Description
Offered for sale is this Beretta Model 1934 which according to records was manufactured under Nazi supervision after the Italian Govt. changed sides in 1943, resulting in the Germans taking over the warfighting on the Italian peninsula.
The Model 34 is an compact, semi-automatic pistol which was issued as the service pistol of the Royal Italian Army beginning in 1934 as the standard sidearm of Officers, NCOs & machine gun crews & chambered for the 9mm Corto, more commonly known as the .380 ACP.
Armi Beretta SpA of Gardone Val Trompia has a history of firearms manufacture & in 1915, in response to the need for pistols in WW1 that they produced their 1st pistol, the Model 1915.
It’s successor, the model 1934 (M1934) was the most numerous product made by Beretta in the World War II era.
In the early 1930s, the Italian army was impressed by the Walther PP pistol. Beretta did not want to lose a big military contract to their German competitor & so designed the M1934 for the Italian Army which accepted it in 1937. This model was followed by the Beretta M1935, which was similar to the M1934 in most respects, except that it fired a .32 ACP (7.65 mm Browning) cartridge.
Pistols made during the Fascist Era are marked with their year of manufacture in two forms: the conventional Julian date in Arabic numerals & the date in the Fascist Era in Roman numerals.
The Fascist calendar commenced on 28 October 1922, so a pistol from 1944 should carry “XXI” as its Fascist year.
Pistols produced under German supervision did not carry the Fascist year & this pistol does not carry these markings, indication German production.
Pistols taken by the armed forces usually exhibit acceptance marks stamped into the frame on the left just above the grip: “RE” (Regio Esercito) for the army, “RM” (Regia Marina) for the navy, or “RA” (Regia Aeronautica) for the Air Force, always in the form of an Eagle wearing a Royal Crown for the Royal air force. This pistol displays this marking with a Crown over it so we are assuming this was an Air Force (Regia Aeronautica) issue. These rarely come up for sale on the Australian collector market, especially in this condition with a German manufactured, period correct holster!
This holster is marked with the German WaA41 stamp on the tab & is marked jhg44, indicating manufacture by Genshow, Berlin.
This complete pistol with rig would make an excellent addition to any WW2 pistol collection so don’t hesitate if you think this is for you.
We are offering this pistol as a collectable piece of military history & acknowledge the grievous atrocities committed by the Nazi & Fascist regimes & some of their military, particularly toward the peoples of occupied territory & the Jewish population in Europe. In no way do we condone or glorify these regimes which must be remembered for the vile stain on human history that they were.
