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Nazi Rifle

Started by Cassia, October 07, 2020, 11:01:55 AM

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Cassia

My brother picked up a rifle at a garage sale. He asked me to research it. Wow ! This turns out to be very interesting. By investigating alpha-numeric codes stamped in the metal it is a Model K98 Mauser that was manufactured during 1940 in Germany's Black Forest in a small town called Oberndorf. So looking at pictures I noticed that this rifle was 'different' than most. The stock is red-tinted and the metal parts look to be painted black, instead of the silver colored bare metal. Well it turns out that rifles like that were captured by the Russians. They picked up all the Nazi rifles from the battlefield, took them apart and preserved the stocks with red varnish and painted the metal to prevent rust and then put them back together hodgepodge-like (the serial numbers on parts no longer match) and then stored them. Even more interesting, they hated the Nazis so much they took the trouble to apply a hammer and a punch to deface the tiny swastikas that were stamped on the barrel. Wow. My imagination was reeling....What was the fate of the German soldier who carried that gun on that long trek eastward? Was he involved in that epic battle of Stalingrad? We will never know, except it is very probable his life was ended violently. I any event it is worth around 4x the price paid.

Mike Cl

Takes me back to childhood.  I was probably 8/10 and was playing in the woods near my grandparents farm 20 miles north of Portland.  Stumbled upon an abandoned house--had to investigate, of course.  Found two WWII German helmets.  One belonged to a grunt, but it had his name printed on the inside of the helmet.  The other was a lighter green and was slightly lighter and was an officers helmet.  I also found a small postcard pack (all attached in a foldout fashion) of German WWII scenes of them entering conquered cities.  One photo caught my eye of Paris--a nude woman in front of a German army formation going down an avenue in Paris.  Anyway, I also found a cut and polished rock.  I have none of those items now, which is too bad. 
Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?<br />Then he is not omnipotent,<br />Is he able but not willing?<br />Then whence cometh evil?<br />Is he neither able or willing?<br />Then why call him god?

Baruch

A lot of Mausers were converted to civilian use and exported after WW II.  My first hunting rifle (used to target shoot only) was one of those Mausers.  The best example was the Walther pistol my mother's cousin found in Germany in WW II, the US soldiers were looking for contraband, including guns.  The family had hid the pistol in their coal bin.  I got to see it in 1965 (20 years later).  Before I sold off my edged weapons, I had a lot of items from Germany.  My favorite was my 1890s period US cavalry saber.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

drunkenshoe

Oh, wow. I would think of the same things about what happened to the soldier. And I would keep coming back to it as I remembered.
"his philosophy was a mixture of three famous schools -the cynics, the stoics and the epicureans-and summed up all three of them in his famous phrase, 'you can't trust any bugger further than you can throw him, and there's nothing you can do about it, so let's have a drink.'" terry pratchett

Cassia

Quote from: drunkenshoe on October 09, 2020, 04:44:31 PM
Oh, wow. I would think of the same things about what happened to the soldier. And I would keep coming back to it as I remembered.
While I was looking around the internet at rifles, I saw that around the times of WW1 the Ottoman Empire used their own version of this gun called a "Turkish Mauser". It is very similar. The seller included some bullets in the deal and sure enough there is a 'moon and star' stamped on the bottom that reminds me of the Turkish flag. Now I want a second career as a museum curator. :asmile:

Baruch

Museum curator could be very frustrating, for protection of the artifacts, there is no touching ;-(
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Cassia

The German soldiers of WWII took such severe casualties and major losses yet they basically stayed intact as a fighting force until the very end. The film and images of ragtag old men, bandaged soldiers, and young boys defending Berlin are hard to look at. Misguided loyalty becomes a terrible vice when a seemingly fine trait is exploited. Loyalty, faith, and obedience should never crush reason. I was reading how a few German generals disobeyed direct orders from the Führer himself and saved many soldier's lives.

Baruch

#7
The Germans are not totally wrong, nobody is.  The Americans are not totally right, nobody is.  My sympathy (after the fighting stops) is with all the fighting men.  The political leaders who create wars ... no sympathy at all.  Let them all burn in Hell.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwKPFT-RioU

Even if all the casualties were military, which they are not.  War is the prime example of the depravity of humanity, and the glory of humanity.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.