By chance, not on purpose, it turned out that when I was preparing the first materials of the series "About Mauser with Love", which were published here on VO in due time, three Spanish Mauser of excellent safety fell into my hands at once. Well, and of course, having held on to them, I hastened to tell not so much about the Mauser rifles in Spain, but about my impression of them. But now the time has come to delve into the "theory" in some way. And we, dear visitors of the VO website, have a wonderful opportunity to admire the Spanish beauties of 1936-1938. with Mausers in hand. Spanish women are, of course, a separate issue. But it's connected with weapons. When I was there, I noticed how old women there are … nondescript. However, many young people too. But for some reason, only beauties served in the police there. Such a policeman rides a bicycle, in a white shirt, in blue shorts, in white knee-highs, with a club and handcuffs on the belt, behind a ponytail to the rump … Also in the Civil Guard - there is something to see! So the thought involuntarily creeps in that the police and "Guard Civil" girls in Spain are taken only for external data. But this is now. And then, during the Civil War in Spain, judging by the photographs, Spanish women finally escaped from the Catholic house building and … began to participate in the country's public life with arms in the most active way. Probably, they wanted power. And it is said - "the rifle gives rise to power!" And so it turned out that this very rifle, which equalized women and men in Spain, became … the Mauser rifle!
Mauser rifles directly related to Spain (from right to left!): M1888 Mauser, M1893 "Spanish Mauser"; "Spanish Mauser" М1916 "first model"; "Spanish Mauser М1916" second model "; German Mauser, supplied to Franco by his German ally.
Well, now let's look at another important circumstance. There are small countries that have played a big role in history. For example, Switzerland became the birthplace of the infantry, which crushed the knightly cavalry. But Spain also played a completely unique role in the proliferation of bolt action rifles, a role so important that it is almost impossible to exaggerate. Well, when the numerous colonial possessions of Spain in America followed her example, and it came to buying rifles, then … for the Mauser company they became a truly “gold mine”. Moreover, Spain's close relations with these countries continued even after most of these countries gained independence.
Why, yes, because people are "big monkeys." Spain adopted a Remington rifle with a crane valve, and the countries of Central and South America also adopted it in imitation of their "mother country". But then history repeated itself with the Mauser rifle, as Spain "set an example." In the previous articles in this series, it was just described in great detail how many rifles went to the Caribbean and South America. That is, the Mauser firm, one might say, flourished precisely at the expense of all these countries, and then Czechoslovakia began to produce rifles for them in the same way!
The device of the Spanish Mauser M1893.
This Spanish influence extended even to the United States - something Spain would never have expected, nor would have wanted. Although it was defeated during the Spanish-American War, the famous Spanish Mauser impressed American soldiers fighting in Cuba so much that the United States quickly adopted its own Mauser, the Springfield, model of 1903, for which they then paid patent royalties to Mauser for many decades, thus replenishing the German treasury, and these payments continued even during the First World War, when Germany and the United States were at war with each other. For it is said "a fight is a fight, but give me the money!"
Here, for example, is a Spanish silver coin that is directly related to the history of Spanish arms. It was the presence of colonies that allowed the Spaniards to buy all the best, modern and expensive. The two pillars on the coin have long been part of the Spanish royal coat of arms, but after the voyage of Columbus, they began to symbolize two parts of Spain: Europe and America. Moreover, many historians even believe that these two pillars formed the basis of the two vertical bars on the US dollar ($) symbol.
8 reales 1818, silver 903, weight - 27 grams, diameter - 38.5 mm. Mexico City Mint. reign of King Ferdinand VII. They were minted in 1811 - 1821.
Then, of course, she became poorer, but not enough to buy the worst. And having conceived the next rearmament of its army, Spain began by purchasing a model of 1887 for testing, but it did not satisfy her. The 1891 model of the year chambered for 7, 65x53 mm (similar to the Turkish model) was tested in a carbine version with a characteristic front sight guard. Then the model of 1892 was purchased (in the version of a rifle and a carbine), and that, in turn, is almost identical to the Argentine Mauser of 1891), only they acquired it in relatively small quantities. Although, how small? According to the Spanish author Bernardo Barcelo Ruby, 10,000 brand new Mauser carbines, including the M1891 "long rifles", were sent to Cuba during the Spanish-American war and then captured by the Americans.
And finally, the women with rifles: a Spanish Republican with a Mauser rifle and mono overalls.
