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The Sick Man's Crutch
Mauser M1903
The Ottoman Empire had been a faithful customer of Mauser Oberndorf for more than a decade when the Germans adopted the latest and greatest of the Mauser bolt action rifles. With vultures circling his empire on all sides, the Sultan did not miss the opportunity to upgrade his army's rifles yet again
History
The Ottoman Empire, once the feared conqueror of Constantinople whose military campaigns would carry the Sultans' banners from Egypt to the very heart of Europe was a mere shadow of its former self by the latter half of the 19th century.
Several wars against the European powers, who had long since left the empire behind in military matters, had both caused a loss of prestige and territory. The war against the Russian Empire in 1877-78 especially saw large swaths of European territory be granted to newly independent nations Romania, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria, Bosnia-Herzegovina was occupied by the Austro-Hungarian monarchy and more territory outside of Europe was outright annexed as well.
Although geopolitical considerations of the British and French kept the Russian Empire from wholly dismantling the old Ottoman state, the rise of nationalism in its former territories meant that more areas that were culturally considered part of those newly independent nations in the Balkans were at threat.
Thus the empire sought to reform its military, taking advice from the premier power of the European continent at the time - The German Empire.
One key component would be to update the infantry with modern equipment and weaponry. This would lead the Ottoman Empire down a frenzy of upgrades to their standard patterns, ultimately leading to four different models being bought over the span of 16 years - all originating from Mauser Oberndorf.
While it was a costly endeavour, buying modern repeating and later smokeless repeating rifles proved its worth in 1897 when the Ottomans won a crushing victory against Greece over the matter of Crete, although Russian intervention made the martial loss a diplomatic victory for the Greeks.
Sultan Abdulhamid II. (1842-1918)
Although quickly abandoned by the German Army due to concerns with the action and public pressure, the Gewehr 88 would have a long-lasting legacy as the grandfather to ŒWG Steyr's export line, as well as war aid to German allies during the Great War
The Ottoman armed forces within less than two decades adopted every single variant of Mauser core actions. The M1887, based on the M71, the M1890, stemming from the M89, the M1893 which the Ottomans were the first to officially adopt, and the M1903 based on the M98 action
Nevertheless, the models Mauser M1887, M1890 and M1893 proved their worth, especially against the Greeks, still armed with single-shot black powder Y:1874 Gras rifles.
However, foreign politics wasn't the only factor driving arms procurement. Internal politics had the Sultan worry about threats from within. (rightfully as the Young Turk Revolution of 1908 would show). Thus, the Ottoman arms distribution developed a peculiarity where the newest rifles did not necessarily go where they were needed, but rather where the Sultan most trusted they would not be turnt against him.
When the German Empire adopted the brand new Mauser 1898 as its standard arm, the Ottomans had been faithful customers of Mauser designs, buying more than 700,000 rifles of the three aforementioned patterns from them. When the new M98 action was offered for exports, they yet again ordered around 200,000 of what would become known as the M1903 rifle.
This new rifle was very close to what Peter Paul Mauser had envisioned for the German army, with some Ottoman specific peculiarities:
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The bayonet lug would remain an earlier style one as it has been used since the Mauser Model of 1889 in order to accommodate the existing bayonet types
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The stock did not receive a recoil lug, which was deemed unnecessary for the weaker 7.65x53mm cartridge
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The bolt stop assembly would remain as it has been with the M1890, meaning it used an extended arm that acted as the left side of the stripper clip guides. This allowed for continued use of the early, smooth sided clips.
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The barrel used the same thread dimensions as the earlier models to warrant interchangeability
While the first rifles arrived in 1905, it is unclear when the model first saw combat due to the previously mentioned system of distribution under the Sultan.
The 1910s up until the war certainly provided ample opportunity for it to see use in the Albanian Revolt and later the first and second Balkan Wars.
After the first Balkan War already saw many rifles lost, the Great War caused attrition to skyrocket. Being reliant on the Germans for arms, as the Ottoman Empire had virtually no native arms industry, meant that no additional M1903s would arrive for the foreseeable future when the empire joined the war in late 1914, thanks to German arms manufacturing struggling to fulfill domestic needs.
Due to Ottoman rifles generally being very modern compared to what most nations used as their second standards, the M1903 seemingly did not distinguish itself too much from its older brothers, but it would not be a far stretch to say that the Ottoman Empire joined the Great War with what might have been the most modern rifle as its standard with the former. Rifle fire is a more prominent component of eye witness reports from the Ottoman theatre, marking the accurate fire of Ottoman troops and their rifles, lending credit to the Mauser platform as an excellent one.
In order to replace mounting losses, the Germans would send Gewehr 88/05s as well as captured Mosin M91s to keep their fragile ally afloat.
