Earliest Spanish contract MG34

[me6_130]

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

Sorry about the pics but they where not taken in a studio, so conditions were not the best

Both MGs were fixed to the wall by some clamps and haven't been cleaned in years. I had to close the top cover of one of them, after turning the feed block from right feed to left. They are not in so bad condition as can be seen in the pics. Light wasn't good and they have a very light layer of rust.

Carles

[me6_130]

I also had a technical problem...I broke my camera two days before I shot these pics, so I had to use my laptop for the job...

BTW, both bipods were kur43.


Carles

[FestungSpanien]

Thanks again for the pictures and for sharing them

[me6_130]

Thanks again for the pictures and for sharing them

Your welcome. Just trying to fill in blanks in history books. BTW there is a list of German equipment Spain bought in 1943, in the Spanish Wiki version:

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plan_B%C3%A4r_Espa%C3%B1a

More Spanish contract items here:

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...ghlight=goloso


Carles

[me6_130]

Good news. I've been travelling around Spain for some days (see link) and I have found several MG34s in military installations. My main interest is their serial numbers, dates and makers, so I can extract some conclusions.

These in the pics are mostly matching. They are not available to public due to poor state but interesting to study. Seems they were collected from several military barracks, where they were decorating.

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...=649712&page=3


Carles

[me6_130]

I've been revising my list:

Of the presumed total of 425 bought by the Spanish army in 1943 (385 should be standard and 40 panzermantel), I've got an updated list of 63 of them.

By producers:

-52 are dot: 2 in 1941, 3 in 1942, 47 in 1943
-8 are dfb/936: 2 in 1940, 1 in 1941, 5 in 1942.
-3 are cra: 2 in 1942, 1 in 1943.

By production year:

-2 were produced in 1940,
-3 in 1941,
-10 in 1942 and
-48 in 1943.

of these 63 listed, only 2 are panzermantel (tanker version) and all the other 61 are standard.


BTW, I have seen around in several webs that MG34s were used in the Spanish Civil War as a standard MG of the Condor Legion infantry. I have found no proof of such thing and I would guess that someone confused MG13s with MG34s. I can imagine some MG34 would have been field-tested in Spain but no proof found either. If any member has any information about that I would like some confirmation, thanks.

Carles