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Industry | Weapons manufacturing |
---|---|
Predecessor | Ludwig Loewe & Company Waffenfabrik Mauser Deutsche Metallpatronenfabrik Lorenz |
Founded | 1896 |
Headquarters | Germany |
Deutsche Waffen- und Munitionsfabriken Aktiengesellschaft (German Weapons and Munitions public limited company), known as DWM, was an arms company in Imperial Germany created in 1896 when Ludwig Loewe & Company united its weapons and ammunition production facilities within one company. In 1896 Loewe founded Deutsche Waffen- und Munitionsfabriken with a munitions plant in Karlsruhe (Baden), formerly Deutsche Metallpatronenfabrik Lorenz, and the weapons plant in Berlin. Shares that Loewe had in other gun- and ammunition plants were transferred to DWM. This included Waffenfabrik Mauser, Fabrique Nationale d'Armes de Guerre (FN) in Belgium and Waffen- und Munitionsfabrik A.G. in Budapest. The DWM was orchestrated by Isidor Loewe (1848–1910), as his brother Ludwig had died in 1886. Karl Maybach (who was part of the Maybach company) was employed by the Loewe company in 1901.
DWM introduced the Pistol Parabellum ('Luger Pistol') in the early 1900s. It was worked on by Georg Luger and Hugo Borchardt. DWM manufactured the Maschinengewehr 01 and Maschinengewehr 08, licensed version/clone of the Maxim machine gun. The MG08 would be the main German machine gun of the First World War, alongside the somewhat different, air cooled Parabellum MG 14/17 for aviation use. Along with being one of the main arms suppliers of Imperial Germany, the company was at the forefront of small arms technology. They also supplied the world (mostly Latin America and Spain) with the Mauser rifle system, becoming one of the world's largest arms manufacturers. Because the Mauser rifle was one of Germany's main exports before the First World War, DWM proved to be an important part of the pre-war German economy. Many of their weapons were still used by German troops up through the Second World War.
DWM had its own system of cartridge codes, and the "DWM" three digit-code still is important in differentiating vintage ammunitions. Furthermore, the DWM cases had no caliber names, so one did not get misleading caliber designations in reformed cartridges. [1]
DWM was taken over by the Quandt Group in 1929. At this point the involvement of the Loewe company came to an end. The original Ludwig Loewe & Company merged with the 'Gesellschaft für Elektrische Unternehmungen' in 1929.
DWM underwent a number of name changes following World War I and the subsequent disarmament phase. DWM was no longer allowed to produce military equipment after World War I (although they continued on a smaller and somewhat secret scale) and the first name change was to BKIW (Berlin-Karlsruher Industriewerke or 'Berkawerke') in 1922. After the national-socialist takeover of power in Germany, the company added 'vormals Deutsche Waffen- und Munitionsfabriken' (former DWM) to the company name in 1933. In 1936 DWM reverted to its old name.
From 1940 to 1945, the Quandt family factories – AFA and Deutsche Waffen- und Munitionsfabriken – were staffed with more than 50,000 forced civilian laborers, prisoners of war and concentration camp workers, according to Scholtyseck's 1,183-page study. A recent film, "The Silence of the Quandts", took a critical look at their wartime activities. After denazification hearings in 1948, no repercussions followed. [2]
In the 1950s, following the war, the Berlin branch of the company switched to the renovation and building of railroad and public transport equipment. It started using the name Deutsche Waggon- und Maschinenfabriken GmbH, but still used the original DWM logo. It later became Waggon Union, a manufacturer of rail vehicles and bus bodies.
In 1970 the Karlsruhe branch merged with the Augsburg-based company Industriewerke Karlsruhe Augsburg (IWKA). In 2007 the Karlsruhe-Augsburg company moved to Augsburg and reverted to the original name of the Augsburg company, Keller und Knappich Augsburg, or KUKA, now a robotics firm.
The Pistole Parabellum or Parabellum-Pistole, commonly known as just the Luger or Luger P08, is a toggle-locked recoil-operated semi-automatic pistol. The Luger was produced in several models and by several nations from 1898 to 1949.
Mauser, originally the Königlich Württembergische Gewehrfabrik, was a German arms manufacturer. Their line of bolt-action rifles and semi-automatic pistols was produced beginning in the 1870s for the German armed forces. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Mauser designs were also exported and licensed to many countries, which adopted them as military and civilian sporting firearms. The Gewehr 98 in particular was widely adopted and copied, and it is the foundation of many of today's sporting bolt-action rifles.
