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Battle damaged rifles and accessories (please add yours!)

UVF Gew.98

Well-known member
Battle field recovery and battle damaged rifles have always fascinated me. These are the weapons that you know played their part, along with the men that carried them in some of the most important and horrific points in history.

I have a number of German weapons, some with battle damage that I would like to share. I would also like you to add yours - whatever they are, and whatever era they come from

I will start with my battle damaged rifles....

1) Danzig 1912/15, duffle cut with shrapnel damage to stock (pictured with shrapnel damaged S98 bayonet, not associated with the rifle). Rifle has a very good bore, and is all matching (one screw proofed but never numbered - this would be an armourers replacement)

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2) Spandau 71/84, matching apart from bolt head, extractor and ejector.

This rifle would have been loaded when struck (no mark on the opposite side of the mag tube, vice marks in stock and elevator cam broken presumably when removing damaged rounds).

It has its magazine follower, numbered to the rifle, but no spring attached.

Note the forward sling swivel is considerably twisted, it was possibly slung when hit?

In the last picture it is the bottom 71/84

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3) possible shrapnel hit 71/84 (mis match mag tube only). Unsure if shrapnel was the cause, but to me it looks likely. Pictured along with previously detailed rifle. It is the top rifle when there are two 71/84's together

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4) M1918. All matching apart from firing pin. Appears to have been hit twice, once on the comb and once on the receiver (the shrapnel shattered the stock but barely managed to leave a mark on the receiver! The impact on the very, very hard receiver is pictured)

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5) Possible shrapnel hit on JG m71? Or possibly a bayonet/sword cut? There are a couple of very deep cuts in the vicinity, with one side displaying a very neat, sharp cut before the chunk of wood was torn out.

Rifle has mis matched bolt and rear sight leaves.

The wrist is also badly cracked, I suspect at the same time, as it appears to have been broken rather than simply split due to recoil.

I will take better pictures soon


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6) Kar.98AZ brought from the veterans family (Frederick John Taddisson).

Rifle is all matched. It had a bent barrel when I got her (bore never cleaned and badly pitted). The bend is kind of visible in the before cleaning picture.

There are no marks on the stock to indicate it received any impact heavy enough to bend. One theory is over-zealous bayonet practice/use, or someone falling heavily digging the muzzle into the ground.

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7) possible battle damage?

K98k brought back by August G Fink, purchased from his estate.

Rifle is all matching.

Knife like cut to hand guard. May/may not be battle damage, but stands out as it is relatively deep. I need to take better pictures

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8) Berthier carbine, duffle cut bring back with barrel bulge and clip of original rounds.

This one was most likely fired again after the previous round failed to leave the barrel. Presumably this one was then abandoned (note front sight pinged off due to bulge!)

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9) Boer 1896

Stock damaged and re-shaped by Boer soldier, large gashes in hand guard.

Rifle is all matching. Marked on stock with Boer name and, impressed (was written in pencil), D.S.BROWN, RSF, V VI 00

Unfortunately it isn't possible to photograph, only to read when moving around in the light. The roman numerals I presume to be the date it was captured (5th June 1900, battle of Pretoria). Rifle is all matching including cleaning rod.

I haven't got photos of the damage, I will add

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10) ZAR Martini, with capture plaque (and museum tag).

No damage.

Plaque, what is readable, reads 'captured at the fort by WS May 1900'.

There are lines between which have been polished away over time.

It is marked on the stock W.Smith, which matches initials on the plaque. With thanks to Dave George, I now know that this was taken from Johannesburg Fort, where it would have been used by the state artillery.

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Here are a few items I have.

July 1944 dated Type 14 Nambu with grenade/mortar damage. With a 19.7 date (July 44) that doesn't leave too many major conflicts where this could have happened.
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Japanese Type 26 revolver with a solid shrapnel hit. Broke the ejector, locked up the action, unfired round still in the cylinder.
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32nd series, Toyo Kogyo Type 99. This one appears to have had a run in with a flamethrower or some such device.
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M1919 barrel, either 1942 or 1943 dated, wouldn't have wanted to be the operator on this one.
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German map case with 1944 dated maps of the Ardennes with troop positions marked. Appears a small fragment passed through the front of the case and out the back.
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10) ZAR Martini, with capture plaque (and museum tag).

