Maxim 7.92mm Maschinegewehr M/08

The German 08 model of the popular Maxim system machine gun, was the basic German machine gun of the World War I, and also the most widespread model of Maxim MG in the world. 

It was primarily used as a Heavy Machine Gun, on a heavy four-leg sledge-like mount. This mount was heavy yet provided a very stable platform for firing. This mount was capable of both a high as well as a low mounting, and was quick to fold and carry. (It was called a sled because it had the capability of being dragged to forward exposed positions, the front being curved like the front of a snow sled and the folded legs acting like runners.) At the outset of the War, most M/08 came equipped with a Steel Shield, weighing some 25 kilos, that was useful in static positions, but was a great hindrance in more mobile warfare, and thus often "mislaid". The gun itself was a fully automatic, recoil operated Machine Gun, with short recoil and closed bolt. The barrel had four grooves with a right hand twist, and it was water-cooled. (The radiator capacity was four litres.) The MG/08 was very complicated weapon, with as many parts as 236, meaning a big risk for numerous jams. However, with a well trained and careful crew MG/08 was a very reliable weapon, with a excellent accuracy and a high rate of fire. This MG is said to have killed more people than any other single military instrument, and has been called "the most murderous weapon of World War 1".

At the outbreak of the war in, Germany could field 4,918 heavy guns of all types (01, 08 and 09). By July 1916 the Machine Guns deployed (including captured MG:s) had risen to 11,000. By January of 1918 the estimated strength was 32,000. When Germany entered the war in 1914 each Infantry Regiment had 1 MG Company equipped with 6 Guns, with a personell strength of 4 officers, 10 NCO:s and 83 men. (The MG:s and ammo was transported on heavy wagons pulled by 4 horses each.) In 1915 each Regiment was given a 2nd MG Company, and in september 1916 a 3rd, whereafter MG Coys were allocated one to each Batallion. Then, by the spring of 1917, the number of guns per company were raised to 9 per Company, and soon thereafter to 12. By the end of the war, a 12 MG Company had a strength of 4 officers, 7 NCO:s and 113 men.

Tactics also underwent big changes. Instead of guns defending only the areas directly in front their position, the ideal was to construct a series of interlocking fire zones, in order to provide a sort of wall of fire that was connected to neighbouring MG Companies. Thus the middle guns in the Company fired forward, while the guns to the left and right provided enfilading fire.

 For more info see this Link. Or this Russian Link. Or this VERY informative page on the 08/15 variant.

Technical Data