German Trench Fighting with the M1898AZ

Germany’s Elite Stormtroopers and the Short Barrel Karabiner

Sep 27, 2008 Nicholas Efstathiou

The majority of the German Army in WWI was armed with the standard M1898 Mauser rifle, but by war's end the attack units carried the smaller K.98AZ for trench combat.

In August of 1914 only a small number of units in active duty and reserve forces of the Kaiserheer, Germany’s Imperial Army, did not use the standard M1898 Mauser. Cavalry, artillery, and cyclist units, as well as sharpshooters were equipped with the Karabiner 98AZ. The K.98AZ (Karabiner 98 mit Aufplanz – und Zusammensetzvorrichtung) was a smaller version of the Mauser company’s M1898 rifle.

The K.98AZ

The K.98AZ, when compared to the M1898, had an overall length, according to Ian Drury in his work German Stormtroopers, 1914-1918, of 1,090mm. This made the K.98AZ nearly 200mm shorter than the M1898. Also, the barrel length of the K.98AZ was only 590mm in contrast to the 600mm barrel length of the M1898.

The K.98AZ weighed nearly 4kg and fired rimless 7.92mm rounds, the bullets an impressive .311 caliber. Rounds came in groupings of five, bound together via brass clips. The K.98AZ, like the M1898, was side-loaded through the weapon’s stock. This led to rapid reloading, but the K.98AZ and the M1898’s need to have the bolt-action retracted frequently led to jams due to dirt or sub-par ammunition.

In spite of these issues concerning loading and possible malfunction of the weapon, Major Ernst Rohr, creator of the first Stormtrooper units, saw the K.98AZ’s potential as a trench weapon.

Stormtroopers and the K.98AZ

The tactical goals of Stormtroopers, and the Stormtrooper’s raison d’etre, centered upon speed. Stormtroopers could perform such tasks as trench raiding, patrolling, reconnaissance, and large scale attacks. Each of these tasks required specific weapons and skills. Stormtroopers needed to be physically superior soldiers as well as men who could adapt and lead when necessary. Decisions were made quickly in the heat of battle in the close confines of enemy trenches.

The trenches themselves dictated the types of weapons the Stormtroopers would favor: pistols, trench knives, war-clubs, sharpened shovels, grenades, and the K.98AZ. All of these weapons were designed or adapted for trench fighting. For the German Stormtrooper, trench fighting was a combination of two central factors.

The first of these factors was speed in conjunction with ferocity. Stormtroopers needed to have the physical ability and the mental will to deliver violent attacks in close quarters where they could actually look at and touch the men they were trying to kill. The second of these factors was the ability to bring a significant weight of firepower into the trenches themselves.

While grenades would allow for the rolling-up of a trench, and the MG ‘08/18 machinegun would help secure areas once taken, the K.98AZ served an important role when the fighting took place in open stretches of trench. For short distances the K.98AZ was a strong, accurate carbine. The weapon’s shorter length and ease of fire allowed it to function admirably in the fluid, but violent and confined space of trench warfare.

Sources

Drury, Ian. German Stormtroopers, 1914-1918. Britain: Osprey, 1996.

The copyright of the article German Trench Fighting with the M1898AZ in Military History is owned by Nicholas Efstathiou. Permission to republish German Trench Fighting with the M1898AZ in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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