No damage.

Plaque, what is readable, reads 'captured at the fort by WS May 1900'.

There are lines between which have been polished away over time.

It is marked on the stock W.Smith, which matches initials on the plaque. With thanks to Dave George, I now know that this was taken from Johannesburg Fort, where it would have been used by the state artillery.

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Fantastic collection UVF! A real treat for the eyes.I love the boer rifle and the martini best they look great.
 
Sorry guys,

I didn't get any notifications of replies.

Thanks Deadeye, the rifle appears in Dave Georges new book - along with a photo taken at Johannesburg fort - of British soldiers destroying a huge amount of the rifles captured there.

Unfortunately he wasn't able to trace the man the rifle was taken by.

Deadeye - wow! What fantastic pieces you have, thanks for sharing. They all have a story to tell, but that M1919 barrel.....jeez that is incredibly heavy battle damage. looks like shrapnel and bullet strikes.

I wouldn't have liked to have been any of their owners, but the rifles by far the least. Flamethrower damage is something I have never seen before, very very nasty indeed.

Incredible pieces to say the very least. The way that round has permanently been crushed into the cylinder is amazing
 
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~A couple of pictures of Johannesburg Fort (built as a prison before being converted into a fort, then used as a prison again by the British when the occupied it).

Sadly no details appear to survive about when the fort was captured. But I presume it wouldn't have been given up without a fight (the Martini action is very nearly clogged up with black powder residue)
 
Here are my two.

I grabbed it a few years ago, a bottom of the barrel 1942 Izhvesk M38 refurb, matched with black paint on it. Seller didn't recognize anything notable.
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Looks like a bullet to me...
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I picked this up at a gunshow 8 or so years ago. Its a Soviet M44 with no import marks. Bolt is mismatched, finish is basically gone. When I bought it (for $40?), it was missing the bolt head, I guess in an effort to demil it. It took a high velocity impact to the front end. I presume it to be a bullet or shell fragment.

Overall shot
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Receiver markings:
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sheared off bayonet mount, cracked stock, split handguard, dented metal:
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Hello guys,

here is one bayonet from my collection. To understand this damage we have to look at some history first.

Its a Seitengewehr 98 old pattern marked to the 2. east asian infantry regiment out of the imperial germen east asian expeditionary corps. These troops would fight in the famous Boxer rebellion 1899-1901 in China.
The imperial german army had just adopted the Mauser Rifle 98 together with the Bayonet 98 in 1898 and the Boxer rebellion would be the first battle experience with the new rifle and bayonet.
It went very well for the rifle but the bayonet was criticized a lot by the troops for being to weak to withstand the impact of bayonet fighting. There are a lot of records of the tang bending under pressure and the one piece wooden handle cracking, especially when fighting the Boxers in their thick winter clothing. These complains were taken serious and the army would adopt the Seitengewehr 98 new pattern in 1902 with a stronger tang and a two piece wood handle.

My east asian marked Seitengewehr 98 old pattern is exactly bent and cracked the way that the sources describe the damaged bayonets. So it is likely that this happened during action in China.


With kind regards

Vincent
 

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Once again thank you all - this page is fast turning into an online museum with some of the best battle damaged pieces I have ever seen.

I recently visited the Royal Green Jackets museum, one display comprised of two MG08's they had captured (and the full story behind when and where). One of the 08's had a couple of .303 hits through its water jacket. I took some photos but somehow they have vanished
 
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Floor plate mismatch/front band unnnumbered Posen Depot XXI build of a bcd41 receiver. Stock date translates to 1/14/42. Shrapnel damage to trigger guard and stock cut out area.

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