My police bayonet has a frog that is stamped as follows:

BERL KOFFERFABRIK
INH MAX DENGOW
BERLIN SO 16
1936

It is stamped horizontally between the upper rivets of the frog and is difficult to see unless you look at it the right way. I was told quite some time ago that it was made by the Max Dengow suitcase factory. Does anyone know how common this maker is? It seems for as may bayonet frogs I have looked at, the are as many diffferent makers. I dont have any reference material of my own, so I thought I would ask about it here. Who are some of the rare makers of Police bayo frogs? I would like to photograph the markings, but I don't thimk I can get a good shot of it. Thanks.

Is your frog marked with "Po" or is it just a frog that came with a police bayonet. 1936 is quite an early date for marked police frogs. Most seen are from Fischer. I think any frog marked "Po" is scarce.

The frog is not marked with Po, but it is the one that was on it when my Father brought it home from Casablanca, Morrocco in Dec. of 1942. Any ideas what the SO 16 means? I'll try to take a pic of the writing, but I doubt that it'll turn out. Thanks.

SO 16 is the street in a quadratic system.


not every police frog is marked with "PO". you can also recognize by the colouer, the commercial maker stamp, the material und the way to fix the leather (in some cases the middle stitching is missing).

police frogs normal had the grain-side of the leather outside... were in the majority of cases brown. others are white or black.

some police frogs were made until late in the war with copper/brass rivtes... but not all.

i own serval... if you want i can post pictures.


here is for example a brown on, with steel rivtes marked only with "P0 1940"

SO16 is the "zip code" of the factory location in Berlin: Sudost 16. I am curious. Your father brought home a police bayonet from Casablanca in 1942?

Every frog marked Po is police, but not every commercially marked one was used by the police. Other organizations would use them such as Reichsbahn. And, I would say there were more black than brown, as the Schupo outnumbered the Gendarmerie by quite a bit. The white ones were used for parade only.

Sorry it took me so long to get back to this. I finally got a picture of the stamping on the frog. It's not the greatest, but it is what it is. Yes, the bayonet came from Casablanca in 1942. My Dad was in the Merchant Marine and he said that when he got to go ashore, he came across a group of GI's that had a huge pile of bayos, uniforms, etc.. He paid $3 for this bayo.

Cool!
That bayonet may possibly be the very first German edged weapon brought back as a war souvenier!
The American forces didn't land in N. Africa until November '42....

Thanks. The Americans landed in North Africa on Nov. 8, 1942. Dad kept a journal during this trip over as it was His first. He mentions in one entry that He bought a "trench knife" for $3. This was a week or two after the invasion. I haven't seen the journal in a number of years as my Sister now has it.
He said the bayonet had a silver knot on it which was taken off and lost some time ago. I purchased this used NCO knot from Johnson's early this year. I'd like to get an Officers' knot for it someday.
The frog is weak above the stud but I don't dare try to take it off for fear of tearing it. Is there anything I can do for this? I thought about folding up a bit of acid free paper or other material and placing it between the scabbard and frog to keep the frog from moving. Any ideas?