Hello John,
thank you so much for your kind word.
Please find here a scan of Kriegsministerium directive dated December, 14 1917. As you can see, the LP08 is not mentioned. Actually DWM was misleading as Deutschen Waffenfabrick Mauser and so the 9 was engraved also to the LP08.
http://boards.rennlist.com/lfupload/red9.jpg
Ciao