X-ray of 9mm Welrod Mk.I. suppressor. (X-ray courtesy of INTAREX - The Netherlands)
9mm Welrod Mk.I. suppressor field stripped. (Photo courtesy of INTAREX - The Netherlands)
9mm Welrod Mk.I. suppressor field stripped. (Photo courtesy of INTAREX - The Netherlands)
The muzzle velocity is approx. 1000 fps. Apart from the manually operated safety
and the magazine release, the Mk I is operated and functions as the Mk II and Mk
IIA. The iron sights are coated with a fluorescent material that, according the
manual, renders the weapon efficient at 20 yards on a bright summer eve. The
effective range in daylight is reported to be 30 yards. The recommended maximal
shooting range is 24 yards.
Diagram of Welrod Mk.l.
(Drawing Joe M. Ramos - Canada)If you have any additional information please feel free to send me an e-mail.
PRODUCTION
Having completed the final design, the Birmingham Small Arms Company (B.S.A.), Small Heat, Birmingham - in all probability and under great secrecy - was commissioned to mass produce the Welrod pistol. The only distinguishing markings on the pistols were that of a little five-pointed star and square along with a serial number. All markings were stamped underneath on the tube right behind the pistol grip.
The serial numbers, numeric only, are either 4 or 5 digits and, in addition to the above mentioned position are also stamped into the breech and etched into the magazine with an electrical pen. Not all magazines bear serial numbers however. The very first bore no markings at all. The molded ebonite grip was slightly differently shaped than on most of those we find today. Also the magazine was of a different model which can best be distinguished on the magazine jaws. This was an earlier Colt magazine that was used until 1926 and apparently happened to be available yet. The
production Welrods were made with current production Colt magazines.
When the magazines began to bear markings it was only the two last digits of the serial number.
Probably not until around #3000 was the full serial number marked on the magazine and it is also around this time the grip got its final design by making the “neck” sturdier. The cut-outs for the magazine locking mechanism can vary somewhat in shape and size. On some of the first grips a cross-filed pattern can in rare cases be seen on the locking mechanism.
The one to the left is one of the first models with a slim “neck” this particular one has no number stamped. The one to the right is the "standard” grip with the "fat" neck. Also notice that the locking mechanism on the early one is cross-filed.
On the Mk IIA series the entire serial number has been etched into magazine whereas this Mk II model (above) only has the two last digits "37" on the back.
Less noticeable are the markings one may find on the butt of the receiver. On some of the Welrods I have had the opportunity to inspect these markings have varied between – and on occasion appeared in combinations of-: "F","T","L","Z","D", In addition I have seen “L” inside a figure of double diamonds and “P” inside a circle. Apparently there is no pattern or system to these markings. Far from all of the pistols carry these markings.
The square and the five-pointed star appear without exception on all of the inspected weapons. Yet it has not been possible to establish their true significance. A qualified guess is that the markings represent a form of testing and/or inspection or maybe some sort of coding like the German “byf”,
“cyq”, “ac” and others that indicated place of production of German weapons.
Above is shown examples of 4 different stamped markings. On the pistol to the left is stamped with an “F” and “k” whereas the pistol on the right bears an “L” inside a figure of double diamonds and a
“P” inside a circle. The steel ball protruding top left on the receiver is spring loaded and assures that the closed breech is held in place by locking into a corresponding hole on the breech.
Here is clearly shown the small square marking along with the five-pointed star. On this Mk II the serial number is stamped along the length of the tube whereas the Mk IIA is stamped abeam of the length.
B.S.A. has been unable to confirm this. They claim none of the pistols bore serial numbers or other markings that could reveal the manufacturer. They do however confirm having produced parts for the Welrod as well as entire pistols but that several other British companies were involved in the production.
Here is an excerpt from the correspondence:
[quote] Regarding the information that you are requesting on the Welrod pistol, although we have in the past manufactured specific parts for these particular pistols, we have no
information regarding production development or variations of these pistols. All we know is that they were produced by a number of companies in Britain including B.S.A. and these were developed specifically for covert operations in occupied Europe. They, therefore, bore no serial numbers or indication as to where they were manufactured. [/quote]
But if B.S.A. did not mark the weapons then who did?
