This'll make you wince...

[Anzac15]

A friend of mine told me of a Mauser that he had that his grandfather supposedly brought home after the battle for the Rhine. He wanted to know what type it was, I told him that if it was indeed a Mauser, it was more than likely a k98. He said he thought that's what it was, but it had markings on it that he wanted to know what they meant. So, not being able to resist looking at and researching old military firearms, I told him to bring it to me the next day and I would take a look at it.
The following day he brings me a gun case with the rifle within. I open the case, see the buttplate, instantly know this is no k98. I pull the rifle out, and it an extremely short Mauser. I mean really short. And then I see the crappy aftermarket scope on it, and the PAINTED BROWN cut down wood on it. 'A typical cut down Mauser', I start to say to myself. Then I see the carbine sight, and then I see the Cyrillic script on the left of the receiver. 'Do you mind if I remove this scope and the mounts?' I ask. 'Go ahead', he says. I remove them, and there it is on top of the receiver, the Serbian crest, and Model 1908. This was a Serbian Model of 1908 carbine built by Steyr that had been brought back from the war only to have the wood cut back and painted, the receiver drilled and tapped, and the bolt handle surface ground down to keep from hitting the aforementioned crappy aftermarket scope. I almost cried. The worst part was that the metal on this was flawless, absolutely beautiful bluing, didn't look as if it had ever been fired. It is my understanding that these little carbines are as rare as hen's teeth, and here was one chopped up. I realize that folks didn't give these rifles much thought back in the day, and 'sporterizing' one to obtain a low buck hunting rifle was the norm, but geez..
Anyway, it made me wince. Now I'm somewhat obsessed with finding an original example.
I would love to know how this carbine ended up at the Rhine, and who was carrying it. Another chapter in the 'we'll probably never know' stories.

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[m4a3sherman]

As I understand it, once the Nazi filth oozed into every pocket of Europe, they started to assimilate the gagillions of mauser or mauser-like, or even just whatever shot into their armies. One of my favorite photographs from the period is a US soldier in what looks like some French town square over looking a pile of captured German weapons, presumably where POWs might have been disarmed. In the stack of rifles, one can see everything from the ubiquitous k98 to mp40s, g43s, and.... a Model 1912 Krag Engineers carbine... what the hell! I need to find that photograph again, I want to say it's in one of the big reference works on mausers or g43s... One assumes that Serbian rifle is no different. Considering that many conquered countries had contingents of troops raised to fight along side the Germans, it makes sense they would be equipped with whatever rifle they had been before, especially since practically everything in Europe was 8mm. There are a lot of stories like yours where strange and often Eastern European stuff gets brought back in WWII. I always have to think too though, that the nature in which a weapon is acquired can vary widely. From what I can make out just reading from different vets and talking to some, many weapons were taken during lulls or even after peacetime since it was easier to get stuff and send it back. Certainly there are a lot of weapons taken in the heat of battle as well and I am sure many came from people the vet had just killed but there were a LOT of weapons sent back from the war. And you're right, there is unfortunately no way to know sometimes how something got here... Again, if they could only talk. Actually, if that one could talk it would probably be swearing in Serbian....

[vintage hunter]

Anzac15, your post reminds me of the FUBAR'd German K98 LSR sniper I saw at a local flea market. Theres no doubt that whoever ruined it knew exactly what it was because the sporter stock was cut out to clear the scope mount base. This was later removed along with the front and rear sights( with a cold chisel no less) to be replaced with cheap Weaver rings/bases and the bolt handle crudely altered to clear the scope, effectively ruling out any chances at restoring it. A hunting buddies father in law was in Germany at the time of the surrender and told me on several occasions about being on a collection detail responsible for gathering up all types of weapons from the locals and disposing of them in a river AFTER bashing them across the bridge railing. He managed to send several crates full of rifles, pistols, swords and daggers home. Most of it was given away, sold off or stolen by ''friends'' over the years but managed to hang on to an 8x57mm Oberndorf sporter w/.22RF insert and Gerard 4x scope in double claw mounts, a Swedish Husqvarna revolver w/holster and a rather ornate little O/U .22 RF- 9mm Floberts of unknown make along with a few other odds and ends. Sure would like to have that Oberndorf sporter...............

[Anzac15]

Now THAT'S depressing.

[HOOKED ON HISTORY]

Thank you for not posting a picture!