Earliest Spanish contract MG34

[me6_130]

I've been to the regional Military Museum of the Canary Islands this morning. I wanted to revise the MG34s they had there and I got a good surprise: They had a "new" one!!!! Took some pics and went back to download them. When listed I realised it is the earliest produced of the 1943 Spanish Contract I have seen: 936 1940 number 6876 e. It was covered with a thick layer of dry oil or paint...

Carles

[FestungSpanien]

Nice early one
For being an spanish contract one shouldn't it be marked as such instead of the 936 code as seen on later ones?

I bet it is full number matching down to the barrel!

[me6_130]

It's stamped with the export "Konstruktion Rheinmetall-Borsig" on the top cover but I was mostly interested in the maker and serial#. Unfortunately the buttstock is not matching, but it is a metal tipped reinforced one. It was still wrapped in plastic bubble paper and the museum personnel hadn't opened it.


Carles

[me6_130]

The other three MG34 in the museum are also mostly matching. I also found an MP40:


Carles

[me6_130]

I'm just back from the Canary Islands...and just before I left I was able to shoot some pics of two MG34s in some army barracks and not only that

Carles

[FestungSpanien]

Thanks for sharing and for taking the time to take these pictures.
Pictures are not the best but glad to see pieces like these are saved and not destroyed
What's with the MG34 to the right in the second picture? Seems like she is rusted to death

[me6_130]

Up to date I have listed 56 Spanish 1943 contract MG34s.

Out of these:
-1 was produced in 1940,
-3 in 1941,
-8 in 1942 and
-44 in 1943.

By producers:
-48 are dot
-5 are dfb/936
-3 are cra

Of the presumed total of 425 bought by the Spanish army, of these 56 only 2 are panzermantel (tanker version) and all the other 54 are standard.

Carles

[k98]

My dfb

Ei Carles !
Per si un cas no la tens en el teu llistat !!!!
My dfb 40 of spanish contract all matching except the bolt !

[k98]

More details

My theory is that it was at dot factory for refurbishing and once it was repaired it was redirected to Spain

[me6_130]

No la tenía, gràcies.

What makes you think it was repaired in Brno before resending to Spain? I would think the buttstock isn't matching either, you can see one part is numbered 1874 and the font of the s/n on the wood is quite different also. Does it have the export "Konstruktion Rheinmetall-Borsig" on the top cover?

Carles

[k98]

My theory

Its just my own theory, the majority of mg34 of spanish contract were dot43, so for me its obvious that all the spanish contract (mg34) comes exclusively from dot Factory, probably they also repair mgs 34 damaged from war there and simply include them in the shipment

[me6_130]

I would think that the largest part of the lot did come from dot factory and then was completed with MG34s available in storage facilities, from other factories. I don't remember now when the other factories stopped producing MG34s but the contract was signed late 1943, so that would explain why they are mostly from Brno. I believe that, except for some large artillery (refurbished captured pieces) most of the equipment bought in the 1943 contract was brand new. Most of those dot 1943 MGs are in the b batch, but there are also some a, c and 1 d

The total of MG34s in the Spanish contract would have been 425: 375 for the 750 sidecar BMW R75 motos (1 for every 2 motos), 10 for the 10 StuG III and 40 panzermantel MGs for the 20 PzKpfw IV. That same year Portugal bought 1000 MG34s and those were all brand new.


Carles

[k98]

Details

Details

[Alan Smith]

What is the significance of the "Rheinmetall-Borsig" markings placed on the top cover? Clearly, Rheinmetall-Borsig did not manufacture the MG34 (it is a BSW/Gustoff Werke gun), with the "Rhenimetall-Borsig" markings added.

What role did Rheinmetall-Borsig play in the sales to Spain and/or Portugal? Are the MG34 top cover markings (with the word "Konstruktion") intended to suggest that the weapons were manufactured by RB?

[me6_130]

I don't know what intention they had when they decided to stamp the Rheinmetall-Borsig on these MG34s, but it is only present on Spanish and Portuguese export MGs, as far as I know. I have no news of Finnish or Hungarian contract MG34s. Perhaps because they were non belligerent countries the MGs had to bear a producers stamp and the German Government decided that one would be OK...I don't really know, it is independent of who the real producer was. It is not present on my panzermantel MG34s, perhaps these were delivered directly with the tanks and didn't go through the same export procedures.

Folke Myrvan mentions that at Rheinmetall he "found a couple of folders dealing with the shipping of military equipment to Portugal. Not only the MG34s but [...] a lot of other equipment." Perhaps Rheinmetall was the company that did all the export paperwork, so they had to stamp their name on the guns...?


Carles