''Deutsche Waffen- und Munitionsfabriken

Aktiengesellschaft (; abbreviated AG, ) is a German word for a corporation limited by share ownership (i.e. one which is owned by its shareholders) whose shares may be traded on a stock market. The term is used in Germany, Austria, Switzerland (where it is equ ...

'' (German Weapons and Munitions public limited company), known as DWM, was an arms company in

Imperial Germany The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

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 Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...

(

Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Baden originated from the House of Zähringen. Baden i ...

), formerly Deutsche Metallpatronenfabrik Lorenz, and the weapons plant in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

. Shares that Loewe had in other gun- and ammunition plants were transferred to DWM. This included

Waffenfabrik Mauser Mauser, originally Königlich Württembergische Gewehrfabrik ("Royal Württemberg Rifle Factory"), was a German arms manufacturer. Their line of bolt-action rifles and semi-automatic pistols has been produced since the 1870s for the German arm ...

, 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 Maybach (, ) is a German luxury car brand that exists today as a part of Mercedes-Benz. The original company was founded in 1909 by Wilhelm Maybach and his son Karl Maybach, originally as a subsidiary of ''Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH'', and ...

company) was employed by the Loewe company in 1901.

Firearms

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 Maxim gun is a recoil-operated machine gun invented in 1884 by Hiram Stevens Maxim. It was the first fully automatic machine gun in the world. The Maxim gun has been called "the weapon most associated with imperial conquest" by historian M ...

. The MG08 would be the main German machine gun of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, 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 Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived ...

and

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

) 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 World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. 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.

Takeovers and name changes

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.

Deutsche Waggon- und Maschinenfabriken

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.

Industriewerke Karlsruhe

In 1970 the Karlsruhe branch merged with the

Augsburg Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ' ...

-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.

References

www.maybach.ru A short biography of Karl Maybach: Engineering in his blood

* 50 Jahre Deutsche Waffen- und Munitionsfabriken AG, VdI verlag, 1939 * 75 Jahre Industriewerke Karlsruhe, Selbstverlag, 1964. * Ludwig Loewe & Cie 1869–1929, VdI Verlag, 1930. * Geschichte der Mauser-Werke, VdI Verlag, 1938. * FN 100 Years, Francotte & Gaier, Didier Hatier, 1989. * ''Die Blutige Internationale'', Otto Lehmann-Russbüldt, 1930.

External links