The National Firearms Centre (NFC) in Leeds, England has a rare prototype of the Welrod Mk.IIA pistol. The text “PROTOTYPE WELROD Mk.IIA” is engraved on the left side of the receiver just below the rear sight. The interesting part however is that the only mark to be found is the five pointed star exactly as we know it from all the other models. This does in my humble opinion mean that the star most likely belong to the Birmingham Small Arms factory and was put there during the production.
The text is stamped on the receiver below the rear sight. (Photo Richard D. Jones, Custodian MOD Pattern Room)
Only the five pointed star is to be found on the prototype which indicates that it was in fact a British marking.
(Photo Richard D. Jones, Custodian MOD Pattern Room)
I regret not being able to account for the significance of the markings in a more precise manner than the above written so I will leave it up to each individual to draw his own conclusions.
The production of the Mk II was not officially up and running until late 1943, but several documents reveals that it was indeed available already at the beginning of 1943. According to the serial
numbers at least 14.000, were supposedly produced. Not until the middle of 1944 did the production of Mk I get under way. The amount produced is unknown. The beginning of the production of the Mk I so late in the war is undoubtedly the reason it was never dropped into Denmark. A recently discovered drawing of the Mk.I bears the date May 17, 1944 with the last revision made on what looks like May 15. 1956! (printing is faded and difficult to read). The drawing is marked with the trademark: B.S.A. GUNS LTD., England.
Part of the engineering drawing showing the bolt and receiver. (Drawing from the MOD Pattern Room)
If you have any additional information please feel free to send me an e-mail.
DISTRIBUTION
From the serial numbers I have collected I have tried to gain a general view of the number of
Welrods Mk IIA produced. The pistols are, with the exception of a few series (0,1 & 9), represented throughout the entire spectrum. This leads me to believe that the serial numbers corresponds with the number of pistols actually produced. The highest serial number I have come across is #14.359 and the lowest is #2.008 (Mk II).
I have yet to find a pistol in the #100, #1000 and #9000 series. Perhaps the production started at
#2000 and maybe the #9000 series was completely skipped from production. It’s more likely however that I just haven’t had the luck to find any Welrods from the missing series yet. Another possibility is that the #9000 series was earmarked for another country like Norway or France, both of which received a good deal of Welrods just like the US is a possibility as we know that they received a considerable amount.
My qualified guess is that the first pistols in the range #2000 through #5000 arrived here with some of the in all 53 SOE agents who were parachuted into Denmark, while the #6000 through 14.000 primarily got here via some of the numerous weapon drops to the resistance movement during the last third of the war.
Diagram of the pattern of dropped Welrods in Denmark according to serial numbers. On the horizontal axis, “0” are pistols with serial numbers 0 through 999. “1” represents serial numbers 1.000 through 1.999 and so forth.
The vertical axis represents the number of registered pistols (updated June 25, 2008).
Diagram of the pattern of all known Welrods according to serial numbers. On the horizontal axis,
“0” are pistols with serial numbers 0 through 999. “1” represents serial numbers 1.000 through 1.999 and so forth.
The vertical axis represents the number of registered pistols (updated June 25, 2008).
It has proven impossible to pinpoint exactly when the first pistol was dropped over the kingdom, but in paragraph 15 in an extensive correspondence from the Danish S.O.E. Chief Flemming B. Muus aka “Jam” to Commander R. C. Hollingworth aka “CHOP”, dated July 31, 1943, “Jam” writes:
[quote]"Rubber Pistol. Have heard of such an instrument. In case of delivery the package must be marked “To be opened by JAM only”. The advantage is supposedly the complete sound suppression."[/quote]
So at this point in time it must have been relatively unknown to the resistance movement. It is equally difficult to ascertain how many in total were dropped, but according to David B. Lampe author of The Savage Canary from 1957, we received about 150. He writes:
[quote]"Although mass-produced in Britain during World War II, none of these silent
weapons has been displayed in armament museums, for they were created specifically for the unmentionable assassination of traitors. Altogether about 150 reached Denmark during
the occupation."[/quote]
A drop in Grib forest at Smorstenen April 12, 1945, contained 18 Welrod pistols, and another in Gronholt hedge February 26, 1945 and in March 23, 1945 in Hobro in Jutland also contained Welrod pistols. Unfortunately it is not known how many. Additionally a number of drops earlier during the occupation contained Welrods, and some of the in total 53 deployed SOE agents, four of whom made the trip twice, were most likely equipped with the Welrod.
