The FN plant was occupied by German forces in May, 1940. As was their custom, the Germans seized all firearms that were in the factory as well as all those in the possession of the Belgian military. They almost immediately continued with the production of the Hi-Power for German forces during the remainder of WWII, manufacturing well over 300,000 of these famous pistols before FN was liberated in the fall of 1944.
The Germans desperately needed holsters for all those thousands of Hi-Powers. Like any bureaucracy, there was a formal procedure to be followed for the design and acceptance of new equipment. Certainly, any and all existing holsters were put to immediate use. However, there was an urgent need for many more holsters to hold the Hi-Powers and a revolver holster was procured and modified (on a temporary basis) for this purpose. At first glance, these converted revolver holsters almost appear to have been made from scraps of leather. However, a closer inspection reveals that these are actually a conversion of much earlier holsters. Each holster was converted individually, and the modifications may sometimes vary slightly, but as a part of the conversion proces, a spare magazine pouch was added to the front of each holster. Examination of the quality of these modified holsters clearly shows that the conversions were made by leather professionals; by and under official direction and control of German Ordnance. In fact, many of these modified holsters also bear the proofs of the two German military depots. These converted revolver holsters are usually observed marked with an Eagle/"ZaUlm3" or Eagle/"ZaUlm4" proof marks. The other markings, and even more scarce, is an Eagle/"Mg10" and, as reported, Eagle/"WaUlm 3". They are all extremely rare holsters as virtually all of them were discarded when the new breakaway holster became available later, well into 1941.
Front view:
rework 1.JPG
Charlie
The Germans desperately needed holsters for all those thousands of Hi-Powers. Like any bureaucracy, there was a formal procedure to be followed for the design and acceptance of new equipment. Certainly, any and all existing holsters were put to immediate use. However, there was an urgent need for many more holsters to hold the Hi-Powers and a revolver holster was procured and modified (on a temporary basis) for this purpose. At first glance, these converted revolver holsters almost appear to have been made from scraps of leather. However, a closer inspection reveals that these are actually a conversion of much earlier holsters. Each holster was converted individually, and the modifications may sometimes vary slightly, but as a part of the conversion proces, a spare magazine pouch was added to the front of each holster. Examination of the quality of these modified holsters clearly shows that the conversions were made by leather professionals; by and under official direction and control of German Ordnance. In fact, many of these modified holsters also bear the proofs of the two German military depots. These converted revolver holsters are usually observed marked with an Eagle/"ZaUlm3" or Eagle/"ZaUlm4" proof marks. The other markings, and even more scarce, is an Eagle/"Mg10" and, as reported, Eagle/"WaUlm 3". They are all extremely rare holsters as virtually all of them were discarded when the new breakaway holster became available later, well into 1941.
Front view:
rework 1.JPGCharlie
rework 3.JPG
rework 4.JPG
rework-1a.jpg
rework-3a.jpg
rework-4a.jpg
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