Late in the war, after domestic needs had been covered, Gewehr 98s would also be delivered to the Ottomans in large numbers.
These deliveries would ultimately be the grave diggers for the M1903 pattern.
With huge quantities of German 8x57mm ammunition and corresponding rifles being in store, the Republic of Turkey, the empire's successor after it collapsed in 1918, had standardised on the calibre in the 1920s.
What followed was a thorough conversion program to consolidate the existing plethora of rifle models into a uniform pattern, based on the M1903, but updated to a more German stock layout and rechambered for 8x57mm. The imperial markings in Perso-Arabic script were removed and replaced with Latin republican ones.
"It was a perpetual battle going on all the time. It was rifles, they were mostly snipers, it wasn’t a set battle like all the guns and all the airplanes and the bombs and this and that going off like, say, the Battle of the Somme. It was quite a different thing altogether. And the Turks were well placed on Achi Baba and they were in a commanding position. Here we were. And they sniped us all night, you never knew quite where they were getting, they crept round and that was the sort of thing."
- Richard Miller, Border Regiment, 6th Btn (Unknown-1917)
Ottoman soldiers in a trench on the Gaza front
Mechanism
Bolt
The bolt is the same as any other Mauser 1898 pattern bolt, and thus shares the same properties. The only difference aside from markings is a slightly differently shaped handle knob, having a slightly more oval shape.
The bolt is a one-piece body with two large front locking lugs positioned symmetrically. A third lug at the rear of the bolt acts as an emergency safety lug if the front lugs were to fail.
The lifting of the bolt handle allows he camming surfaces to cock the firing pin spring and provide primary extraction, meaning the case is loosened from the chamber during the initial lift before the bolt moves fully rearwards.
Along the right side of the bolt is a long non-rotating claw extractor. This provides controlled feed: as a cartridge rises from the magazine, the extractor takes hold of the rim and retains control of the round as it chambers, fires, and is withdrawn. The round is not released by the bolt during the feeding cycle.
At the back of the bolt is the three-position flag safety:
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Right: blocks the firing pin and locks the bolt.
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Centre: blocks the firing pin but allows the bolt to be operated for unloading and disassembly
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Left: safety off, rifle ready to fire.
The safety can only be applied when the rifle is cocked.
The bolt and receiver include gas-venting features. Gas escape holes in the bolt body and a flared bolt shroud are intended to direct gas away from the shooter if a primer or case fails.
Magazine
Just like the Gewehr 98, the M1903 has an integral internal box magazine holding five rounds in a staggered column. A spring and follower lift cartridges into position for the bolt to pick up.
Loading is normally done by a five-round stripper clip. The clip is placed in the charger guides on the receiver bridge the left hand side of which is formed by an extension of the bolt stop/release assembly. When the bolt is closed, the empty clip is forced out automatically. Single rounds can be loaded directly into the magazine from the top if needed.
The magazine has a hinged floorplate for unloading or clearing, released by its latch.
Markings
Manufacturer, Production Date & Serial Number
While earlier Ottoman used Mauser models displayed only the Sultan's Tughra (sort of a signature or sigil specific to every Sultan), the M1903 bears the year of manufacture (in the Rumi calendar), the manufacturer name and the serial number on top of the receiver - all in Perso-Arabic script.
This can roughly be translated to:
#### Year
Mauser Oberndorf
Army Factory
###### (Serial Number)
The last two digits of the serial number can be found on various components such as the bolt or magazine.
Inspection & Acceptance Marks
Taking the shape of small crescent moons, the acceptance marks can be seen on smaller parts such as screws, bolt components or the rear sight.
The inspection mark - a little star can equally be found on smaller parts, like the bolt stop/release assembly
Captured Rifles
Belgian soldiers with captured Ottoman Mauser M1893 rifles
The Allied campaigns in the Ottoman Theatre saw a number of the various Ottoman Mauser models captured, and while the British and French had no real use for these rifles in a non-standard calibre, an ally of theirs did - Belgium.
A year before the Ottoman Empire, the Belgians had adopted their own Mauser rifle, chambered in the same 7.65x53mm as the Ottoman versions. As this made ammunition supply and logistics a rather trivial affair, the Belgians received an unknown amount of these captures during the war.
For the M1903 a number of changes were made to align the rifle with the existing standard M1889 pattern the Belgians used:
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The sights would be replaced with the M1889 style ones, the empty space in the handguard from the longer Ottoman sight filled in
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An additional, Latin script serial would be applied to the stock, bolt, buttplate, receiver and barrel
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A new type of bolt similar to the M1889 was created for use with them - possibly to allow for parts interchangeability