DLV/LW1 - 07/05/2021 06:56 PM
GD was, for me, the first site where, in addition to books, I got to get knowledge. Since not all members of the GD, are present on other forums and Facebook, where I have a small group about DLV55 daggers. Therefore, I consider it useful to publish some of my thoughts here as well. Colleagues, I am bringing to your judgment a little essay about DLV / LW1 dagger. At the moment I am preparing for publication a website about the varieties of DLV55 daggers. And your help will be useful to me both with photo materials and possibly with documents.
Quite often in collections there are LW1 M35 daggers, which feature scabbards fittings similar to M34 daggers. Among such daggers, there is only a part of manufacturers who previously produced the DLV55 model. It is logical to assume that those companies that made the old model began to manufacture a new one using their leftover stock parts. Thus, we can consider the period of production of such daggers in 1935, before the production of LW1 dagger. But as it is often said the devil is in the details.
First, among early manufactures Eickhorn and Weiersberg produced those transit daggers. For the rest of manufactures it was a new product, so it is impossible to claim that they progressed from the old model to a new one. Moreover, some "transitional" scabbards feature a new bottom fitting consisting of 2 segments, in contrast to 4 on DLV daggers. This proves that these are products of the new design. In addition to this there is another very significant feature. There are "transitional" daggers manufactured by Eickhorn. It would seem that everything is logical and there are no nuances. For transitional models this manufacturer used staples to retain scabbard mounts in contrast to DLV daggers of their production. All the daggers produced by this manufacturer featured screw mounts. Thus, it could not have been the company's leftover stock parts, the scabbard bottom fitting featured 2 segments. Subsequently, it can be assumed that a scabbard was made by a minor subcontractor according to a new design, but for technological reasons the mounts were done as it was previously. After the introduction of the new model, the demand on new daggers increased significantly, that is why we see so many manufacturers of the LW1 dagger. Probably due to a large number of orders, the manufacturers did not have enough time to fulfil orders completely by themselves. Therefore, some manufactures had to buy scabbards, which did not meet their standards. Another argument is that the staples are not a distinctive feature of the '34 model, but a feature of some manufacturers. As mentioned above, this resulted from technical capabilities. But by 1935 all companies had been able to make scabbards according to more advanced technology without staples.
Of course, these are assumptions, but they are based on the co-operation documents for other types of daggers, new manufactures of LW1 dagger who had no stock, and unusual Eickhorn scabbards. Thus, these daggers were produced at the same time as the standard ones, and are not transitional, which is the case with SA daggers, when the manufacturer produced early daggers to the new standards using the old components. In this case, I believe, the components were purchased from a subcontractor if the company could not keep up with the main order.
Description to the photo:
1. Pack DLV/LW1 dagger. Photo credit T.Wittmann
2. Eickhorn DLV/LW1 dagger. Photo credit P.Hogle
3. Scabard tip 2 segments, from Luftwaffe dagger M35 on brackets. Photo credit from P.Hogle.
4. Dagger DLV M34. Photo credit Herman HistoriŃa.
5. Late alluminium Luftwaffe dagger M35 with scabbard on brackets. Photo credit Privat collection.
If Dave and Vern don't mind, I would post a link to the group on FB.
Quite often in collections there are LW1 M35 daggers, which feature scabbards fittings similar to M34 daggers. Among such daggers, there is only a part of manufacturers who previously produced the DLV55 model. It is logical to assume that those companies that made the old model began to manufacture a new one using their leftover stock parts. Thus, we can consider the period of production of such daggers in 1935, before the production of LW1 dagger. But as it is often said the devil is in the details.
First, among early manufactures Eickhorn and Weiersberg produced those transit daggers. For the rest of manufactures it was a new product, so it is impossible to claim that they progressed from the old model to a new one. Moreover, some "transitional" scabbards feature a new bottom fitting consisting of 2 segments, in contrast to 4 on DLV daggers. This proves that these are products of the new design. In addition to this there is another very significant feature. There are "transitional" daggers manufactured by Eickhorn. It would seem that everything is logical and there are no nuances. For transitional models this manufacturer used staples to retain scabbard mounts in contrast to DLV daggers of their production. All the daggers produced by this manufacturer featured screw mounts. Thus, it could not have been the company's leftover stock parts, the scabbard bottom fitting featured 2 segments. Subsequently, it can be assumed that a scabbard was made by a minor subcontractor according to a new design, but for technological reasons the mounts were done as it was previously. After the introduction of the new model, the demand on new daggers increased significantly, that is why we see so many manufacturers of the LW1 dagger. Probably due to a large number of orders, the manufacturers did not have enough time to fulfil orders completely by themselves. Therefore, some manufactures had to buy scabbards, which did not meet their standards. Another argument is that the staples are not a distinctive feature of the '34 model, but a feature of some manufacturers. As mentioned above, this resulted from technical capabilities. But by 1935 all companies had been able to make scabbards according to more advanced technology without staples.
Of course, these are assumptions, but they are based on the co-operation documents for other types of daggers, new manufactures of LW1 dagger who had no stock, and unusual Eickhorn scabbards. Thus, these daggers were produced at the same time as the standard ones, and are not transitional, which is the case with SA daggers, when the manufacturer produced early daggers to the new standards using the old components. In this case, I believe, the components were purchased from a subcontractor if the company could not keep up with the main order.
Description to the photo:
1. Pack DLV/LW1 dagger. Photo credit T.Wittmann
2. Eickhorn DLV/LW1 dagger. Photo credit P.Hogle
3. Scabard tip 2 segments, from Luftwaffe dagger M35 on brackets. Photo credit from P.Hogle.
4. Dagger DLV M34. Photo credit Herman HistoriŃa.
5. Late alluminium Luftwaffe dagger M35 with scabbard on brackets. Photo credit Privat collection.
If Dave and Vern don't mind, I would post a link to the group on FB.
