Images from WWI

[buffnut453]

I don't get the "monkey" business, but the soldier in the front row wearing boots, whereas his mates are wearing puttees-stands out!!

From the chap with the boots, move to the chap sitting to his left...the person behind the second man has a primate on his right shoulder.

 

[Hansie Bloeckmann]

From the chap with the boots, move to the chap sitting to his left...the person behind the second man has a primate on his right shoulder.

Thanks- I missed that. Hansie

 

[Hansie Bloeckmann]

Titled Death the Reaper - a composite photo by Frank Hurley...

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For the 1918 London exhibition Australian War Pictures and Photographs he employed composites for photomurals to convey drama of the war on a scale otherwise not possible using the technology available. This brought Hurley into conflict with the AIF on the grounds that montage diminished documentary value.[9] Charles Bean, official war historian, labelled Hurley's composite images "fake".[2]

"And now I have become Death, the destroyer of Worlds!"

 

[Graeme]

 

[Graeme]

"The youth and slight physical build of many British conscripts by 1918 is all too apparent in this photograph which was specially taken, for the Adjutant-General's Department, at the infantry depot at Etaples..."

 

[Wurger]

Interesting shots.

 

[Graeme]

Thanks Wurger. You got some to post?

Three Irish Guardsmen try out German body armour while examining a German machine gun...

 

[Hansie Bloeckmann]

Thanks Wurger. You got some to post?

Three Irish Guardsmen try out German body armour while examining a German machine gun...

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That is a rather strange looking German WW1 MG-- what is the shroud or tube- a water cooled MG? Where is the operating handle, and the firing mechanism? Not shown in any detail that I can find in this foto.

 

[Wurger]

I would say all is fine witrh the MG. That's the German MG 08 that was nothing more like the water cooled Maxim gun. The operating handle and the firing mechanism aren't seen in the pic because the guy is holding it with the barrel nozzle and the asked parts of the gun were at the back of the MG. So.. these are put on the ground. Actually, the dirt and mud make them hidden or just less visible. The enlarged pic shows it better.

And a couple shots more...

 

[Hansie Bloeckmann]

I would say all is fine witrh the MG. That's the German MG 08 that was nothing more like the water cooled Maxim gun. The operating handle and the firing mechanism aren't seen in the pic because the guy is holding it with the barrel nozzle and the asked parts of the gun were at the back of the MG. So.. these are put on the ground. Actually, the dirt and mud make them hidden or just less visible. The enlarged pic shows it better.

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And a couple shots more...

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Thanks- that clarifies my questions-and allowing for the photography-film- etc. of the WW1 era--better detailed. Looks like a MG-08 Maxim gun- with the "knuckle busting" charging handle that indexed whenever the gun was fired- causing some problems for the gunner who let his knuckles get too close-ahead or forward of the grip. Flash suppressor on muzzle? Cloth feed belts?-- wonder what the weight of the entire gun on the T&E base was? And why are some of the loops in the cloth ammo belt empty, but next to several loops containing rounds??

 

[Wurger]

According to a couple of sources the weight of the body gun was 20-26.5 kg plus the water 3-4 kg. The base was of 31kg for the sledge one or 20 kg for the tripod. The total weight 69 kg with water, 65 kg without water.

 

[Wurger]

German WWI 7.92-mm Maxim Spandau MG 08/15 Machineguns carried by German Prisoners of War captured by Canadians, June 1917.

 

[Hansie Bloeckmann]

German WWI 7.92-mm Maxim Spandau MG 08/15 Machineguns carried by German Prisoners of War captured by Canadians, June 1917.

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I would guess that they drained out the coolant water from the barrel shroud, to "lighten their load"- still way heavier on their shoulders than a WW11 era MG-34 and late, the MG-42 would have been. As wars progress over centuries, so does the increased technology of man's ability to kill his fellow man. I look the fotos of the German Soldaten, and wonder- any one of them could have my next-door neighbor- in "another point in time". Hansie

 

[Gnomey]

Good shots guys!

 

[Graeme]

More armour...

World War 1 Body Armor: 1914-1918 - Flashbak

 

[Wurger]

A German MG 08 team in 1917.

 

[soulezoo]

Thanks- that clarifies my questions-and allowing for the photography-film- etc. of the WW1 era--better detailed. Looks like a MG-08 Maxim gun- with the "knuckle busting" charging handle that indexed whenever the gun was fired- causing some problems for the gunner who let his knuckles get too close-ahead or forward of the grip. Flash suppressor on muzzle? Cloth feed belts?-- wonder what the weight of the entire gun on the T&E base was? And why are some of the loops in the cloth ammo belt empty, but next to several loops containing rounds??

The British Vickers was more commonly known for the knucklebusting. One was instructed to ensure the thumbs rested on the top part of the handle lest it get mangled if curled around the handle as one normally would be inclined to do. However, that said, the Maxim would also make the careless pay a price.

 

[Hansie Bloeckmann]

The British Vickers was more commonly known for the knucklebusting. One was instructed to ensure the thumbs rested on the top part of the handle lest it get mangled if curled around the handle as one normally would be inclined to do. However, that said, the Maxim would also make the careless pay a price.

Thanks- other than the difference between the Maxim and the Vickers as to caliber, are they fairly similar in design and configuration??

 

[The Basket]

Yes they were close enough. Not exact but the Vickers was a modern maxim.
The Vickers is probably the most reliable most durable gun ever made.

 

[Graeme]

Local women working in a British ammunition dump in Italy...