High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Maschinengewehr 08, or MG08, was the German Army`s standard machine gun in World War I and is an adoption of Hiram S. Maxim`s original 1884 Maxim Gun. It was produced in a number of variants during the war. The MG 08 remained in service until the outbreak of World War II due to shortages of its successors, the MG 13 Dreyse and the MG34. It was retired from front-line service by 1942.