Post by l999here on Dec 20, 2015 16:29:06 GMT 1
Christmas greetings to all...!! New member here in USA. Recently learned that the first US Army and Marine Units to arrive in France in 1917 were issued the British standard Vickers...in .303 caliber. Later units were issued the Colt-Vickers gun that had been made in 30/06 to make logistics easier,as the standard issue rifles were also in 30/06 for US forces. Now for the most interesting part. The US Army Machine Gun Co.'s went into combat with the 1917 Machine Gun Cart. This was a 2-wheel wooden cart pulled by a mule...or a horse,if necessary,as mules were less likely to bolt in combat. These carts were all mfg'd by the International Harvester Co. at their Chicago,IL McCormick Works plant...about 353,000 of them. Meanwhile,our Marines used a metal cart with balloon tires....pulled by Marines. All the above has been documented and researched,as I have been collecting the 1917 Machine Gun Carts for about 5-yrs. I now have 26-carts....a full US Army Co. used in WW1. There were 12-gun carts,12-ammo carts and 2-spare gun carts in a full Machine Gun co.
The most interesting aspect of the Vickers use by US forces in WW1 is that Gen. Pershing,US forces commander,would not allow the use of the new 1917 Browning water-cooled machine gun before 17 Sep 1918,as he and the general staff were concerned that the Germans would capture one and produce it for their use. This was thought to be just a rumor. In April 2015,I found a 3-vol. set of WW1 pictures called 'The Doughboy Edition' and inside found a dated picture of a US Army machine gun crew with a 1917 Browning. The caption stated the above and remains the documented proof that the rumor was true. Since this is my first post on this site,I am unsure if I can include pictures of the above photo and photos of the 1917 Machine Gun carts. One cart has been sold to a WW1 reenactor and it was used by a Canadian unit at the WW1 reenactment in Newville,PA in April 2015. "...and to all a good night".
The most interesting aspect of the Vickers use by US forces in WW1 is that Gen. Pershing,US forces commander,would not allow the use of the new 1917 Browning water-cooled machine gun before 17 Sep 1918,as he and the general staff were concerned that the Germans would capture one and produce it for their use. This was thought to be just a rumor. In April 2015,I found a 3-vol. set of WW1 pictures called 'The Doughboy Edition' and inside found a dated picture of a US Army machine gun crew with a 1917 Browning. The caption stated the above and remains the documented proof that the rumor was true. Since this is my first post on this site,I am unsure if I can include pictures of the above photo and photos of the 1917 Machine Gun carts. One cart has been sold to a WW1 reenactor and it was used by a Canadian unit at the WW1 reenactment in Newville,PA in April 2015. "...and to all a good night".