Where did the K.S. Mausers go?
This is my opinion, informed by some research but most probably quite wide of the truth.
According to the book: Urgent Imperial Service - South African Forces in German South West Africa 1914-1915, D L'Ange, Ashanti 1991, ISBN 1 874800227.
The Germans were centered at Tsumeb
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Here is L'Ange's description from the point of view of the UDF prisoners of were that were held at Tsumeb:
"On June 22 Grant was told to vacate the room in which he had been living in the hotel at Tsumeb as it was wanted for Colonel Franke, who was moving his headquarters to Tsumeb. Grant was accommodated in a little wood-and-iron cottage beside the prison compound.
The approach of the Union forces was now producing increasingly visible effects on Tsumeb. The prisoners saw huge quantities of stores and weapons being destroyed or hauled away.
‘Wagonloads have been going all day and for the greater part of the night,’ Grant wrote on July 3. One of the things destroyed was the yellow Taube aircraft that the prisoners had seen at the airstrip when they had been taken to work there. The prisoners had always made a point of doing as little work as possible on such occasions, and now the guards made even less effort than before to get them to work.
Artillery pieces and other weapons were being dumped in the deep lake near Tsumeb, the Osikotosee. Grant says some materials were being put in the copper mine, but he may have been confused with the dumping in the lake."
The surrender of the German forces to the UDF at Khorab is described in this post:
Khorab, a farm oasis 2.6 km north of Otavi, Namibia, hosts a monument commemorating negotiations between South African and German troops fighting in World War I. These led to the surrender of around 4,000 German soldiers in what was known as the Treaty of Khorab. (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khorab_Memorial retrieved on 14 January 2024)
So there seems to have been several thousand Mausers in the Tsumeb area that became extra to requirements.
The previous image that I have posted of the discovery of many rusted rifles at Tsumeb, some 40 miles from the point of surrender, could account for a number of them.
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Geographic dispersion of the Khorab memorial, Tsumeb and the Ojikoto Lake.
Distances from the Khorab point of surrender to Tsumeb, 40 miles, Tsumeb to lake Otjikoto, 12 miles.
Then there is the age old custom of troops taking trophies home and we can assume that a few Mausers found their way back to South Africa. ( The UDF troops were demobilized at Tsumeb and had to find their way home After a three year journey a relative got home to Carolina, a distance of some 1500 miles from Tsumeb, with his horse and the most beautiful Mauser rifle.)
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According to L'Ange: "Almost everybody brought back a souvenir of some kind - a German Mauser or bayonet or a piece of shrapnel that had nearly killed its present custodian, a fragment from a mine or a signboard in German."
The Mauser, as the weapon of choice in the Second Boer war, is a mythical weapon in the South African memory. The Boer forces used the Spanish Mauser in 7x57mm caliber, as used against the US forces at San Juan and Kettle hill. (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7×57mm_Mauser#Military_use retrieved 14 on January 2024)
During the Second Boer War the war slogan was "With God and the Mauser", there even was a flaky "prophet" Seer van Rensburg, who foresaw the Germans coming to the Boer forces aid with brand new Mausers via Luderitzcbucht! (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siener_van_Rensburg retrieved on 14 January 2024) Thus the possession of a Mauser was a matter of great prestige and a very handy companion when hunting.
So far we have many German arms surrendered to the UDF but there were there attempts to hide arms and equipment, including the dumping of materiel into the Otjikoto lake.
"The lake still bears a large quantity of arms and ammunition, left by the German troops before capitulating to the South African superiority in 1915. As the lake is open to diving clubs some of the weapons have been recovered and after careful restoration can be seen at the Tsumeb Museum."
(
https://www.info-namibia.com/activities-and-places-of-interest/otavi/lake-otjikoto#:~:text=The lake still bears a, seen at the Tsumeb Museum. retrieved on 14 January 2024)
After the Frist World War surplus Mausers, that fell into the use of the UDF, were sold of to civilians, each rifle, with 100 rounds of ammunition, for 10 Pounds.
Combined with the souvenirs that the troops took home we now have a number of Mausers in private ownership.
Then came the Second World War and there is a reasonably good overview of the applicable Emergency Measures given here: (The Smuts Government’s justification of the emergency regulations and the impact thereof on the Ossewa-Brandwag, 1939 to 1945,
Anna La Grange1 North-West University, Scientia Militaria, South African Journal of Military Studies, Vol 4S, Nr 2, 2020. https://www.ajol.info/index.php/smsajms/article/view/230364 retrieved on 14 January 2024)
The salient point of these Emergency Regulations is the following:
"A further embodiment of the emergency regulations was to claim all private firearms under Proclamation 139 of 1940. The motivation behind this was possibly to prevent an armed uprising. Nevertheless, the Smuts government maintained that the motivation behind this was that the government needed the weapons in the war against Germany. By August 1940, about 88 000 firearms had already been confiscated. Many more would follow, as the war would last until 1945."
Thus many, but not all, of the privately owned Mausers were confiscated, the fact that I have a 1901 KS Mauser as well as a 1897 Lee Enfield proves this point, but both of these were in possession of farmers in remote areas or, as in the case of the Lee Enfield, my late grandmother was notified to surrender the rifle or a policeman would be sent to confiscate it, she relied : " I have the rife, I also have 18 rounds of ammunition, send 19 policemen." ( The Mauser that was carried by horse to Carolina, as described above, was lost during this process.)
Many of these Mausers remained in DSWA/Namibia but were sporterised and used for hunting and sports shooting, my late Windhoek based father in law had such a rifle.
So there could be good reason for the limited number of K.S Mausers in circulation and that makes it all the more important to preserve these old war horses and to regularly shoot them.
This is only my opinion, I may be totally wrong!
