WW1 MG 08/15 MASCHINEN GEWEHR

The MG 08/15 is a lighter version of the MG 08 made probably as a result of the British using the Lewis Gun (the Germans had no light machine gun at the outbreak of WW1). It is identical in operation to the MG 08 and still has water cooling, unlike the Lewis, the French Chauchat and the Hotchkiss which were air cooled.

Adopted in 1915, 300,000 were produced during the war at the Spandau Arsenal, very few of the original units remain.

This example was found in a dugout in Belgium and has been restored. Dated 1917 it almost certainly saw active service during WW1. Also shown is an original drum magazine, a more common form of feeding the gun was via a 50 round belt.

Your comments:

• The name of this gun is the root of the expression "Null-Acht-Fuffzehn", still used in to-day German. If something is "Null-Acht-Fuffzehn", it is of dull standard, cheap low quality, boaring drill.
  .......... Claus Mayer, Schweinfurt, Germany, 17th of November 2014
  
  

A1278