued to Erich much to his chagrin.
How do we know this? The index card still exists. (See below) But stay tuned, that's not the end of the story.
In August of 1944, Patton's Third Army had roared across France. Cities had
fallen like dominos. Paris drawing ever closer. Hitler ordered the destruction
of Paris..."Brennt Paris?" he asked of Field Marshall Walter Model. But by then,
Erich Riedel was gone, heading East and back to Berlin.
He had been issued his new PPK and in December, he was ordered West to Belgium. A new major attack was going to take place and Riedel would follow along behind the advancing troops. The ultimate goal was to drive to Antwerp and split the allied forces. The OKW believed this would be the turning point in the war.
The battle which was long and brutal, was the last major German offensive of the war. It became known as the Battle of the Bulge. In fact it was a series of linked sharp engagements resulting in high casualties on both sides. The Battle for Lignieuville, The Battle for Stavelot, The Burning of the Gasoline Dump at the Stavelot-Francorchamps Road, The Battle for Trois Ponts, The Bridge at Habiemont, The battle for Malmedy.
It was somewhere during this swirling, confusing series of battles that Detective Erich Riedel and PPK #230 355 K parted ways. What became of Erich beyond this point is not known. If he survived the cauldron, surrendered his weapon and was taken prisoner, he may very well have survived. As a detective in the SS/RSHA, he would have stayed a prisoner for some time after the cessation of hostilities on May 8, 1945. But eventually with the OSS having much bigger fish to fry, he would have been released and allowed to go home.
Inspector Riedel had had possession of # 230 355 K for less than a week. It had seen little use and still remained pristine. From this point forward, the gun would take a vastly different path from that followed by the detective. The GI who had accepted surrender of the weapon unloaded the magazine and chamber and slipped into the pocket of his fatigue jacket. He promptly forgot about it as it became buried under other spoils of war.
The GI was a member of Patton's 11th Armored division which continued it's rampage across Europe, entering Germany briefly, then turned south, following along the Czech border, accepting the nearly daily surrender of large but badly demoralized German units. They liberated Mauthausen concentration camp on the Danube, met Soviet units near there for the first time and finished their war right there.
It wasn't until the GI had been separated and returned home to the USA, that he emptied the pockets of his jacket which had lain folded at the bottom of his duffel. There he came across #230 355 K. He did what so many Gi's eager to get on with civilian life, marry, raise a family and live in peace had done. He slipped it into one of those ubiquitous olive drab GI socks. Then he buried it at the bottom of his sock drawer and once again forgot about it. There it lay for decades, removed and oiled on rare occasions and put back in it's place.
The former GI raised his family and lived a happy and productive life. He died in 1985 at which time, his son came across the PPK. He had learned to hunt as a boy at his father's side and knew a quality firearm when he saw one. He kept it as a keepsake and often wondered what the story behind it had been. As he read and learned, he often wondered about markings on the gun that he had not seen on others. He would often take it to gun shows and ask dealers who seemed to know about PPKs what the significance of the serial numbered magazine might have been. He would always receive a shrug of shoulders in reply. No one knew.
With the advent of the internet, collectors began to share information and the pool of knowledge continued to grow. By 2010, enough information was in the hands of collectors, to identify some PPKs as having been issued by the SS. One collector, building on information contained in a small red booklet, published in Germany by Joachim Gortz and Dieter H. Marshall, began to search through the american military archives. Millions of top secret WWII documents had been stored there since the war. Eventually he came across thousands of documents pertaining to SS issue of PPKs. Index cards documenting individual issue, shipment documents, letters concerning receipt, etc. He found so much information that he decided all collectors needed to have it available to them. And so he wrote a book containing everything that he had found, including a description of every variation that had been identified and confirmed as well as his entire database of serial numbers.
One day, the owner of #230 355 K came across the book and purchased a copy. Low and behold...he searched through the book and came across an index card for the issue of his gun! The gun and the index card were now back together after seven decades. The son of the GI now knew for the first time that he owned the PPK first issued to Assistant Detective Erich Riedel. He even had Riedel's signature which he had been required to provide upon receipt of #230 355 K. In addition, he had Detective Riedel's history there in front of him including the loss of his first PPK.
He couldn't catch a break, but in the end it had all come full circle. A legacy that young Assistant Detective Erich Riedel could never have imagined.
