During World War II, the Slovak 1st Infantry Division was an active military unit within the Slovak Army, participating in the German-led invasion of Poland in 1939 and later on the Eastern Front during the invasion of the Soviet Union. The division was initially part of the Slovak Expeditionary Army Group and saw action alongside the German Wehrmacht.
In April 1940, WaPrüf 2 directed Mauser to begin development of a shortened Master carbine with a 490mm (19.3”) barrel, presumably for specialty troops. Development meandered on until July 1942, by which time just 28 rifles had been made, in two series. The first batch were numbered 3-15 and the second batch in the 70s and 80s with a V (“Versucht”, experimental) prefix. Only one other example is known in the US, number V81 in the Aberdeen Proving Ground collection. The development program was dropped in 1942, probably because the need for the rifles had been adequately filled by Brno-production G33/40 carbines instead.