DWM may refer to:
The Maschinengewehr 08, or MG 08, was the German Army's standard machine gun in World War I and is an adaptation of Hiram S. Maxim's original 1884 Maxim gun. It was produced in a number of variants during the war. The MG 08 served during World War II as a heavy machine gun in many German infantry divisions, although by the end of the war it had mostly been relegated to second-rate fortress units.
Georg Johann Luger was an Austrian designer of the famous Luger pistol and the 9×19mm Parabellum cartridge.
Ludwig Loewe was a German merchant, manufacturer, philanthropist and a member of the Reichstag. Loewe's companies became involved in the production of armaments, employing famous designers and creating notable guns.
A drum magazine is a type of high-capacity magazine for firearms. Cylindrical in shape, drum magazines store rounds in a spiral around the center of the magazine, facing the direction of the barrel. Drum magazines are contrasted with more common box-type magazines, which have a lower capacity and store rounds flat. The capacity of drum magazines varies, but is generally between 50 and 100 rounds.
The Borchardt C93 is a semi-automatic pistol designed by Hugo Borchardt in 1893.
The Parabellum MG 14 was a 7.92 mm caliber World War I machine gun built by Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken. It was a redesign of the Maschinengewehr 08 machine gun system intended for use on aircraft and zeppelins. Like the earlier Vickers machine gun, it used a toggle action that broke upwards rather than downwards, the opposite way to the MG 08, making for a much more compact receiver. The fusee spring was replaced with an internal spring design, the breech block was completely different and the spent cartridges dropped out the bottom of the receiver, rather than being ejected forward through a hole under the breech from the receiver. There appear to be no action or receiver parts interchangeable with the MG 08. The MG 08's belt-style ammunition feed was enclosed in a drum, the recoil casing was lightened and the cooling jacket was modified for air- instead of water-cooling. The rate of fire was 700 rounds/minute. The belt was reduced to 30 mm in width.
Parabellum may refer to:
The 7.65×25mm Borchardt cartridge was designed by Georg Johann Luger for use in Hugo Borchardt's Borchardt C-93 pistol. It was the first successful rimless pistol cartridge.
The Mauser–Vergueiro was a bolt-action rifle, designed in 1904 by José Alberto Vergueiro, an infantry officer of the Portuguese Army, and manufactured by Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken (DWM). It was developed from the Mauser 98 rifle with the introduction of a new bolt system derived from the Gewehr 1888 and Mannlicher–Schönauer. Outside Portugal, the weapon was also known as the Portuguese Mauser. It used the 6.5×58mm Vergueiro, a cartridge developed specially for it.
The 9×25mm Mauser is a cartridge developed for the Mauser C96 service pistol around 1904 by DWM. Mauser pistols in this relatively powerful caliber were primarily intended for export to Africa, Asia, and South America. The 9mm Mauser Export cartridge was produced specifically for Mauser pistols and carbines made from 1904 to 1914 and then later from approximately 1930 to 1945 for submachine guns chambered for this caliber.
The Maschinengewehr Modell 1911 or MG 11 is a Swiss heavy machine gun which was introduced before and during World War I. The MG 11 has a close constructive relationship with the German MG 08 heavy machine gun.
Waggon Union was a German manufacturer of rail vehicles and bus bodies, that was also known as Deutsche Waggon und Maschinenfabrik or DWM.
The 7.65×21mm Parabellum is a pistol cartridge that was introduced in 1898 by German arms manufacturer Deutsche Waffen- und Munitionsfabriken (DWM) for their new Pistol Parabellum. The primary developers of the pistol cartridge were firearms designers Georg Luger and Hugo Borchardt, who developed the round from the earlier 7.65×25mm Borchardt while working at DWM.
Metallwarenfabrik Spreewerk GmbH was a German weapons manufacturing company. Spreewerk produced a number of important weapons and components before and during World War II including 280,880 of the Walther P.38 pistol which was the standard service pistol of the German Heer, and the famous 8.8 cm Flak anti-aircraft gun.
The Mauser Model 1895 is a bolt operated magazine fed rifle using the 7×57mm Mauser cartridge. It was exported to many overseas powers, including the Chilean forces which adopted as the Fusil Mauser Chileno Modelo 1895. It is the first major modification of the Mauser Model 1893 and was produced by Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken, known as DWM, and Ludwig Loewe Company from 1895 to 1900.
The Mauser Model 1904 and Model 1907 were Gewehr 98 pattern bolt-action rifles produced by Mauser and Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken (DWM). They were designed for export market. Copies were later produced in China and in Spain.