Anti Aircraft Gun?

[Bayoswede]

Theese soldiers fron Inf Rgt 155 have a ?

Some sort of anti Aircraft machine gun? Since they have helmets I suppose its late war 1917-1918?

But what kind of gun is it?

Christer

Edited January 17, 2008 by Bayoswede

[Schießplatzmeister]

Hello Christer:

These fellows are using a captured French Saint-Etienne or Mitrailleuse mle 1907. It is interesting to see the improvised mount using a carriage wheel!

Apparently, these weapons were rather horrible to use in practice (design faults caused stoppages often). You can see one of the soldiers in the photo with a strip of ammunition (there were 24 and 30 round versions).

Perhaps the French soldiers allowed the "capture" of this weapon for these unsuspecting enemy troops to use.

All joking aside, a very nice photo of an interesting weapon!

Best regards,

"SPM"

[ccj]

Hello Christer:

These fellows are using a captured French Saint-Etienne or Mitrailleuse mle 1907. It is interesting to see the improvised mount using a carriage wheel!

Apparently, these weapons were rather horrible to use in practice (design faults caused stoppages often). You can see one of the soldiers in the photo with a strip of ammunition (there were 24 and 30 round versions).

Perhaps the French soldiers allowed the "capture" of this weapon for these unsuspecting enemy troops to use.

All joking aside, a very nice photo of an interesting weapon!

Best regards,

"SPM"

Nice picture