Luger LP08 Artillery Model Pistol : Sergeant C A Clark, 20 Battalion, AIF

Long-barrelled Artillery Luger LP08 semi-automatic pistol. The toggle is marked, 'DWM' and '1918'. Attached to the top of the barrel is a blade fore sight and an adjustable ladder rear sight that is graduated from one hundred metres up to eight hundred metres. The pistol has checkered wood grips and a 'T' section slide at the rear to take a shoulder stock. The trigger, side plate and magazine are missing.

Despite its name, the LP08 Artillery Luger was issued to several formations including the artillery and Sturmtruppen (Storm Trooper). With increased range from the longer barrel and the large capacity magazine and wooden stock providing added fire-power and accuracy, the LP08 was a versatile and popular weapon.

This pistol and accompanying holster were captured by Sergeant Clifford Alfred (Cliff) Clark, a Lewis Gunner with the 20th Battalion, during the fighting east of Villers-Bretonneux on the 8th of August 1918.

On that day, with the Canadians on their right and the British on their left, four Australian Divisions attacked as part of the great offensive known as the Battle of Amiens. From their positions just east of Villers-Brettonneux and Hamel, the Australian troops, supported by artillery, tanks and aircraft, broke the German front defensive system, capturing thousands of prisoners and hundreds of artillery pieces. At the end of the day, the Australians had advanced approximately 10 kilometres.

This attack delivered a shattering first blow to the German Army in what became the final three months of bloody fighting that lead to the Armistice in November 1918. In his memoirs, the German commander General Eric Ludendorf referred to the 8th of August as, '...the black day of the German Army in this war'.

Born at Stanley near Beechworth, Victoria in 1896, Clifford Alfred Clark was working as a labourer and was a member of the Militia when he enlisted in the AIF in May 1915. Private Clark embarked with the 20th Battalion aboard HMAT Berrima at Sydney on 26 June 1915.

Clark was wounded at Pozieres in August 1916 with a gun shot wound to the head. Rejoining his battalion, he was promoted to lance corporal and then to corporal in October 1916. By March 1917, he was a sergeant. Clark became a Lewis Gunner in early 1918. He was awarded the Military Medal (MM) for his bravery during the fighting for the Beaurevoir Line (part of the Hindenburg Line) near St Quentin in October 1918; one of the last Australian actions of the war. Sergeant Clark returned to Australia on 4 July 1919 aboard HMAT Nestor.