OT - German machine gun
 

I met a retired British Army Officer today who showed me an original photo he took from a captured German soldier. I made a copy. Anyone know what type of gun this is?

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2157/...50022ff0_z.jpg

It looks like a maxim to me, MG 08 World War 1 era http://www.militaryfactory.com/small...maxim-mg08.jpg

My vote would be Maxim.

Sir Peter Downward is ringing huge bells too.

Wasn't he close to Arthur Harris? I know he has DSO, DFC after his name too.:confused:

google brought me here: http://okwsociety.com/default.aspx?ArticleID=26

Might be worth a read if you can get a copy.

Maxim.

looks to me that it might be firing a longer bullet though?

Doubt it, it just looks that way because the original photo is using the more modern metal link while the second one is using the ww1 standard cloth belt, which is wider.

The original shows the mounting configured for AA use, in case anyone was wondering.

Thats the watercooled Version of the Maschinengewehr 08/15, which was in fact build upon a Maxim license bought by Imperial Germany before WW1.
It was built by the Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken (DWM) in Berlin and the government arsenal at Spandau,so that the gun was often referred to as a Spandau MG 08.
It fired the German Army Rifle round 8x57IS. Rate of Fire was about 450 rounds/min.

yeah I was about to say Spandau :)

FPS russia just posted a video with this machine gun! what a coincidence :twisted:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqq2a..._entertainment