K98 sent home from Normandy france, 1944

[jjjxlr8]

This is a German K98 Mauser that was picked up from under a dead German soldier by one of the members of the 506th Squadran 404th Fighter Bomber Group in Normandy France near Omaha Beach in 1944.

The interesting (and disturbing!) thing about this rifle is that it, along with a bayonet, leather ammo pouch, and a P38, was buried in the ground prior to shipping back to the US to try to get rid of the stench of decaying human flesh. The leather ammo pouch still smells foul even after all of these years.

[BarryinIN]

Cool rifle. Cool story too.

That late front band looks so crude after getting used to seeing the milled ones, doesn't it?

[G-MAN]

Cool rifle. Cool story too.

That late front band looks so crude after getting used to seeing the milled ones, doesn't it?

I was thinking the same thing. The early 98 Mausers were finished to very high standards with relatively good polish jobs and deep bluing. This 1943 gun shows just how badly these guns were being thrown together by then. Look at the tool marks on the barrel and receiver.

[BarryinIN]

I was also thinking how much worse they got. That one is a pretty good example of a middle ground rifle as far as that went, I suppose.

[jjjxlr8]

Here's the letter from the Veteran.

The P38 (listed as German 'revolver') in the letter is still being used by the family, today, to kill livestock on their farm!!

[BarryinIN]

Neat letter. If it hasn't been already, a copy needs to go to one of the historical cataloguing places like the the National WWII Museum in New Orleans that Stephen Ambrose helped start. At one time, I know they were accepting any letters, recordings, or written stories by WWII veterans. They even had a phone number they could call to leave a recorded recollection.

http://www.nationalww2museum.org/index.html

"revolver"

I wonder how many things were misidentified on bring-back papers. A friend of mine and his brother decided to find the Luger their dad brought back from Italy. All they found was a .32 Ortgies pistol they had never heard him mention. When they finally checked the paperwork their dad still had from bringing it home, the serial numbers matched. That was the "Luger".

I've heard other stories of people finding the "German .22 rifle" grandpa brought home, only to be surprised it was a short carbine made by Beretta- with two triggers. You can guess what the second trigger was for if you don't know. It made it go burp.

Side note-

I was looking for a Mannlicher-Shoenauer carbine a few years ago. I kept finding them that had the full-length stock cut off. Why this crime? I learned soon enough that a lot of them were bring-backs at the end of the war, as they were pretty popular in Austria and Germany before the war. The cut was so the stock would fit in a standard footlocker when the action and stock were separated.

[Pablo]

I can almost smell it here now.

Burying it? Not sure why that would work!

[jjjxlr8]

Yeah, "duffle cuts" are fairly common on bringback rifles. The stocks were often cut down to fit in duffle bags, etc. Fortunately the K98 above was shipped back in a crate without any cuts.

Here's a K43 bring back with a well done duffle cut and subsequent repair.

(Bottom one has the duffle cut stock)