Nov 15: Light machine-guns desperately needed: the machine-gun crisis of 1915 and the lMG 08/15
It was Robert Watson-Watt, Winston Churchill’s scientific advisor, who said: “Give me the third best technology. The second best won’t be ready in time. The best will never be ready.” The German procurement authorities followed this motto in the development and production of the MG 08/15, the heaviest “light” machine gun of its day. For the big battles of 1915 had shown that the MG 08 alone “could not carry out all the tasks which had to be mastered by a fully automatic weapon”. With its sledge mount, the weapon was too heavy. At least three men were required to move the machine gun and its ammunition into position. As well, setting up the sledge in the cratered terrain of the Western Front was difficult and its range of traverse was inadequate. The captured Madsen machine guns were only a stopgap.
The most important differences between the MG 08/15 and MG 08 were:
- The diameter of the barrel water jacket was reduced from 13.46 cm to 8.89 cm.
- This also resulted in a reduction in capacity from 3.98 to 2.48 litres.
- Thicknesses of the side walls of the receiver (breech casing) were reduced from 4 to 3 mm.
- Ejector tube and ejector spring eliminated. Instead there was a simple hole in the front of the stepped receiver.
- A removable bipod replaced the sledge mount.
- A butt with a very concave end was attached to the rear of the weapon casing as a shoulder stock. In the butt was an “oil tube” with screw cap. Oil could be spread with a brush housed inside.
- A pistol grip with trigger was attached to the receiver bottom. The trigger worked directly on the sear. The safety blocked the trigger.
- Tangent sight with rear sight leaf and slide, with sight marks from 400 to 2,000 meters. The detents cut into the right side of the rear sight leaf also made it possible to adjust the sight in 50 metre steps.
- The belt feed was lighter than on the MG 08, and a rail was attached beneath it as a bracket for the new drum magazine.
- A new MG 08/15 S recoil booster with cone, drainage tube and gas cylinder plug was introduced instead of the previous recoil booster sleeve, race and front sleeve. The front plate was deleted.
- Instead of the 250-round machine gun belt, a drum containing 100 rounds, the “Patronentrommel für M.G.” or “Patronenkasten 16”, was mounted on the magazine bracket on the receiver. With it the machine gun could be operated, at least briefly, by one man.
Also issued was modified “Gurtfüller 16” with which belts could also be unloaded. For the ammunition tended to slide and jam inside the belt container. The belt then had to be unloaded and the ill-fitting rounds checked to ensure that they were seated properly.
In autumn 1917 the MG 08/15 received a special ring sight for engaging aerial targets and a corresponding aircraft sight. At the same time, a tripod for use as a firing platform when engaging aircraft was introduced. The tripod was extensible and foldable. To improve stability, ammunition boxes could be hung on hooks on the legs. The tripod weighed 9 kg. On the first MG 08/15s the manufacturer’s symbol and production year were placed on the fusee spring cover. The lettering was later moved to the receiver top cover. The MG 08/15’s mode of operation was similar to that of the MG 08.
MG 08/15 Specification
Manufacturer: Deutsche Waffen- und Munitionsfabriken Berlin, Gewehrfabrik Spandau et. al.
Operating principle: Recoil loader, short recoil, toggle lock
Calibre: 7.92 mm x 57 IS
Rate of fire: 500 rounds per minute (with Type 08
bolt mechanism)
Ammunition feed: 250 round fabric belt or
Drum (Patronenkasten 16) with 100 rounds
Sight, open: 400 to 2,000 meters
Weight of the “actual machine gun” with coolant: 17.8 kg
Length with recoil booster and shoulder stock: 1,410 mm
Barrel length: 720 mm (without recoil booster)
Right hand twist with 4 grooves
Coolant: 2.84 litres
Steam hose: 0.5 kg
Carrying strap: 0.32 kg
Cover: 1.12 kg
Bipod: 1.10 kg
Total weight: 20.84 kg
The large-scale introduction of the MG 08/15 was originally planned for December 191642. Each infantry company was initially supposed to be equipped with three machine guns with accessories, mounted on Feldwagen 95 wagons. The delayed start of production in February 1917 turned this plan into wastepaper, however. In a War Ministry circular of June 1917, it was admitted that even after four months of production “the formation of the MG force (MG 08/15) […] can only be carried out gradually pursuant to the deliveries of machine guns”. Consequently, the tables of organization also had to be corrected downwards. Valid as of June 1917 was: “After closer determination by the OHL, each infantry regiment on the Western Front will initially receive just 14 [instead of the originally planned 36, the author] MG 08/15s. One of these is for each company, the other two are intended as immediate replacements for those in need of repair. Additional MG 08/15s will be assigned to the infantry regiments as they become available”.
At the end the MG 08/15 was by far Germany’s most-produced machine gun of the First World War. Of the roughly 260,000 machine guns37 produced between August 1914 and November 1918, at least 130,000 were the MG 08/15 type. At least 80,000 of them were built in the last eleven months of the war, between January and November 191839. According to Goldsmith, production was broken down as follows:
Gewehrfabrik Spandau 50,000
Gewehrfabrik Erfurt 33,000
Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg 14,000
(MAN)
Siemens & Halske (S&H) 13,000
J.P. Sauer & Sohn, Suhl 11,000
Rheinische Maschinen & Metallwaarenfabrik 2,000
(Rheinmetall)
Total 130,000
Each factory numbered its production independently, each beginning at one. The numbering was sequential to 9,999. Then, instead of 10,000, they began with one again followed by a small letter.