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{{Short description|German
{{Infobox weapon
|name= ''Maschinengewehr'' 08
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}}
The '''
==History==
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The German Rifle Commission began firing tests of the [[Maxim gun]] at [[Sarbinowo, Gmina Dębno|Zorndorf]] in 1889.{{sfn|Bull|2016|p=10}} In 1892, [[Ludwig Loewe]]'s company signed a seven-year contract with [[Hiram Maxim]] for production of the gun in [[Berlin]].{{sfn|Bull|2016|p=10}} The [[Imperial German Navy]] ordered Maxim guns from Loewe in 1894.{{sfn|Bull|2016|p=11}} The Navy deployed them on the decks of ships and for use in amphibious warfare.{{sfn|Bull|2016|p=11}} In 1896, Loewe founded a new subsidiary, the ''[[Deutsche Waffen- und Munitionsfabriken]]'' (DWM), to handle production.{{sfn|Bull|2016|p=11}} The agreement with Maxim concluded in 1898 and DWM received orders from Austria-Hungary, Argentina, Switzerland and Russia.{{sfn|Bull|2016|p=11}}
The [[German Army (German Empire)|Imperial German Army]] first considered using the Maxim gun as an artillery weapon{{sfn|Bull|2016|p=11}} The German light infantry ''[[Jäger (infantry)|Jäger]]'' troops began trials of the gun in 1898.{{sfn|Bull|2016|p=11}} The [[Guards Corps (German Empire)|Guards Corps]], [[II Corps (German Empire)|
The Army purchased the modified MG 99 and MG 01 versions of the Maxim gun from DWM in limited quantities.{{sfn|Bull|2016|p=12}} The MG 99 introduced the sled mount that would remain standard in the MG 08.{{sfn|Bull|2016|p=12}} The MG 01 added lightweight spoked wheels, making possible the pushing and pulling of the weapon.{{sfn|Bull|2016|p=12}} The MG 01 was also exported to Chile and Bulgaria.{{sfn|Bull|2016|p=12}} By 1903, the German Army had 11 machine-gun detachments serving with cavalry divisions.{{sfn|Bull|2016|p=13}}
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The MG 08, like the Maxim gun, operated on the basis of short barrel recoil and a toggle lock. Once cocked and fired the MG 08 would continue firing rounds until the trigger was released or until all available ammunition was expended.
The standard iron sightline
The MG 08 was mounted on a sled mount (''{{
Pre-war production was by ''[[Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken]]'' (DWM) in [[Berlin]] and by the government [[Spandau arsenal]] (so the gun was often referred to as the ''Spandau MG 08''). When the war began in August 1914, 4,411 MG 08s were available to battlefield units. Production at numerous factories was markedly ramped up during wartime. In 1914, some 200 MG 08s 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 in 1917 to 14,400 per month.
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=== Idiom ===
The designation 08/15 lives on as an [[idiom]] in colloquial German, ''nullachtfünfzehn'' ({{ill|08/15 (Redewendung)|de|lt=zero-eight-fifteen}}, pronounced ''[[wikt:nullachtfünfzehn|Null-acht-fünfzehn]]''), being used
The name of the weapon (''null-acht-fünfzehn'') originally became a slang term in the German Army in the Second World War. Because of the 08/15's tendency to jam, German soldiers used the name of the gun to refer to any thing that went wrong in their Army experiences.<ref>Houlihan, Thomas ''Kriegsprache: Glossary of World War II German Military-and Period-Specific Words, Phrases and Abbreviations for Historians, Researchers and Hobbyists.'' Maps at War, Lake Orion, Michigan, 2009. ISBN 978-0-578-01849-2 </ref>
== Aircraft versions ==
===lMG 08===
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It is a common misconception that the tubes or chutes coming out of the fixed mounted aviation LMG 08/15 fixed guns were for expended cartridge cases. In actuality these attachments were for guiding the empty cartridge belts into a container inside the fuselage of the aircraft so that the belts would not interfere with the operation of the aircraft. As the entire MG 08 ''Spandau'' family of German machine guns ejected their empty cartridge cases forward through a round hole in the receiver's lower forward surface, immediately under the aft end of the barrel's cylindrical cooling-jacket (as can be clearly seen on many videos), these cartridge cases were guided out of the aircraft (except on Martin Kreutzer-designed Fokker biplane fighter aircraft, and the Fokker fighters designed by Kreutzer's successor [[Reinhold Platz]]) through tubes from under the barrel to the bottom of the fuselage. With Fokker designed aircraft following the Eindecker, the cartridge cases were ejected without tubes from the receiver hole directly into open trays that guided the tumbling cartridge cases backward and sideways onto the sloped fuselage decking, which then streamed down past the cockpit on either side. These trays are clearly visible in photographs but have rarely been recognized for their purpose.