In the fall of 1943, the parachute agents Ole Geisler aka ”Aksel” and Jens Lillelund aka ”Finn”
planned to assassinate Norway’s Reichskommisar Josef Terboven during a visit to Denmark. Josef Terboven who was a top Nazi and Norway’s answer to Czechoslovakia’s Reinhard Heydrich, was to be shot in his suite at the Palace Hotel in Copenhagen. For the job “Axel” presented the first Welrod seen in Denmark. Two “Holger Danske” (a group within the resistance movement) members carrying each their Welrod, was to disguise themselves as waiters and shoot Josef Terboven in his room. The plan was aborted however, as it was estimated that the gain by the liquidation seen from a military perspective, would not measure up to the inevitable retaliations that would be carried out on already captured members of the resistance movement as well as on innocent civilians. The pistol was in 1966 donated to the Museum of Danish Resistance by Jens Lillelund.
The latest officially known instances of the Welrod’s use in Denmark are as follows:
December 14, 1943: Jens Lillelund aka “Finn” and Bent Faurschou-Hviid aka ”The Torch” attempts to liquidate the informant Mrs. Hedvig Delbo in her apartment in Osterbro, Copenhagen. A second attempt is carried out successfully on March 19, 1944 by Gunner Dyrberg with a STENgun.
Again in December 1943: Jorgen Rojel borrows a Welrod from parachute agent Jens Jacob Jensen aka “Jens” aka “Pudding” to carry out a liquidation.
October 11, 1944: Henning Roge aka ”Max” tried with a Welrod to kill the infamous informant Henry Meister on Vesterbrogade in Norrsundby. Henry Meister is wounded in the stomach and
immediately return fire thereby killing “Max”.
November 17, 1944: Mrs. Frederikke Rungager, age 37, is liquidated at Aarhus County Hospital with a Welrod by a member of the Staal group.
The article advertising Mrs. Rungagers decease.
(Click for English translation).
It should be noted that back in those days too, the press utterly uncritically used the term “revolver”
or “pistol”, whenever the referral was to a handgun regardless of type or make. The, in these instances erroneous designations, should therefore not be attributed any specific significance.
In the archives of The Museum of Danish Resistance is a report from the Technical Department of the Federal Police, regarding an investigation of a Welrod pistol. According to the report, the Welrod was used in an assassination attempt on Mrs. Hedvig Delbo December 14, 1943, as well as the liquidation of Mr. Nordahl in Aarhus in January 3, 1944 and an unnamed person in
Copenhagen, April 19, 1944 respectively.
The liquidation in Aarhus January 3, 1944. It was not unknown to the police that suppressed pistols
were used for assassinations.(Click for resume in English.)
Article from January 6, 1944. (Click for English translation).
Article describing the liquidation in Copenhagen, April 19, 1944. (Resume in English is not available for the moment).
In the beginning of December 1944, Svend Otto Nielsen aka ”John” on request from England carried out a spectacular operation against the German fighter planes at Kastrup Airport. He was supposed to steal a newly developed locating unit from a parked night fighter. The operation was carried out with the help from an airport employee named Knud Helge Hejl. Unfortunately they were discovered by a German patrol and Knud Helge Hejl got captured. John however got away by crawling several kilometers on his hands and knees. During his escape he shot and killed a
German sentry with his Welrod.
To the less dramatic accounts of the Welrod in action belongs the story of “The Torch” who around Christmas 1943 shoots a swan in Frederiksberg gardens and serves it for his friends at a later festive occation.
In June 1944 Kaj Jensen a member of the illegal resistance group BOPA used a Welrod during the one hour long raid on Hærens Våbenarsenal (the army’s production facility). No details on how it was used other than to safeguard the employees and guards. Kaj Jensen was killed in action on Martz 16, 1945.
Several of the airdropped weapons and explosive were captured and used by the Germans against the resistance, but also against the ordinary noncombatant Danish citizen. Somehow they found a profound irony in fighting the resistance with weapons delivered by the Allied. The Peter-group, a terror organization devised by SS Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler, made it their signature only to use captured weapons and explosives.
