The Dutch Navy first acquired Luger pistols in 1918 specifically for its aviators. They has 12 German P04 Lugers taken from a German submarine stranded in the (neutral) Netherlands, and 28 more were purchased from DWM in 1918 to round out the 40 guns needed to equip the Naval Air Service. The pistol was formally adopted as Automatische Pistool Nr.1. In 1928, the Dutch Army adopted the 1906 New Model Luger for its own service, and the Navy decided to update its revolvers at the same time. The Navy opted not to get grip safeties, and so took a copy of the German P08 model instead of what the Army had. The first order was placed in 1928 through BKIW in Germany, and deliveries would run until 1939 with a total of 2654 delivered before German invaded in May 1940.
Dutch Army Luger trials:
Dutch East Indies Lugers:
Holland was neutral, but the Germans weren’t very friendly about it what with the wire of death and all.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wire_of_Death
Regarding the parallel Portuguese contract with similar serial numbers and a ‘V’ –
I have serial number 2432-V of a Mauser Banner Portuguese ‘GNR’ model, which is chambered in .30 Luger. That’s just 4 numbers away from the Dutch example in this video with 2436-V.
Go back and look at the video Ian did of 3 Portuguese variant Lugers (11/10/2021 – Portuguese Army Lugers: From Manuel II to World War Two) – and the ‘GNR’ in that video is serial number 2327-V which is also a Mauser banner example.
https://www.forgottenweapons.com/portuguese-army-lugers-from-manuel-ii-to-world-war-two/
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