[[File:
[[Hermann Göring]], who flew both the [[Fokker Dr.I]] and [[Fokker D.VII]] was so annoyed with the case tumbling out in front of him that he had deflectors made on his aircraft to ensure the empty cartridge cases did not find their way into his cockpit. On photographs of Göring's aircraft these plates, seen only on his aircraft, are very prevalent and have even been recognized in scale models of his aircraft copying his particular planes, but even then most historians have failed to recognize their purpose. Both empty belt guides and trays were attached directly to the machine guns rather than to the aircraft. In the famous film showing Australian officers handling the LMG 08/15s from Baron von Richthofen's crashed triplane, the Fokker type belt tubes/chutes and empty cartridge trays can be clearly seen still attached to the guns.{{citation needed|date=August 2015}}
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== Anti-tank and anti-aircraft variant ==
A variant chambered in the same [[13.2mm TuF|13.2 x 92 mm SR round]] as the [[13.2 mm Rifle Anti-Tank (Mauser)|{{convert|13.2|mm|in|abbr=on|3}} Mauser Anti-Tank Rifle]] was introduced in 1918. Designated '''[[MG 18 TuF]]''' ({{
== Chinese version ==
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*{{flag|Bulgaria}}{{Sfn|Bull|2016|p=12}}
*{{Flag|Chile}}{{Sfn|Bull|2016|p=12}}
*{{Flag|Czechoslovakia}}: The MG08/15 was in use after independence<ref>{{Cite web |title=Czechoslovak Weapons of World War II: part 1: Czechoslovakia was well-armed and fortified before World War II, but appeasers in Britain and France pulled the rug out, making "Munich" a synonym for betrayal. - Free Online Library |url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Czechoslovak+Weapons+of+World+War+II:+part+1:+Czechoslovakia+was...-a0501831675 |access-date=2022-12-30 |website=www.thefreelibrary.com}}</ref>
*{{flag|Finland}}: MG-08 and MG-15 versions used by Finland as late as [[Continuation War]].<ref>{{cite web|date=4 November 2017|title=Machine Guns, part 2|url=https://www.jaegerplatoon.net/MG2.htm}}</ref>
*{{flag|France}}: MG-08 and 08/15 versions were captured and used by French forces in WW1 and afterwards. <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gettyimages.ch/detail/nachrichtenfoto/french-soldiers-use-captured-german-maschinengewehr-08-nachrichtenfoto/3243820?language=en|title=French soldiers use captured German Maschinengewehr 08 machine guns}}</ref>
*{{flag|German Empire}}{{Sfn|Bull|2016|p=11}}
*{{flag|Indonesia}}: Used Chinese Type 24.{{Sfn|Bull|2016|p=6}}
*{{Flag|Latvia}}:
*{{flag|Lithuania}}:<ref>{{cite journal|title=The military situation in the Baltic States|first=Edgars
*{{flag|Nazi Germany}}{{Sfn|Bull|2016|p=65}}
*{{flag|Netherlands}}: Ex-German MG 08s confiscated at the end of WWI entered Dutch service in 1925 in the light anti-aircraft role, with the designation M.25.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.waroverholland.nl/index.php?page=dutch-heavy-and-light-machineguns|title=Dutch machineguns [War over Holland - May 1940: the Dutch struggle]|website=www.waroverholland.nl|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203002106/http://www.waroverholland.nl/index.php?page=dutch-heavy-and-light-machineguns|archive-date=2013-12-03}}</ref>
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*{{flag|Malaysia}}: Used Chinese Type 24.{{Sfn|Bull|2016|p=6}}
*{{flag|Manchukuo}}: Chinese-made Type 24s<ref>{{cite book|last=Jowett|first=Philip S.|title=Rays of the rising sun : armed forces of Japan's Asian allies, 1931-45|publisher=Helion|year=2004|isbn=9781906033781|volume=1, China & Manchukuo|page=15}}</ref>
*{{flag|Republic of China}}: Made under license as the Type 24 heavy machine gun.<ref name="Chinese Army">{{cite book|last=Jowett|first=Philip|title=The Chinese Army 1937–49: World War II and Civil War|date=10 Jul 2005|publisher=[[Osprey Publishing]]|isbn=9781841769042|series=Men-at-Arms 424|page=19}}</ref> Imported MG08/15 machine guns also used during [[Second Sino-Japanese War]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Shih |first1=Bin |title=China's Small Arms of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) |isbn=979-8473557848 |pages=299–300|edition=2021}}</ref>
*{{Flag|Russian Empire}}{{Sfn|Bull|2016|p=11}}
*{{Flag|Switzerland}}{{Sfn|Bull|2016|p=11}}
*
*{{flag|Vietnam}}: The [[Viet Minh]] used Chinese Type 24 during the [[First Indochina War]],<ref>{{cite book|title=Personal firepower|first=Edward Clinton|last=Ezell|publisher=Bantam Books|year=1988|series=The Illustrated history of the Vietnam War 15|oclc=1036801376|url=https://archive.org/details/personalfirepowe00ezel|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/personalfirepowe00ezel/page/34 34]|isbn=9780553345490}}</ref> as did the [[Viet Cong]] during the [[Vietnam War]].<ref name="Smith">{{cite book|last=Smith|first=Joseph E.|title=Small Arms of the World|url=https://archive.org/details/smallarmsofworld00smit|url-access=registration|edition =11|location=Harrisburg, Pennsylvania|publisher= The Stackpole Company|year=1969| page=[https://archive.org/details/smallarmsofworld00smit/page/719 719]|isbn=9780811715669}}</ref>
*
==Conflicts==
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* [[German Revolution]]
* [[Finnish Civil War]]
* [[Greater Poland uprising (1918–1919)|Greater Poland Uprising]]
* [[Silesian Uprisings]]
* [[Polish–Soviet War]]
* [[Spanish Civil War]]<ref>The Spanish Civil War 1936–39 (2): Republican Forces - Alejandro de Quesada - Knihy Google</ref>
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{{WWIGermanInfWeaponsNav}}
{{WWIIChineseInfantryWeapons}}
{{WWIIGermanInfWeapons}}{{Maximgunnavbox}}{{DEFAULTSORT:MG 08}}
[[Category:8 mm machine guns]]
[[Category:7.92×57mm Mauser machine guns]]
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