Milsurp After Hours

Great post. SOme very interesting and sobering photos there.
The body in the wagon with the dead horses beyond is very evocative.

Some very poignant images there........

It is worth remembering though, soldiers don't start wars - politicians do. They are the people who make the promises that an under funded military then have to keep.

I think it is time that the ones doing the promising were forced to do some of the fighting BEFORE they are allowed to hold responsible positions in government, might reduce the conflicts a bit

Someone once said, "If it was the war to end all wars, why did they give it a number?" And yes, we all know it was called the Great War until WWII came along. But I like the quote anyway.

What weapon is that being used by the 2 prone soldiers in pic labeled 94980 in lower right corner. I don't recognize it.

The dead soldier in back of wagon with dead horses, doesn't appear to be a lot of damage, possible concussion?

In the pic of 2 soldiers wearing full hood gas masks firing machine gun, didn't most MGs feed from left side or did this one (not sure what it is) feed from right, or has negative been reversed?

I agree with you 100% Duncan, the only politicians allowed to declare war should be combat vererans.

Was wathcing a tv show the other night about the last day of WW1, very sad show. The armistice was signed at 5am, 6 hours before the cease-fire at 11am. That gave both sides time to inform their troops, and they did. Every country sent troops to needless deaths that day. But instead of just waiting it out, some of the generals ordered their troops into battle, the American generals were some of the worst. One idiot American general ordered his troops to take a small town from the Germans that morning because they could take a hot bath and get cleaned up in that town. The Germans were forced out, but the Americans took 300 casualties because the general wanted them to have a hot bath. A few hours later they could have walked into town with their rifles on their shoulder. INSANITY!!!
There were over 10,000 casualties on the last day of the war, and almost all knew it would be over in hours. Unbelieveable!!
After the war, there were hearings about the American generals actions and several were found "Derelict in Their Duties" for allowing the high casualties that day. But the findings were not made public at the time.


Vern.

I agree with you 100% Duncan, the only politicians allowed to declare war should be combat vererans.

I think it is time that the ones doing the promising were forced to do some of the fighting BEFORE they are allowed to hold responsible positions in government, might reduce the conflicts a bit

I doubt that would change anything. Declaring war is a lot easier when you don't actually have to be at the pointy end. After all Hitler was a combat veteran, as was Churchill, as was Tojo, as was Smuts.
And can you see Patton as a politician after WW2 ? Now that would have been interesting.

What's this "declared" war stuff? That's old fashion. For the last fifty years or so US presidents just send troops all over the place and start the shooting whenever they feel like it. No war is declared. As long as there is no draft and the casualty rate is low it's no problem having multiple conflicts going all at the same time even.

My mother corresponded with a soldier in WWI; I have a few photos that he sent but don't now know his name beyond 'Gordon'. He was batman to a Catholic Chaplain and saw a lot of action although he probably never fired a shot. He was killed by a shot to the head on the day that the war ended. He and the Chaplain were the last to leave their position and went back along a trench one last time to make sure that everyone was out. The Priest wrote and told Mum that he and Gordon climbed out of the trench and there was a single shot from the German lines and it killed Gordon instantly.

Brings a bit of a lump to the throat even now to think of it.

Niner Delta wrote:
What weapon is that being used by the 2 prone soldiers in pic labeled 94980 in lower right corner. I don't recognize it.

I'm not sure. It was only labled as: Gun crew from Regimental Headquarters Company, 23rd Infantry,

Niner Delta wrote: The dead soldier in back of wagon with dead horses, doesn't appear to be a lot of damage, possible concussion?

This one was labeled as: German artilleryman killed in action during fighting near the Aisne

Niner Delta wrote: In the pic of 2 soldiers wearing full hood gas masks firing machine gun, didn't most MGs feed from left side or did this one (not sure what it is) feed from right, or has negative been reversed?

Vern.

It feeds from the right. Look up Vickers Machine Gun.

Candyman,
Thanks for the info about the right-hand feed, I looked up Vickers and found what I'm positive is a picture (lower one) of the same 2 soldiers with gas hoods, from a different angle.

Couldn't figure out the helmets in first picture until I read the caption, anybody recognize them?

"Vickers machine-guns of 2nd Middlesex Regiment, 3rd Division, fire in support of troops crossing the Maas-Schelde Canal at Lille-St. Hubert (St Huilbrechts), 20 September 1944. Two interesting features are that the troops are wearing MK III British "Turtle" helmets, which were introduced shortly before D-Day. Additionally, the gunners are firing at long-range targets, as shown by the extreme elevation of the barrels."

Also they are using Clinometre Sights for laying the gun(s) at precise angles of elevation (+ or -).