Vickers MG & Lewis MG

[MG1918]

Cannot find any stand alone post on these two historical weapons so to add some colour....
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[browningautorifle]

Captured Eng guns 12.6.1914...

[Kiwi]

Captured Eng guns 12.6.1914...

Don't you mean 1917? The war hadn't started by 12.6.1914.

[Brian Dick]

Neat little stack of No.23 Mills grenades. Very artistic!

[browningautorifle]

12.6.1914.

People write things differently, the order of a date-time group...December 6 1914...I did consider 12 June 1917 but it doesn't really look like a 7. Your choice I guess...my point was the translation for those who can't Hablar...

[Kiwi]

People write things differently, the order of a date-time group...December 6 1914...I did consider 12 June 1917 but it doesn't really look like a 7. Your choice I guess...my point was the translation for those who can't Hablar...

Hadn't thought of the different date-time groupings. Good point!
Would another way of dating the picture be the absence of front volley sight on the SMLE in the centre right of the photo (the most proment rifle in the picture stacked to the right wth the wire cutters)? If my eyesight is correct and the front volley sight is missing then it would be unlikely to be a 1914 dated photo and more like a 1917? Regardless of date, the end result is still the same though, which ever soldiers were issued the kit most likely didn't come to a good end if the other side displays them as a trophy. Thanks for the translation.

[browningautorifle]

Another point could be the inclusion of the Lewis guns. Although they actually existed and were in production in 1914, they may not have trickled down to the mudroller in the field until a bit later (1915?). The RAF had them and they were out there but not in great contract. Weapons appearing suddenly and without a contract or actual possession by a military doesn't mean the world, but it could be an indicator.

[RT Ellis]

Helmets and respirators in December 1914? I think not... I read the year in the date as 1917.

[Paul S.]

First of all, Germans write dates using day month year format. Secondly, the Brodie helmets, Mills bombs, wire cutters and respirators tell us the picture was taken much later than 1914. Finally, the trees in the background are in bloom which tells us it isn't Winter, and therefore not December 1914.

The date is 12 June 1917. Odds are the weapons were captured during the Battle of Arras, 9 April to 16 May 1917. The Battle of Arras: An Overview | World War I Centenary or, the subsequent flanking operation during June '17 The Battle of Arras: An Overview | World War I Centenary

[browningautorifle]

Helmets and respirators

First of all, Germans write dates using day month year format

There we go. Anyway, sad pic because to me it shows the other side, battle field pickups after the fact.