Interesting firearms from WWI (photos via link)

[9mm+]

This is a fascinating (IMHO) photo exposition of WWI soldiers in combat. Many of the firearms in the photos have been ID'd (the Vickers .303, for example), but many of the rifles have not been identified. I'm sure that the historians in THR would have no trouble with these, but I haven't a clue with WWI weapons (I do much better with WWII firearms).

Here's the link for those who would enjoy this:

http://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-articles/73317.html

 

[leadaddict]

Very neat! Thanks for posting!

 

[9mm+]

Very neat! Thanks for posting!

My pleasure! Just doing a quick check on some of the MG's used like the German Maxim 08 and the Aussie MG's, it looks like the only ones that were air-cooled were mounted on the biplanes. All others were water-cooled, correct? Were the predominant rounds 7.92x57 and .303 for MG's and infantry rifles?

 

[Vern Humphrey]

A note -- tanks in those days were classified as "male" and "female" depending on whether they had cannons or only machine guns.

 

[9mm+]

A note -- tanks in those days were classified as "male" and "female" depending on whether they had cannons or only machine guns.

I noticed that in the photo captions but didn't know why they were classified as such. That's pretty funny! Good luck trying to classify tanks like that in today's military...

 

[Nom de Forum]

My pleasure! Just doing a quick check on some of the MG's used like the German Maxim 08 and the Aussie MG's, it looks like the only ones that were air-cooled were mounted on the biplanes. All others were water-cooled, correct? Were the predominant rounds 7.92x57 and .303 for MG's and infantry rifles?

The Lewis Gun and Chauchat were air-cooled LMGs used by infantry. I believe there were a few other air-cooled MGs I just can't recall the names.

Edit: The Madsen, Hotchkiss, and too many more to list were also air-cooled.

 

[9mm+]

The Lewis Gun and Chauchat were air-cooled LMGs used by infantry. I believe there were a few other air-cooled MGs I just can't recall the names.

Edit: The Madsen, Hotchkiss, and too many more to list were also air-cooled.

Okay, thanks...there were more air-cooled MG's from WWI than I originally envisioned. I believe that the photos in the link were only showing water-cooled MG's, but obviously there were many more.

 

[bannockburn]

Thanks for the link. Very nice colorization done to the photographs. Can't even begin to imagine what it must have been like to fight a war under those conditions.