In an effort to fight and suppress the resistance activity, SS Standartenfürer Otto Anton Rolf Skorzeny on behalf of Heinrich Himmler created a “Sonderkommando Dänemark” which sole
purpose was to kill famous or otherwise well-known or productive Danish citizen, and perform terror by blowing up amusement parks, cinemas, trains, trams and other public friendly places. It was also decided that for every German killed in Denmark, 5 Danish citizens were to be killed in retaliation.
In charge he put Hauptsturmführer Otto Alexander Schwerdt but he also ordered the SS men Louis Nebel and Anton Gföller to assist him. Together they recruited several men, both Germans and native Danes sympathizing with the German ideology, among them the Danish speaking SS
Oberscharfürer Kurt Carstensen. The group was named the Peter-group (“Unternehmung Peter” in German); the name was created from Schwedt’s cover name “Peter Schäffer”.
On December 30, 1943 around 06:30pm Otto Schwerdt, Anton Gföller, Louis Nebel, Ludvig Huf and Kurt Carstensen all members of the Peter-Group nocked on the door to the apartment of Editor Christian Dam in Copenhagen. Dam’s wife let them in. Schwerdt and Nebel each had a Welrod that they had test fired the same day. Gföller stayed guard outside while Schwerdt, Huf, Carstensen and Nebel went with Dam to his study room. Inside the room Nebel pulled his Welrod but Dam immediately jumped him and got hold on the suppressor tube and they both fell to the floor.
Schwerdt intervened and in all three shot were fired. Dam was hit in the back and left thigh but also took a bullet to the head fracturing a part of his skull and left eye. All though critical injured Dam survived the assassination attempt. The Peter-Group escaped without injuries.
On February 3, 1944 around 06:00pm High Court lawyer Holger Christensen is on his way home after a long day at work. He didn´t notice that he was followed by SS Unterscharfürer Fritz Himmel from Sonderkommando Dänemark, and little did he know that Oberfähnrich Droos also from Sonderkommando Dänemark was positioned in the shadows only 30 meters from his entrance door. When Christensen had passed Droos by about 10 meters he raised his Welrod pistol, and fired one shot into the back of his head. The full jacketed projectile pierced his Italian Borsalino hat, the back of his skull, went through the brain and exited through his forehead right above his right eye. Christensen was dead before he hit the ground.
On August 30, 1944 around 08:00 am cand.scient.techn. I.E. Snog-Christensen was kidnapped in front of his home by Henning Bothildsen Nielsen, Hauptsturmführer Henning Brøndum, Schwerdt, Ludvig Huf, Otto Wagner and the SS Unterscharfürer Fritz Himmel. They drove him to a safe house at the beach in Snekkersten owned by the German Sicherheitsdienst. Inside the house they waited until the sun had set, and when it was dark they took him to the beach telling him that they
expected a boat to arrive anytime soon, and that there was a person on board that they need him to identify. When they reached the beach and Snog-Christensen faced the ocean, Otto Wagner sneaked up behind him and shot him with his Welrod in the back of the head. He collapsed without a sound and was dead before hitting the sand.
On January 24, 1945 around 12:00 pm William Prieme, a well know member of the parliament was shot and killed by a shot in the head on the street in broad daylight. The killing was executed by Kurt Heel and Bothildsen Nielsen from the notorious Peter-group. They sneaked up behind Prieme
and then Heel fired his Welrod into the back of his head. Prieme's hat was blown off from the impact and for a second or two Prieme just stood still, then he slowly fell forward like a piece of lumber. The killing was done in retaliation for the resistances assassination of the Nazi Chief of the Schalburg Corps, Lieutenant T. I. P. O. Madsen on January 22, 1945.
There is no doubt that the Welrod has seen far more action than above mentioned accounts, but as I know only of second hand reports with no official documentation to support the claims I have chosen not to list them here.
Below are 2 rare photos of a resistance fighter and his Welrod.
The photo is from Nykøbing Falster, Denmark date 05.05.1945
Target practice at Frodeslund, Denmark after the liberation.
Newly(2002) released documents (HS 8/199) from the archives of S.O.E in the National Archives UK, reveals the planning of "Operation Execution Month" in June 22, 1943. The operation called for the occupied countries to simultaneously assassinate as many Gestapo and SS officials as