Vietnam1965
Active Member
- Sep 26, 2021
- 362
WWI German war bond rifles. I never really thought much about them but they really are captured war trophies. Here is some interesting info found on the K98 forum: "War Bonds & Surplus:
There is no way to connect these various deactivated rifles to specific bond drives, though it is a pretty sure bet that the rifles with rods in the barrel were the earliest form sold, probably during the war. The rods were probably installed in France and rifles unceremoniously tossed in piles for shipment to the US. These are obviously true bond drive rifles... they fit the general nature of typical bond drives which typically showed used and damaged war material and incentives for generous purchases, though usually helmets and bayonets, not so much rifles. Most of the pictures are in large cities, NY, Milwaukee, Chicago, Cleveland, so they may have not wanted working firearms given out as trophies? (possibly the barrel plugs were to solve this potential conflict with city drives)
These rifles with snipped FP are more likely related to the 1926 distribution of German military surplus the US Army held. At the end of the war massive amounts of German military equipment was hauled back to the US, much of it envisioned as a potential reserve (the US wasn't militaristic or lavish on spending for its standing military, back then Republicans were the least inclined to waste money on arms and the military, matter of fact they led the nation to the international disarmament treaties to prevent, it was thought, future wars. Also under Republican leadership we repudiated Versailles, the League of Nations and signed a separate peace with Germany and then commenced to pay down the war debt "caused" by the Wilson). It wasn't long before this idea was discredited, the war material became a burden, not a war reserve, large warehouses had to be built to house it (NJ), maintenance had to be performed, and it quickly became obsolete, much of it didn't weather the time stored in the open waiting for storage to be built (field kitchens and rust on everything else...). By 1923-24 the storage alone was a burden and the Republican government was pinching pennies, this was an easy fix that no one objected to... a plan was developed to distribute the war material to the states, based upon contribution to the war effort (soldiers from each state), the states would pay transport and they could distribute the material to schools, public building veteran halls, or public sale to defray the costs. I once saw a sale list from Massachusetts that listed tons of crap, even personal equipment, which I thought was strange. Perhaps some garbage left over from the war bond drives. This 1926 distribution was not a war bonds drive, the states managed the whole affair and only transport costs were paid by the states, the states pocketed any profits.
Period military journal literature covers this extensively, it was the large eastern states that got the bulk of the material, the artillery and such, John Wall had a list of what went to each state, I have it somewhere, I doubt the "younger" or western states had enough to sell, most probably went as displays you sometimes see in small communities, or use to. I think these rifles with snipped FP are some of the 70k the US army brought back in 1918 and distributed in 1926. The war bond drives being rifles with the plugged barrels, all of which show battlefield condition when sold, whereas these snipped FP typically are good, mismatched bolts, but generally good. Each state having different rules probably account for the diversity of other conditions". Info from Loewe -moderator of the site. Picture from (Empire Arms). She is going to be a wall hanger with some WW1 war bond posters.
There is no way to connect these various deactivated rifles to specific bond drives, though it is a pretty sure bet that the rifles with rods in the barrel were the earliest form sold, probably during the war. The rods were probably installed in France and rifles unceremoniously tossed in piles for shipment to the US. These are obviously true bond drive rifles... they fit the general nature of typical bond drives which typically showed used and damaged war material and incentives for generous purchases, though usually helmets and bayonets, not so much rifles. Most of the pictures are in large cities, NY, Milwaukee, Chicago, Cleveland, so they may have not wanted working firearms given out as trophies? (possibly the barrel plugs were to solve this potential conflict with city drives)
These rifles with snipped FP are more likely related to the 1926 distribution of German military surplus the US Army held. At the end of the war massive amounts of German military equipment was hauled back to the US, much of it envisioned as a potential reserve (the US wasn't militaristic or lavish on spending for its standing military, back then Republicans were the least inclined to waste money on arms and the military, matter of fact they led the nation to the international disarmament treaties to prevent, it was thought, future wars. Also under Republican leadership we repudiated Versailles, the League of Nations and signed a separate peace with Germany and then commenced to pay down the war debt "caused" by the Wilson). It wasn't long before this idea was discredited, the war material became a burden, not a war reserve, large warehouses had to be built to house it (NJ), maintenance had to be performed, and it quickly became obsolete, much of it didn't weather the time stored in the open waiting for storage to be built (field kitchens and rust on everything else...). By 1923-24 the storage alone was a burden and the Republican government was pinching pennies, this was an easy fix that no one objected to... a plan was developed to distribute the war material to the states, based upon contribution to the war effort (soldiers from each state), the states would pay transport and they could distribute the material to schools, public building veteran halls, or public sale to defray the costs. I once saw a sale list from Massachusetts that listed tons of crap, even personal equipment, which I thought was strange. Perhaps some garbage left over from the war bond drives. This 1926 distribution was not a war bonds drive, the states managed the whole affair and only transport costs were paid by the states, the states pocketed any profits.
Period military journal literature covers this extensively, it was the large eastern states that got the bulk of the material, the artillery and such, John Wall had a list of what went to each state, I have it somewhere, I doubt the "younger" or western states had enough to sell, most probably went as displays you sometimes see in small communities, or use to. I think these rifles with snipped FP are some of the 70k the US army brought back in 1918 and distributed in 1926. The war bond drives being rifles with the plugged barrels, all of which show battlefield condition when sold, whereas these snipped FP typically are good, mismatched bolts, but generally good. Each state having different rules probably account for the diversity of other conditions". Info from Loewe -moderator of the site. Picture from (Empire Arms). She is going to be a wall hanger with some WW1 war bond posters.