He had been issued his new PPK and in December, he was ordered West to Belgium. A new major attack was going to take place and Riedel would follow along behind the advancing troops. The ultimate goal was to drive to Antwerp and split the allied forces. The OKW believed this would be the turning point in the war.
The battle which was long and brutal, was the last major German offensive of the war. It became known as the Battle of the Bulge. In fact it was a series of linked sharp engagements resulting in high casualties on both sides. The Battle for Lignieuville, The Battle for Stavelot, The Burning of the Gasoline Dump at the Stavelot-Francorchamps Road, The Battle for Trois Ponts, The Bridge at Habiemont, The battle for Malmedy.
It was somewhere during this swirling, confusing series of battles that Detective Erich Riedel and PPK #230 355 K parted ways. What became of Erich beyond this point is not known. If he survived the cauldron, surrendered his weapon and was taken prisoner, he may very well have survived. As a detective in the SS/RSHA, he would have stayed a prisoner for some time after the cessation of hostilities on May 8, 1945. But eventually with the OSS having much bigger fish to fry, he would have been released and allowed to go home.
Inspector Riedel had had possession of # 230 355 K for less than a week. It had seen little use and still remained pristine. From this point forward, the gun would take a vastly different path from that followed by the detective. The GI who had accepted surrender of the weapon unloaded the magazine and chamber and slipped into the pocket of his fatigue jacket. He promptly forgot about it as it became buried under other spoils of war.
The GI was a member of Patton's 11th Armored division which continued it's rampage across Europe, entering Germany briefly, then turned south, following along the Czech border, accepting the nearly daily surrender of large but badly demoralized German units. They liberated Mauthausen concentration camp on the Danube, met Soviet units near there for the first time and finished their war right there.
It wasn't until the GI had been separated and returned home to the USA, that he emptied the pockets of his jacket which had lain folded at the bottom of his duffel. There he came across #230 355 K. He did what so many Gi's eager to get on with civilian life, marry, raise a family and live in peace had done. He slipped it into one of those ubiquitous olive drab GI socks. Then he buried it at the bottom of his sock drawer and once again forgot about it. There it lay for decades, removed and oiled on rare occasions and put back in it's place.
The former GI raised his family and lived a happy and productive life. He died in 1985 at which time, his son came across the PPK. He had learned to hunt as a boy at his father's side and knew a quality firearm when he saw one. He kept it as a keepsake and often wondered what the story behind it had been. As he read and learned, he often wondered about markings on the gun that he had not seen on others. He would often take it to gun shows and ask dealers who seemed to know about PPKs what the significance of the serial numbered magazine might have been. He would always receive a shrug of shoulders in reply. No one knew.
With the advent of the internet, collectors began to share information and the pool of knowledge continued to grow. By 2010, enough information was in the hands of collectors, to identify some PPKs as having been issued by the SS. One collector, building on information contained in a small red booklet, published in Germany by Joachim Gortz and Dieter H. Marshall, began to search through the american military archives. Millions of top secret WWII documents had been stored there since the war. Eventually he came across thousands of documents pertaining to SS issue of PPKs. Index cards documenting individual issue, shipment documents, letters concerning receipt, etc. He found so much information that he decided all collectors needed to have it available to them. And so he wrote a book containing everything that he had found, including a description of every variation that had been identified and confirmed as well as his entire database of serial numbers.
One day, the owner of #230 355 K came across the book and purchased a copy. Low and behold...he searched through the book and came across an index card for the issue of his gun! The gun and the index card were now back together after seven decades. The son of the GI now knew for the first time that he owned the PPK first issued to Assistant Detective Erich Riedel. He even had Riedel's signature which he had been required to provide upon receipt of #230 355 K. In addition, he had Detective Riedel's history there in front of him including the loss of his first PPK.
He couldn't catch a break, but in the end it had all come full circle. A legacy that young Assistant Detective Erich Riedel could never have imagined.
The information contained in this story is based on data from my book: SS Walther PP/PPK Identification & Documents. Please click on the title pinned to the top of this page for more information on the book.
The book is available from me at:
Steve Stepan
Box 261
Ely, Mn. 55731
$35.00 + $4.00 P&S
Also available on Ebay:
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