Then they purchased the M1893, which was named the "Spanish" Mauser (that is, the 1890 model, which is identical to the Turkish 1890 model), and entered service under the designation "Fusil Mauser Español Modelo 1892". But in this case, the example itself was important! Well, and it got its name "Spanish" because of the new 7x57 mm cartridge, with which the M1893 model was widely recognized as the best military rifle of its time. It was originally produced by Ludwig Loewe and D. W. M., but then, starting in 1896, its production was transferred to the Spanish arsenal in Oviedo. A total of 1,275,000 of these rifles were produced! A cavalry carbine of the same caliber was put into service in 1895 and from 1896 to 1915 by Ludwig Loewe & Co, by order of Spain, five thousand copies were produced. Later in 1896-1915. its production was carried out by the company "Fabrica Nacional de Armas", where more than 20 thousand of them were produced, or rather - 22,500 carbines!
The stigma of the Spanish Mauser rifles of 1894. In this case, it is applied to the chamber of the M1891 cavalry carbine. Manufactured by Ludwig Loewe.
What makes the Model 1893 "Spanish" Mauser so special? The fact is that it was the first Mauser with a magazine in which the cartridges were staggered. It was a surprisingly comfortable and elegant design for the time. These were the first 7x57 mm Mausers to be seen in action as the main infantry combat weapon in a serious military conflict. And the world was quite impressed with what it saw!
Another beauty with a Mauser!
The rifle performed so well in the Spanish-American War that the United States military used captured Mausers after the cessation of hostilities in their army, using parts from broken rifles to repair the rest. This repair program provided the United States with more than 7,000 rifles, which were then retained as a strategic stockpile.
Here with Mauser they are all: it is not surprising that there were not enough rifles at the front!
During the Spanish Civil War, when the Nationalists (who were mostly army officers) supplied their troops with weapons from their own arsenals, and also received them from their fascist allies in Germany and Italy, the Republicans had a hard time. That is, they also captured many government arsenals. But all the same, they constantly lacked weapons, which was used by his merchants around the world. Since all transactions for its sale were in violation of the international embargo aimed at ending the conflict, the most amazing ways were taken to get around it. Moreover, the weapon was transported through the most exotic foreign ports, on the ships of Liberia and Panama, and the money for it was usually laundered in Finland, which brought her huge profits! However, it was said that money does not smell, so what are we talking about ?!
And these residents of Barcelona even decided not to wear mono. The main thing is to have a rifle and learn how to shoot from it!
As an example, consider one such deal, which involved the delivery of Model 1927 Paraguayan Mauser to Republicans. On January 15, 1937, Erich Thorvald, an arms dealer in Paraguay working with the Spanish government, bought a large number of rifles left over from the recently ended Gran Chaco War. These weapons were sent to Buenos Aires, where they were loaded aboard the ship "Hercules", bound for the free city of Danzing, controlled, however, by the mandate of the League of Nations by the Polish administration, where they were loaded onto another ship and sent to Helsinki. The accompanying documents claimed that all the weapons were damaged and sent to Helsinki "for recovery" and a possible return to Paraguay. But in fact, the rifles were transported to Tallinn, Estonia, where in September 1937 they were once again loaded onto a ship bound for Spain. This delivery included 7119 Paraguayan Mauser 7.65 mm caliber. In the spring of 1938, the nationalists were confused, having met so many rifles of this caliber at the front from the Republicans, but could not understand where they came from, and, accordingly, complain about the violation of the embargo in the press. And no one knew that they received these rifles from Paraguay through the mediation of Poland and Estonia.
They are trained in shooting from a short rifle М1916, "the first model".
It should be added here that Poland received a lot of all kinds of weapons as foreign aid after the First World War, and she had to put all these reserves somewhere. Indeed, by the end of the 1930s, Poland had launched the production of its own Mauser, and the Spanish Civil War for her was just a gift of fate. Therefore, all Russian rifles of the 1891 model, inherited from the warehouses of the tsarist era, as well as as trophies after the defeat of the unsuccessful "campaign to Warsaw" in 1920, were sold, of course, to the republicans. There was one more reason that made the republicans, the Poles, and the leadership of the USSR very happy. The caliber of all these rifles was 7.62 mm, so they could all shoot with our Soviet cartridges!
Republican army snipers on the Aragonese front during the Spanish Civil War, September 11, 1936.
