Maschinengewehr 08

Infobox Weapon
name= Maschinengewehr 08


caption= MG08 with optical sight.
origin=flagcountry|German Empire
type= Heavy machine gun
is_ranged=yes
service=1908-1942
used_by=See Users
wars=World War I, World War II
designer=
design_date=
manufacturer=Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken,Spandau and Erfurt Arsenals.
unit_cost=
production_date=
number=
variants=MG08/15, lMG08/15, LMG08/15
weight=62 kg (136.7 lb)
length=
part_length=
width=
height=
diameter=
crew=
cartridge=7.92x57mm Mauser
caliber=
action=
rate=400 rounds/min
velocity=900 m/s (2953 ft/s)
range=2200 yards (or 2012 meters)
max_range=4000 yards (or 3658 meters)
feed=250-round fabric belt
sights=

The Maschinengewehr 08, or MG08, was the German Army's standard machine gun in World War I and is an almost direct copy of Hiram S. Maxim's original 1884 Maxim Gun. It was produced in a number of variants during the war. The MG08 remained in service until the outbreak of the Second World War due to a shortage of its successor, the MG34. It was retired from front-line service by 1942.

The Maschinengewehr 08 (or MG08)—so-named after 1908, its year of adoption—was a development of the license made Maschinengewehr 01. It could reach a firing rate of up to 400 rounds per minute using 250-round fabric belts of 7.92 mm ammunition, although sustained firing would lead to over-heating; it was water-cooled using a jacket around the barrel that held approximately one gallon.

The MG08, like the Maxim Gun, operated on the basis of short barrel recoil and a toggle lock; once cocked and fired the MG08 would continue firing rounds until the trigger was released. Its practical range was estimated at some 2,200 yards up to an extreme range of 4,000 yards. The MG08 was mounted on a sled mount ("Schlitten") that was ferried between locations either on carts or else carried above men's shoulders in the manner of a stretcher.

Pre-war production was by "Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken" (DWM) in Berlin and the government arsenal at Spandau (so that the gun was often referred to as a Spandau MG08). When the war began in August 1914, approximately 12,000 MG08s were available to battlefield units; production, at numerous factories, was however markedly ramped up during wartime. In 1914 some 200 MG08s were produced each month; by 1916 — once the weapon had established itself as the pre-eminent defensive battlefield weapon — the number had increased to 3,000; and a year later to 14,400 per month.

MG08/15

A lightened and thus more portable version of the MG08 was designed in 1915 — the MG08/15 —. It had been designed to be fired by infantrymen spread on the ground around the gun and in the prone position. To accomplish that purpose it featured a short bipod ,rather than a heavy sled mount, plus a wooden gunstock and a pistol grip. At 18 kg, The MG08/15 was lighter and less cumbersome than the standard MG08 since the MG08/15 had been designed to provide increased mobility of infantry automatic fire. It nevertheless remained a bulky water-cooled weapon which was quite demanding on the quality and training of its crews. Accurate fire was difficult to achieve and usually in short bursts only. It was first introduced in battle during the French "Chemin des Dames" offensive in April 1917 where it contributed to the very high casualty count among the French assailants. Its deployment in increasingly large numbers in all front line infantry regiments continued in 1917 and during the German offensives of the spring and summer of 1918. The MG08/15 became, by far, the most common German machine gun deployed in WW-1 (Dolf Goldsmith,1989) since it reached a full allocation of 6 guns per company or 72 per regiment in 1918 . By that time the normal regimental machine gun allocation had become : 4 light MG08/15's to each heavy MG08. To reach this goal about 130,000 MG08/15 had to be manufactured during WW-1 , most of them by the Spandau and Erfurt government arsenals.

The designation lives on as an idiom in the German language, 08/15 ("Null-acht-fünfzehn") being used like an adjective to denote something 'standardized', unremarkable or generic.ecame

Later versions

A lightened air-cooled version, the lMG08/15, (with a lower case 'L', not an upper case "i"), was developed as a fixed aircraft weapon and was used on the Fokker Eindecker as early as the autumn of 1915. This version eliminated the stock, grip, and bipod and perforated the water jacket to allow the air flowing around the aircraft to provide cooling. Early examples of this gun had a design flaw in that too much of the jacket had been slotted, resulting in firearms that could fall apart while being fired in aerial combat, which resulted in a revised cooling jacket having less extensive slotting, that did not run all the way fore and aft on the jacket. Its fully rectangular receiver, as seen from the side, distinguishes it from the later, and more robust version, the LMG08/15, which had a notably lightened receiver, trimmed down on both upper and lower surfaces, which quickly superseded it. The capital "L" on the later version is variously described as standing for "leicht" (light), "luft" (air), or "luftgekühlt" (air cooled). Also see Maxim Tokarev.

In the summer of 1918 an air-cooled and more mobile model — the MG08/18, weighing 15 kg — entered into production. A lighter weapon , it was intended to progressively replace the MG08/15 for forward use in infantry regiments. The Armistice of November 11, 1918 put an end to this project.

Users

*flagcountry|Austria-Hungary
*flagcountry|Belgium
*flagcountry|Finland
*flagcountry|German Empire
*flagcountry|Norway

ee also

*Kjellman machine gun
*Schwarzlose MG M.07/12
*Vickers machine gun
*M1917 Browning machine gun

References

*

External links

* [http://www.thetankmaster.com/english/afv/maxim_mg08.asp The German Maxim Machine Gun, Model of 1908 – Walk around photos]