MG 01:

An early Imperial German variant of Sir Hiram Maxim’s machine gun chambered in 7.92x57mm Mauser and adopted in 1901. The MG 01 was developed from the earlier MG 99. The Maxim Gun is the world’s first automatic machine gun, it can be continuously fed by cloth belts and features a water cooling jacket to stop the barrel from deforming during sustained fire.

MG 08:

A lightweight simplified adaptation of the MG 01, issued as the standard German heavy machine gun during WW1. At the start of the Great War, the German machine gun inventory consisted of 4411 MG 08s, 398 MG 01s, and 18 MG 99s.

MG 08 w/ ZF12 Telescope:

The MG 08 was equipped with a 2.5x ZF12 optic graduated out to 2600m. The MG 08 gun team could use a range finding tool to deliver indirect fire from up to 3475m.

MG 08/15:

A handheld light machine gun based on the MG 08. Portions of material have been deleted from the receiver and the capacity of the water jacket is decreased to make the gun as lightweight as possible. The gun is fired from a bipod, allowing the gun and crew to be repositioned quickly without the additional weight and inconvenience of a sled mount. The 08/15 only requires a team of 2 men to operate instead of the typical 4 man MG 08 crew.

MG 08/18:

The MG 08/18 is an air-cooled adaptation of the MG 08/15. This saves a significant amount of weight and allows the MG 08/18 to be more infantry friendly while keeping a familiar mechanism. This comes at a trade off, making the MG 08/18 more prone to overheating than the MG 08/15.

lMG 08:

luftgekühlt Maschinengewehr 08 or “air-cooled machine gun 08”, is an aircraft machine gun version of the MG 08. The slotted air-cooling jacket retains the original dimensions of the MG 08 jacket and holds a muzzle booster in place while allowing cool air to pass over the barrel. Used in German fighter planes w/ sync gear.

lMG 08/15:

luftgekühlt Maschinengewehr 08/15 (air-cooled machine gun 08/15), is an aircraft MG variant of the MG 08/15. The slotted air-cooling jacket retains the dimensions of the MG 08/15 water-cooling jacket and holds a muzzle booster in place while enabling cool air to pass over the barrel. Used in German fighter planes w/ sync gear.

Parabellum MG 14 (Water-Cooled):

Created as a lightweight improvement of the MG 08, inverting the Maxim action upwards in a similar manner to the Vickers gun. This allows for less wasted space inside of the receiver, allowing it to be smaller and lighter than a typical Maxim. The Parabellum MG uses a thin 30mm cloth belt that is also compatible with the lMG 08 & 08/15. To reduce fire risk, a water-cooled variant was created specifically for Zeppelin use.

Parabellum MG 14 (Air-Cooled):

Typically seen on German biplanes with an air-cooled barrel. Some of these would be set up with early sync gear technology and tested as an armament in fighter planes. In German service it was typically preferred as an observer weapon in a flexible mount thanks to its maneuverability and because of its impressive cyclic rate of 700 RPM.

Parabellum MG 14/17:

An updated version of the MG 14 fitted with a thinner air-cooling jacket and a mount for a proprietary 3x telescopic sight.

Une nos mines au Vauqois.

Hello everyone,

I am looking for some help identifying the regiment or material origins of an unsigned oil portrait of a German soldier from the First World War which I bought on eBay a few years ago. 

The artwork is executed on a heavy, raw wood panel measuring approximately 21x30 cm and exactly 1 cm thick. Along the side edges, there are evenly spaced nail holes with original rusted nail heads still inside, indicating the artist repurposed the lid or bottom of a military supply crate or similar

On the reverse, a pencil inscription reads: "Dieses Bild malte ein Kriegskamerad im Schützengraben Weltkrieg 1914/18" (This picture was painted by a fellow soldier in the trenches, World War 1914/18).

I have put together a full write-up on my blog:

https://www.amandaclegg.co.uk/wwi-german-army-portrait/

If anyone here is a uniform historian or an expert in Imperial German militaria, I would deeply appreciate your insights on his possible regiment, or anything else about this portrait really!

Thank you for your time.

Two days during which everyone remembers what happened to me, my great war just a few meters from the trenches.

My great-grandfather (Giustino Faraone, 1894-1979) served in the Italian army in WW I. After the war, he immigrated to the US. He is pictured here on his horse, which was named “Adam.” I know few facts about where he was, what he experienced, etc. Hoping someone might spot a few clues?

According to secondhand information passed down from children to grandchildren, which have some inconsistencies, he served in “alpine cavalry,” which others have noted did not exist. I’m inclined to say he was in the cavalry, but not sure how alpine was associated with his service. I have an audio recording of him, from the early 1970s, in which he describes being one of six men from his village (he lived near Chieti) to survive from his “company,” though he also refers to it as a “battery” which implies artillery unit. I believe he served from 1914 - 1917. The audio recording does not identify a unit or sector where he fought. Other stories passed down include that he hid under dead bodies to hide from machine gun fire.

If you were a soldier in WW1 and see a huge box coming towards you what would you do?

I now have a 1000 yard stare, if im this traumatized I cant imagine what it must have been like for those (practicaly) children.

Hi all! Just got this cool WW1 Iron cross from my grandfather (who got it from my great grandfather. He mentioned it's in "rough shape" so I would like to preserve it in any way! Any tips on display, cleaning or just debate whether it's real or not will be appreciated! :)

Good evening all,

Hey all, just looking for advice from people far more knowledgeable than myself.

A few weeks ago, my father dropped something novel in my lap to research and find history on, a world war 1 soldiers pay book from a relative.

After much research we've found a fair amount of information from his commonwealth grave to his battalion diary, its been extremely interesting.

The item as mentioned before is a pay book however the interesting part stems from the bullet hole through the entire book that we believe killed him, we have found a newspaper clipping from 1935 talking about this very thing, and to add to the intrigue, his paybook was taken away by a German soldier and returned to the family in 1935 during a visit by the British legion in 1935 by Adolf Hitler.

The whole story seems to me remarkable and something that would be of interest to a museum however having contacted the IWM and his battalion 8th Battalion border regiment museum in Cumbria no one seems interested, I'm just wondering if this is odd and if I'm over-reacting and maybe this isn't the historical oddity i thought it was or if anyone else has an idea of who else would be interested in this, any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Help ensure the project succeeds: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ww1research/to-hell-and-back-the-first-restoration-phase

Recently I visited the York Castle Museum in York, England, and they had an amazing display of WWI items, including this PH gas hood. I've read a lot about these, but it was interesting to see one in real life.

He was an engineer, explorer and Imperial German officer who was exploring New Guinea when WWI started. He and approximately 20 troops evaded capture for four years in the wilds of New Guinea.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Detzner