The Iraqi Mauser,In 1932 Iraq was granted independence from Britain and rule fell to King Faisal and

The Iraqi Mauser,In 1932 Iraq was granted independence from Britain and rule fell to King Faisal and shortly afterwards, King Ghaz.  But when World War II started a military coup broke out installing a government which was sympathetic to the Axis powers.  As a result Britain put down the rebellion and installed a puppet king.In 1947 the occupation of Iraq ended and the Iraqi monarchy began to build a new national army.  At the time there were millions of surplus German Mauser’s left over for World War II which were cheap and easy to acquire.  As a result the new Iraqi Royal Army chose the 98K Mauser most of which were either of German or Czech make, had their previous Nazi markings ground off, and were re-stamped with the Iraqi Royal Crest.  Another type of Iraqi Mauser were Yugo M48 Mausers purchased from Yugoslavia but factory stamped with Iraqi markings.  Today these are especially rare, but some have turned up in supply caches found by US troops. -- source link

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