Mg08

pcmg%2091_zpstbvmbf3s.jpg
 
This is indeed a great 'capture trophy' heaven image. The Canadians kept and I believe still have the excellent original registers where all the WWI trophy stuff was donated. Some you can see capture details painted and it makes me cry to see all the slings - a very hard accessory to find nowadays! MG08/15s are still quite common in Canada so who knows!!!!
Mark
 
MG1918 said:
The Canadians kept and I believe still have the excellent original registers where all the WWI trophy stuff was donated.
Click to expand...

Yes, the records still exist - they are housed at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa.

http://www.warmuseum.ca/firstworldwar/history/after-the-war/history/war-trophies/

To put things in perspective, a quote from the above website -

"At war’s end, Sir Arthur Doughty, the Dominion Archivist, was named Controller of War Trophies and charged with gathering trophies and bringing them back to Canada. While many Canadian trophies were sent to the Imperial War Museum, thousands returned to Ottawa. In early 1920, the government’s official collection consisted of 516 guns, 304 trench mortars, 3,500 light and heavy machine-guns, and 44 aircraft."

As an aside there is at least one MG08 (that I am aware of) in a museum in Saskatoon. Another interesting (but unfortunate) fact - there was a Fokker Dr.1 triplane war trophy that was scrapped in Saskatoon back in the 1950's because of poor condition and lack of public interest..
 
Great info. So first question - did Canada ever go through 'scrapping/melting' surplus WWI War Trophys for the WWII War Effort? If not then there must be a great deal still around?? If so do the records show how many!
Mark
 
MG1918 said:
Great info. So first question - did Canada ever go through 'scrapping/melting' surplus WWI War Trophys for the WWII War Effort? If not then there must be a great deal still around?? If so do the records show how many!
Mark
Click to expand...

The local museum corresponded with the Canadian War Museum in the late 1970's to trace the lineage of it's MG08. The records received only covered the original disposition of the war trophies from the Government in the 1920's and nothing after that.
I suspect alot of captured material was processed during WWII, motivated by patriotism, a little irony and as a subtle way for WWI vets to contribute to the 'new war'. I have seen a few newspaper clippings from WWII with titles like 'Relic Hun Guns Donated To Scrap Drive Help Beat Nazi Menace' and 'Kaiser Bill's Steel Helps Beat Hitler' about rural towns scrapping WWI relics for the war effort. There is a picture out there of a group of WWI vets acting as scrap drive 'wardens' standing around a field piece in Ontario with the inscription - 'Return To Sender' written on the barrel. I know there were 2 German field pieces in the small town where I grew up that were sent to the scrap drives in WWII.

As for availability, there was at least one for sale (lightly de-milled) in a Calgary antique store a few years ago for something like $6,000 CDN.
 
Last edited:
About twenty year ago there was M08 sleigh mount with its legs set in concrete at the bend in the highway through Franktown ON less the gun. Knowing what it was my wife and I stopped to take a look at it and It looked reasonably complete. No plaque or signage saying why a MG08 mount ended up stuck in cement in Franktown but there it was non the less and I surmise the mount "had" the MG at one time but being attractive that vanished in the dark of night to god only knows where. My understanding is the awarding of captured guns and field pieces post First World War across Canada was pro-rated by how much an area, town or city had contributed to the war effort in men or material. I infoed the guy at the Canadian War Museum who should have been on the ball to acguire the mount but they never followed up and now its gone, I cannot shake the feeling that some municipal work crew was dispatched to "get that old piece of crap" off the grassed corner and keep things tidy for the lawn mowing guy.
 
Last edited:
From what I've read, trophies that were not part of war memorials were mostly scrapped in WWII. In some places they quickly made them part of their war memorials to avoid that. It was a stupid move, but a lot of the stay-at-homes from WWI were happy to see them gone I'm sure. One of them being the then Prime Minister, Mr. Mackenzie-King who spent WWI working for John D. Rockefeller on "industrial relations" and later became famous for talking to his cat, his dead mother and thinking Mr. Hitler was the saviour of his people.

Typical Liberal!
 
Last edited:
It is difficult isn't it? There are so many factors for museums, authorities, veterans, even collectors to consider. Several generations on most people in any country do not see the need for a machine gun to be displayed as a memorial, a great shame but reality. crikey some children do not even know the dates of the First World War.
I just wish that if these memorials are to be terminated they are at least given a chance to be 'saved' by someone. It appears in many cases this does not happen.
 
It's a great resource to show what was brought back. I understand why most of it was turned into scrap for the war effort but 100 years on I wish it was overlooked.

oNzc8jV.jpg
 
I remember as a kid in Summerland in the early 70s running around my Grandparents farm with my uncle and his MG08/15 playing 'army'; I remember that stock and thinking, 'what a crazy shape'. I'll have to ask him whatever happened to it.

And I just saw the MG08/15 thread....

Cheers
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom