“An American sidearm produced by the Norwegians for the germans”
The term “Nazicolt” is often used to name the war produced norwegian M1914 Kongsberg colt. The term is not correct as most of the users of this weapon during the war was not “Nazis” but young people which highest wish was “heimat” and an end to the hostilities. The only usage I have found to document combat use was to protect an infant and his mother from a lynchmob. Will come back to that story.
Production of the M1914 begins
Early it became evident that the Norwegian armed forces needed a new sidearm to replace the M1893 Nagant revolver. Several suppliers were evaluated and trials conducted. The conclusion was the M1911 colt Pistol. The first pistol left the assembly line at Kongsberg arms in 1917. The designation was M1912 colt and they were produced under license from Fabrique nationale. The pistols were almost identical to the M1911 Us colt. The caliber was 45acp. A curiosity is the first weapons, one in collectors hands and one in the hand of thiefs. The “1” numbered ended up in a US collection, no “2” was stolen from a Norwegian museum and has unknown whereabouts.
The mass production started in 1918 with some modifications and the new designation “11,25mm aut. Pistol M1914”. The slide release was enlarged forcing changes to the grip plates and the magazines features a loop on the bottom.
The production was high until 1929 when it suddenly dropped. More than 20.000 M1914 were manufactured until 1929. During ww1 the Norwegian armed forces were strong after the buildup after the chance of war with Sweden at the declaration of independence and the union with Sweden was disbanded. The military hardware soon became obsolete as seen in the battle of Narvik in 1940 where the two Norwegian battleships were an easy target. “Eidsvold” and “Norge” was sunk by the kriegsmarine within minutes. All the obsolete military hardware wasn’t replaced when it after ww1 became obsolete and the disarmament of the Norwegian defence was a fact. The new political line was Neutrality, and the need for small arms faded. From 1929 to 1940 apprx 871 examples of the M1914 pistol was made. The factory survived through a transition to civilian production but the assembly lines for arms were kept operational.
Prelude to production under new management.
The 09.april.1940 the race between the British and german forces to occupy Norway ended. “Operation Weserubung” was initiated and the germans invaded all major Norwegian cities by air and sea. The germans needed the iron ore from Sweden shipped from ice free harbour Narvik wich was Churchills goal with the planned British invasion. Sola airport was taken in an airborne assault giving the german Luftwaffe an airport making them able to perform air operations over northern England.
The Norwegian resources and factories soon came under german control and this included the Kongsberg arms factory. The factory also produced the swedish Bofors 40mm anti aircraft cannon. The germans lost several cargoships with military hardware and lacked anti air capabilities. 13th of April the city of Kongsberg and the factory fell into german hands. The military production continued until may where the administration negotiated with the germans to make a transition to civil production. In July the germans ordered the factory to continue production of the 40mm bofors. The germans initially showed less interest in the Krag 1894 rifle and the M1914 colt and the production of the Bofors never reached the german demand of 12 cannons monthly.
In February 1941 the first order from A.O.K (arme oberkommando Norwegen) came. The initial order was around 950 pistols. The first order had serial number 22312-23264. They had no waa marking and was delivered together with three spare magazines. The first batch in this order consisted of 100 examples (serial no:22312-22411). The first production had a painted finish as the example pictured in this article. First delivery probably consisted of in store parts but as the orders from A.O.K increased the production line was started and the parts production was reactivated. The very early examples also had the monogram of the Norwegian King Haakon engraved, also an indication of production from parts produced earlier.
The Kongsberg m1914 received the german designation Pistole 657(n), The N stating Norwegen. This was a practice used for all foreign produced armament under german management. Noticeable from the 41/42 production is the finish made with ordinary black household paint. A 41/42 production wich is blued or parkerized has probably been restored postwar. Some very late examples might have the greyish surface.
In 1943 the production seized and was not startet again before 1945 when the germans feared an allied invasion. In meantime a waffenamt department was created at Kongsberg arms in 1943 as the production of the Krag Jorgensen rifle was continued. It had the acceptance stamp “waa84”. Prior the Waa a norwegian inspector, Jørgen Broholdt, did the final inspection approval. The early 40/41/42 colts are marked with his acceptance mark “JB” at the trigger protector. The delivery started again in spring 1945 and the last batch delivered was in may.45. The 1945 waa M1914 pictured here was in the second last batch delivered.
The 1945 produced examples are almost identical to earlier production. They have a different finish and the loop for the securing line at the magazine housing started to disappear. The loop in the magazines was also discontinued.
The “JB” acceptance stamp is present but in addition these 920 examples produced in 1945 has the Waa marking both on the side of the gun and on the barrel.
"I built it one piece at a time, and it didnt cost me a dime"
Another rare war produced Kongsberg M1914 do exists and are even rarer than the waa84 examples. This is the American weapon produced by the Norwegians for the germans given to the Norwegian resistance. It is estimated that 500 examples were made, but precise figures will never be known. They have the designation “matpakke colt” which translates to Lunchpack colts. Parts in the production was discarded as non approved and were smuggled out and assembled outside the factory. These colts are missing serial number, some have no marking at all.
Total production under german control:
1940 22213-22361 est 50
1941 22362-26460 est 4099
1942 26461-29614 3154
1945 29615-30534 920
Collecting the M1914
As with all collectibles, fakes do exist. The waa84 1945 Kongsberg colts fetch high prices. It is fairly easy to stamp “waa84” to a Kongsberg M1914. It is much harder to change the serial number and the finish of the weapon in a way that cannot be detected. Easiest to fake is the examples made late 1945 after the war. But the serial number will be higher, but close to the end of the german production. The ramp in the frame feeding the bullets to the chamber was polished, not blued. An example with blued ramp does not state it as a fake, but it has been refurbished postwar. The production, orders an serial numbers are well documented, both in german archives and the archive of the Kongsberg factory. The Norwegian defence museum received appx 5000 colts from the total production so there should be documentation there. Some M1914 colts might have left the country as war souvenirs as there were both US and British troops in Norway after the war but the numbers must be minimal with the low production of 1945 Waa examples. To sell a firearm to foreign countries the Norwegian police has to grant an export license so the WAA84 colts sold out from Norway can be documented.
The only documented combat use of the M1914 in german hands I have found was after the capitulation in a small city called Flekkefjord. A german unteroffizier had a little child with a 18yr old Norwegian girl. Norwegian girls who had a relationship with german soldiers was hunted game after the war. They were collected in camps and many were contained in a concentration camp in east Norway (the archives from this camp is still closed for view). This probably explains why this unteroffizier acted as he did. A Norwegian mob Gathered and started to storm the house with the Norwegian girl and her child. They escaped to the addict with the german father armed in the first floor (the officers were allowed to keep their service pistols). As the mob broke trough the door the unteroffizier shot and wounded three of them, making the mob disperse. The weapon he used was a Kongsberg M1914 pistol. It is a part of the story that this german soldier was not punished for the act as the allied command clearly stated that the germans was not to be attacked and if so happened, had the right to defend themselves.
A statement to the durability and quality of these weapons is the long servicetime. It was not until the early 90’s the use of the M1914 was discontinued. The existing stock was handed over to the Norwegian defence museum and several examples found their way into collectors hands.