Georg Luger

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Georg v. Luger, 1906

Georg Johann Luger (born March 6, 1849 in Steinach am Brenner , Tyrol , † December 22, 1923 in Fichtenau near Berlin ) was an Austrian weapons technician . He is the inventor of the Parabellum pistol .

education

His father, Bartholomaeus von Luger, was a surgeon who, after the birth of George, moved with his entire family to the Italian-speaking Austrian province of Padua to teach at the University Clinic in Padua.

Georg grew up with Italian as his second mother tongue and completed elementary school and high school in Padua . After graduating from high school, his parents sent him back to Vienna to attend the commercial academy .

In 1867 he registered for the newly created reserve officer training and enlisted as a one-year volunteer for the 78th Infantry Regiment.

Military career

On June 1, 1868 he was promoted to cadet corporal due to his good performance in fencing, swimming, telegraphy and in training new recruits , and on October 1 to ensign .

Luger was an excellent shooter and repeatedly demonstrated his skills at the kuk shooting school in Bruckneudorf , where he was repeatedly employed as a trainer. It was here that his scientific interest in weapons technology began. In numerous test series, he tested and improved the error-prone Borchardt pistol to such an extent that it was ready for series production and was introduced as a parabellum pistol by various nations as an orderly weapon .

Civil career

After four years of service in the old army, Luger ended his military career in December 1871 with the rank of lieutenant in the reserve, where he performed the prescribed reservist exercises every two years.

After completing his military service, Luger first worked as a bank clerk in Vienna and then moved to the management of the highly noble Jockey Club.

In 1873 he married Elisabeth Josepha Dufek. The marriage produced three sons:

  • Georg Franz, who later became an engineer.
  • Julius Wilhelm Bartholomaeus, who was born on March 16, 1880 and died as a captain in the First World War in 1915 .
  • Friedrich Alexander Georg, who was born on April 26, 1884.

Luger spent the last years of his life in Fichtenau .

Development of the Parabellum

The P08 "Parabellum" developed by Luger
Cartridges 7.65 and 9 mm Luger
Pistol 08 "Luger" from: Army training (1940)

Georg von Luger became acquainted with Ferdinand Ritter von Mannlicher during the 1870s , who finally recruited him as a sales representative for the weapons manufacturer Deutsche Waffen- und Munitionsfabrik AG , formerly Ludwig Loewe & Co. in Berlin, due to his language skills and cosmopolitanism . Luger was supposed to introduce the Mannlicher M118 rifle manufactured by DWM into the Italian market and, in addition, to devote himself to his actual inclination, the development of weapons.

In November 1894 he went on a lecture and presentation trip to promote new products via Switzerland, Germany and Belgium to the USA , where he also demonstrated the Borchardt C93 to the US Navy . Sales results were sluggish as the C93 was often criticized for being too big, too heavy and badly balanced.

In evaluating customer requests, Luger further developed the C93 in Berlin. After stress and heat tests, it became clear to him that a completely new concept had to be created, from which the knee joint closure , which later became legendary, arose. The new type of weapon was initially rejected by the major military powers, on the one hand for reasons of cost, on the other hand because it was judged to be too complicated for use in the field. The breakthrough came after the Swiss Army ordered Luger's design and was the first to introduce it, as the "Model 1900" in caliber 7.65 mm Parabellum .

The Imperial Navy followed suit and introduced the weapon in 1904 as the “Pistole 04” with a 15 cm barrel and for the first time in 9 mm caliber. With a 10 cm barrel, the weapon, now known as the "Luger", was introduced to the entire Imperial Prussian Army in early 1908 as the pistol 08 or P08 for short . The First World War then brought mass production and widespread use of the pistol and established the global reputation of the weapon and the extra-powerfully charged "Cartridge 08", also known as the " 9 mm Parabellum ", "9 mm Luger" or "9 × 19 mm NATO" is known.

Last but not least, the typical appearance of the weapon, which is due to the knee-joint lock, helped it to achieve a high recognition value and made the name Luger a household name internationally.

During the First World War, in competition with the Mauser C96 , Luger developed a submachine gun version of the P08 (also known as the "Fast Luger") based on the artillery model with a 21 cm barrel and drum magazine.

After the lost World War, Luger's huge fortune was also lost because, like almost all investors at the time, he had invested in the safe and profitable war bonds, which were now worthless.

In 1919, DWM Löwe wanted to get rid of the ingenious but uncomfortable designer and apparently appropriate his patents. Luger was fired without notice and locked out of his laboratories. This was followed by a flood of lawsuits and lawsuits, which were decided in his favor in 1922.

The P08 developed by Luger was also introduced to the German Reichswehr and replaced by the P38 as a service weapon of the Wehrmacht in World War II . After the Second World War, the P08 was used for a long time by the armed forces and weapon-carrying authorities, the German Democratic Republic, the Republic of Austria and numerous other countries.

Honors

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Commemorative stone dedicated to Georg Luger. on www.schoeneiche-online.de
personal data
SURNAME Luger, Georg
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Luger, Georg Johann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian-German weapons technician
DATE OF BIRTH March 6, 1849
PLACE OF BIRTH Steinach am Brenner , Tyrol
DATE OF DEATH December 22, 1923
Place of death Fichtenau near Berlin