French Resistance, Mauser K98k 1939 Sadly this old warrior will not fire again, but its one of our most recent barn finds and probably our most interesting. This is its story............ Following the Japanese invasion of China in 1937 a need for arms, led the Chinese government under Chiang Kai-Shek to seek arms from Germany. The Mauser Oberndorf factory was contracted to produce Mauser 7.92 mm rifles during the period 1937-39. However after the Japanese Government protested to its ally Germany concerning these sales, the exports were eventually stopped after much subterfuge on the behalf go Mauser to continue the supply. It is thought that some of these rifles remained in Germany and after the outbreak of war in Europe found their way into the supply chain of the German armed Forces. Jump forward now to 19 January 1944 Adolph Hitler declared fourteen places along the Atlantic Wall to be fortresses (festungen) and to be held until the last man—the so-called Atlantikfestungen. Their purpose was to prevent the Allies from re-supplying their armies after the invasion of France and to secure the continued use of U-Boats in the Battle of the Atlantic. One of these was the city of Royan in France, located at the mouth of the river Gironde. It was heavily fortified and its heavy gun Batteries, together with those on the opposite bank at Pointe de Grave protected access to the inland port of Bordeaux with its U-Boat pens. The artillery garrison at Royan was Marine Artillerie Abteilung - MAA284. This was supported by various Kreigsmarine land and seaborne forces. After the liberation of Brest on 19 September 1944, the Allies decided to lay siege to the remaining pockets and not to take them by force. Royan with its garrison of 5,500 Germans was besieged by French forces, principally by groups of the French Resistance (Forces Françaises de lintérieur (FFI). From January 1945 Royan was heavily bombed by Allied aircraft with heavy civilian and military casualties before falling to French forces on 20 April 1945. It was during this siege that our Rifle came into the hands of a young volunteer of the FFI. When the war finished in May 1945, it use was over and eventually it was hidden away in a Farm barn where it remained until very recently, still owned by that same French man, not 10 miles from Royan. This is it today. Mauser K98k Serial number 235 e On its receiver and stock it bears the Mauser banner trade mark. It is marked with the Nationalist Chinese Sunburst symbol in all of the places you would expect to see the Waffen Amt inspection and acceptance marks of the German Armed forces. Its serial number 235 e is to be found on the majority of component pieces and also externally and internally on the wooden stock and hand guard. However its stock bears the Kreigsmarine Eagle M III acceptance stamp and the stock disk bears the N 31087 Nordsee Fleet issue serial number. These markings conclusively prove that the Chinese Mausers did serve with the German armed forces during WW2 Its woodwork is in excellent condition, sadly corrosion to the metal work prohibits its use as a firearm, however it is a fantastic historical piece which we treasure As to the young French mans, Kreigsmarine P08, well thats another story......
Posted on: Sun, 21 Dec 2014 09:11:07 +0000
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