1914 WMO Gew 98 Koln Rework & Saxon unit marked

[cj556]

I picked this one up a while back on Gunbroker.
Jordan spotted it and did some research on the unit marking and convinced me to buy it. Thanks Jordan! The gun is mostly matching with the bolt being a Danzig mfg. depot replacement. The bolt knob is renumered to match but the other parts are mismatched of course. The listing called this a mismatched bolt but I could tell from the photos it was a depot rework. Rear sight slider and front sight are mismatched also but the other parts are matching. Buttplate is “4” marked denoting rework at Koln. Now onto the unit marking. The gun was issued to the 244th Reserve infantry regiment, a Saxon regiment raised in 1914. The 244th started the war w/ the 53rd Reserve division fighting against the British at Ypres. In September, 1916 they faced the French on the Somme and lost 400 prisoners in an attack. In 1917 the regiment was transferred to the newly formed 96th Division and finished the war on the Eastern Front.

 

[cj556]

More photos

 

[chrisftk]

That's a nice one Marc; I had forgotten that you hadn't posted it yet.

The unit mark is always a cool addition. I've got a few of these higher wartime regiment rifles and I find them interesting when they show up.

Of note, there are many Köln-marked rifles, but you don't see nearly as many with only Köln work. This is a good representation of the later.

I like the salty untouched look. I'm glad you got it out for pics.

 

[PrayingMantis]

A cool one for sure, thanks for posting! I’ll get it in the reference.
Also note that the barrel bands were renumbered in the rework. The front is an Amberg and the rear an earlier WMO.

 

[37th Div Ohio]

Very nice pick up Marc!

 

[joryfreeburg]

That’s a nice one Marc….Cool find

 

[cj556]

Thank you Chris, Matt, Cyrus and Jory!

 

[krukster86]

Nice pickup. Interesting marking on the bolt handle knob. I haven't seen that before.

 

[hale1940]

Nice one Marc! Relatively complete 1914’s aren’t the easiest to find.

Fyi, I was actually bidding on this one too. Glad you got it though

 

[cj556]

Nice pickup. Interesting marking on the bolt handle knob. I haven't seen that before.

Thanks Mark! I’ve seen a fair number of these depot reworked guns with bolts being renumbered in such a manner

Nice one Marc! Relatively complete 1914’s aren’t the easiest to find.

Fyi, I was actually bidding on this one too. Glad you got it though

Thanks Hale. I didn’t realize we were bidding against each other and I apologize .

 

[mauser1908]

This is another nice one, Marc!

I think it’s very useful to gather data on the depot. All too often these bolt knob renumbers are seen m/m; or when matching are polluted by another depot. Köln was one of the sloppiest, I would bet bolts were the only part where they applied a fresh number, they seemed to use over-stamps on the other major parts. There seems to be a lack of renumbering of small items.

 

[OnlyMil]

Another nice unit marked example thanks for sharing Marc.

When they say they lost 400 prisoners, does that mean that 400 men were taken prisoner or they somehow lost/let go 400 Allied soldiers (or they died)?

 

[cj556]

This is another nice one, Marc!

I think it’s very useful to gather data on the depot. All too often these bolt knob renumbers are seen m/m; or when matching are polluted by another depot. Köln was one of the sloppiest, I would bet bolts were the only part where they applied a fresh number, they seemed to use over-stamps on the other major parts. There seems to be a lack of renumbering of small items.

Thanks Sam!

Another nice unit marked example thanks for sharing Marc.

When they say they lost 400 prisoners, does that mean that 400 men were taken prisoner or they somehow lost/let go 400 Allied soldiers (or they died)?

Thanks Alex. On the prisoner thing my assumption is they lost 400 men taken prisoner to the French. The information above from “The 251 German Divisions” doesn’t expand much but I’m sure there are sources in German that do expand more on it.

 

[Warrior1354]

Well, I can't take all the correct for spotting it you know! Glad you got it the end. Have to say 1914 is one of my favorite Gewehr 98 years to collect.