more pics https://wwiiafterwwii.wordpress.com/2016/03/07/the-stahlhelm-in-latin-america-after-wwii/
Posted on 02/19/2019 3:04:10 PM PST by Rummyfan
Fighter jets and helicopters that don’t fly. Ships and submarines that can’t sail. Severe shortages of everything from ammunition to underwear.
If it sounds like an exaggeration to compare Germany’s Bundeswehr to “The Gang that Couldn’t Shoot Straight,” look no further than the army’s standard-issue assault rifle, Heckler & Koch’s G36. The government decided to scrap the weapon after discovering that the gun misses its target if it’s too hot.
“There is neither enough personnel nor materiel, and often one confronts shortage upon shortage,” Hans-Peter Bartels, a Social Democrat MP charged with monitoring the Bundeswehr for parliament, concluded in a report published at the end of January. “The troops are far from being fully-equipped.”
Once one of the fiercest (and most brutal) fighting forces on earth, today’s German army increasingly looks more like a volunteer fire department — last month, mountain troops were dispatched to shovel snow from roofs in Bavaria — than a modern military machine.
On a recent trip to Lithuania, where about 450 German soldiers are stationed as part of a NATO mission to deter Russian aggression, U.S. officials were dismayed to discover Bundeswehr personnel communicating on unsecure mobile phones due to a shortage of secure radio equipment.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.eu ...
I don’t know whether they are unissued WW2 stock or post war production from somewhere. Did FN make them after the war? They are obviously for ceremonial purposes but I’d love to have one in that kind of shape. I’ve got one but it’s nowhere like those.
The Springfield M1903 is one of the better Mousers.
I’m OK with this; less weaponry for the inevitable Sultan of Germany to use.
And damn that voice to text. I said Kaiser, but my phone apparently thinks I need a cat for the barn or something. I can’t think of what else a mouser would be.
more pics https://wwiiafterwwii.wordpress.com/2016/03/07/the-stahlhelm-in-latin-america-after-wwii/
I do like the G36. Shoots good.
And I didn’t say Kaiser, I said Mauser. Apparently the only War I’m in right now, is one with my voice to text as the enemy.
Way back when - our compound was next to a German one. We had old equipment some of the demux units were hand made, our recorders were not the best. But we always figured the Germans had the state of the art stuff. One Xmas all the officers were off partying and the Germans invited us over to their ops.
They had what amounted to old crystal radios like I made when I was a kid, and their tape recorders were tiny things off-the-shelf from the PX.
When the Germans saw our stuff they just fell over it was so amazing to them - like something out of a sci-fi movie.
Now I have heard that they have only a dozen or so of working MBTs, half of which are in repair and others either not repairable or are parts only.
So nothing has changed in the past 50 years it seems.
Social issues rule and suck up all the money.
Yeah, very nice bolt action Mausers. Wonder when they were made and who made them.
Europe needs a Bundeswehr strong enough to defend Germany from the moslems Merkel invited....but no stronger than that.
The cuff titles are “Wachregiment”. “Guard Regiment”. It’s the German ceremonial unit.
Wachbatallion ... Not regiment. Apologies.
Yes they are.Lot nicer than the one I have.
Really sad to see what's become of them.
Swedish Mausers are like Swiss watches.
well, the Fourth Reich doesn’t need good weapons, its got the EU, European Central Bank, and ICC
Why are we paying for their defense?
These people are no allies of ours.
According to an article I read, none of the Kriegsmarine’s 6 U-boats are seaworthy. They’re all confined to port.
To call it pathetic would be to give too much credit.
Heckler & Koch. Which has a good reputation for quality. The G36 was a “compromise” weapons platform. They probably would’ve been better off if they’d kept the easts AK74 M’s after reunification.
CC
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