Plot to end a War: How Ribbentrop planned to assassinate Stalin using a pen

The initial two years of World War II saw a period of significant collaboration between Germany and the Soviet Union. The Ribbentrop-Molotov pact, signed just before the invasion of Poland, exemplified this alliance. Moreover, the cooperation between Berlin and Moscow extended to various sectors.

Such examples include the plan to construct a German U-boat base in the USSR's Murmansk region, the Germans' design of a modern cruiser for the USSR, mutual technological exchanges (in aviation and maritime), and widespread economic cooperation.

This alliance ended abruptly with the German attack on the USSR. Over time, the Third Reich, despite initial triumphs, began to lose ground against the USSR.

In 1944, a drastic idea sprouted in the mind of the Reich's foreign minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop. In his memoirs, we learn about this from Walter Schellenberg, the head of the SD intelligence service.

According to Schellenberg, Joachim von Ribbentrop aimed to coordinate a conference with Joseph Stalin and assassinate the USSR leader during the meeting. His weapon of choice was unique.

Schellenberg remembers that Ribbentrop had learned about a revolver concealed in a fountain pen, "a gun that could fire a large-caliber bullet with adequate precision from six to eight meters [approximately 19.7 to 26.2 feet]. During a quick inspection, he was told that this gun was ingeniously designed to remain undetected. Therefore, smuggling such a pen into a conference room was likely to succeed, only requiring a steady hand."

It's important to clarify that Schellenberg's memoirs interchangeably use the terms "gun" and "revolver". However, we can safely assume that the weapon developed by the Germans was not a revolver but some single-shot pistol.

What would the pen gun, which Ribbentrop aimed to use to kill Joseph Stalin, look like, and how would it work? While it's unclear which model the German minister planned to use, the most recognized example of such a weapon is the OSS Stinger, which was created in the United States and mass-produced for the European resistance movement. How did this weapon operate?

The OSS Stinger was a minimalistic design comprising only eight (or nine, including the safety ring) metal pieces. The gun was a handheld metal tube that, upon quick inspection, could resemble a pen. Concealed in a shirt pocket, it could convincingly pass for a writing tool.

The OSS Stinger lacked any targeting devices and could not be reloaded - it was discarded after a single use. The bullet chamber held just one .22 Short caliber cartridge (a comparable 5.6mm caliber, but with a less powerful gunpowder charge than the standard .22 LR).

The weapon's relatively weak ammunition resulted in a maximum muzzle energy of around 80 joules [approximately 59 foot-pounds], considerably less than conventional firearms but sufficient to kill a person at close range. For comparison, a 9 mm bullet generally holds 400-500 joules [approximately 295 to 369 foot-pounds], while a bullet fired from a modern 5.56 mm caliber MSBS Grot rifle has an energy of almost 1600 joules [approximately 1180 foot-pounds].

The "OSS Stinger pen" was fired by pulling back a lever that served as the trigger, pressing it towards the barrel. Over 50,000 units of this deadly weapon were produced during World War II.