Original Item: Only One Available. This is a lovely Army Officer's "Dove Head" Style dress sword, made by the firm Lauterjung & Sohn PUMA-Werk of Solingen, the legendary "City of Blades" in Western Germany. It features a great nickel plated blade, and comes complete with the correct black enamel painted steel scabbard. PUMA did not make a large number of army officer swords, and this is a relatively simple version, similar to the Army Ordnance sword. The hilt is made from brass, and bears no engraving or other designs, except for an RH monogram on one of the langets. The owner may have simply desired a simpler design, or wanted to keep his fancier sword on the wall, where it would not get damaged.

The grip of this example is a black celluloid over a carved wood base, and is in excellent condition, with no cracking or other deterioration. The grip is wrapped with a skein of 6 brass wires, twisted into pairs, the center two of which are larger in diameter and twisted in the opposite direction. They show oxidation and cleaning, but are still tightly wrapped around the grip. All parts of the hilt are still firmly in place on the tang of the blade, with no wobble.

The nickel plated blade is 31 1/2 inches long, made of high quality spring steel. The plating is in excellent condition, showing no loss or major oxidation, and there is only some light scuffing on the surface. The edge is still correctly unsharpened, and does not have any dents or nicks. The original leather blade buffer is still present and in very good condition.

On the rear of the blade, there is a Puma's Head Logo in a diamond over PUMA / SOLINGEN, the trademark logo of Lauterjung & Sohn, Puma-Stahlwarenfabrik / Puma - Werk of Solingen, Germany, the legendary "City of Blades". This is a known producer of SS, SA, and NSKK daggers during the Pre-WWII period and after. This company was originally founded on a small scale in 1796, Nathanael Lauterjung officially opened a cutlery and knife making workshop in Solingen during 1855. After his death, the name was changed and registered as "Puma-Werk", to avoid confusion with the other Lauterjung-owned workshops in Solingen. For more information, please see J. Anthony Carter's work GERMAN KNIFE AND SWORD MAKERS.

The steel scabbard of this example is almost dent free with no major bends, though it does look to have been refinished at some point, probably decades ago now. It has a lovely glossy black enamel finish, and some of the original finish can be seen in reflection. The hanger ring is still intact, as well as the rectangular loop for "hitching up" the sword in close quarters

Overall a lovely example of a German Army Officer Dove Head dress sword by a desirable maker, complete with scabbard. Ready to display!

Specifications:
Blade Length: 31 1/2"
Blade Style: Single Edge w/ Fuller
Overall length: 36 3/8“
Guard dimensions: 5" width x 5” length
Scabbard length: 33 1/4”

The German Army (German: Heer, was the land forces component of the Wehrmacht, the German armed forces, from 1935 to 1945. The Wehrmacht also included the Kriegsmarine (Navy) and the Luftwaffe (Air Force). During World War II, a total of about 15 million soldiers served in the German Army, of whom about seven million became casualties. Separate from the army, the Waffen-SS (Armed SS) was a multi-ethnic and multi-national military force of the Third Reich. Growing from three regiments to over 38 divisions during World War II, it served alongside the army but was never formally part of it.

Only 17 months after AH announced publicly the rearmament program, the Army reached its projected goal of 36 divisions. During the autumn of 1937, two more corps were formed. In 1938, four additional corps were formed with the inclusion of the five divisions of the Austrian Army after the Anschluss in March. During the period of its expansion by Adolf AH, the German Army continued to develop concepts pioneered during World War I, combining ground (Heer) and air (Luftwaffe) assets into combined arms teams. Coupled with operational and tactical methods such as encirclements and the "battle of annihilation", the German military managed quick victories in the two initial years of World War II, prompting the use of the word Blitzkrieg (literally lightning war, meaning lightning-fast war) for the techniques used.

The German Army entered the war with a majority of its infantry formations relying on the horse for transportation. The infantry remained foot soldiers throughout the war; artillery also remained primarily horse-drawn. The motorized formations received much attention in the world press in the opening years of the war, and were cited as the main reason for the success of the German invasions of Poland (September 1939), Norway and Denmark (April 1940), Belgium, France and Netherlands (May 1940), Yugoslavia (April 1941) and the early campaigns in the Soviet Union (June 1941). However their motorized and tank formations accounted for only 20% of the Heer's capacity at their peak strength.