The No. 1 Hand Grenade, as the name may suggest, was the first hand grenade designed by the British, and was the first grenade used in World War I. Unlike later grenades, which operate on timed fuses activated by pulling a pin, this grenade uses an impact fuse, meaning it detonates when it strikes the ground. To ensure it was thrown and activated properly, a long handle was included for easier throwing, and the cloth streamers on the tail stabilized its flight and made sure it impacted on its nose. The long handle, however, was dangerous in trenches, and resulted in several accidents when the grenade would be detonated as its nose knocked against the backs of trenches when soldiers were reaching back to throw. In addition, German prisoners informed their captors that it was possible to deflect the grenade with wooden boards, and, if it did not detonate, could also be thrown back. It was soon replaced by the No. 3 in 1915, which had a shorter handle. Eventually, the introduction of the timed fuse grenade in the form of the Mills Bomb would see the end of impact fuse hand grenades in the British military.
With the five month hell of the Somme remembered forever as the bloodiest battle of the British Empire’s history (481,842 killed, including a staggering 19,240 on the first day alone), some 1,400 reenactors in the UK have pulled down a very effective commemorative in the #WeAreHere movement in which, dressed as 1916 Tommies, they ride public transport and mill around many of the same locations that British soldiers of the time would have, handing out calling cards of those past to interested observers.
I’m not sure the origin of these layouts of 1916 military infantryman’s gear, but they are great.
The kit of a French Private Soldier in the Battle of Verdun, 1916, collection provided by Paul Bristow, Croix de Guerre Living History Group, photographed by Thom Atkinson. Note this is well after the war began as the red trousers have been replaced and the extensive grenade collection. The non-standard walking cane is great
Equipment of a British Sergeant in the Battle of the Somme, 1916. Supplied by Nigel Bristow, The Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment. photographed by Thom Atkinson. Note the SMLE .303 with bayonet and wire-cutting accessory just off the muzzle. Also the extensive field mess kit. To the left there is the classic non-standard trench mace and the E-tool handle with pike/shovel blade. The canvas cover on the Brodie helmet is rare.
Equipment of a German Private in the Battle of the Somme, 1916, collection provided by Paul Bristow, Croix de Guerre Living History Group, photographed by Thom Atkinson. Note the camouflaged Stalhelm at the top right and the rifle grenade near the muzzle of the Gew 98 Mauser.
Equipment from the 1st Russian Women’s Battalion of Death, collection supplied by Bruce Chopping, Ian Skinner and Laura Whitehouse of the 1914-21 Society, photographed by Thom Atkinson. They spent a lot of effort on this one as you can tell from the ushanka fur cap (left) Shinel greatcoat (right) Gymnastiorka selection, Bashlyk Circassian hood and gloves. Also note the M1912 “Lantern Head” Grenade. Curiously, the Russians, widely believed by many to be backward militarily at the time, was one of the first to adopt and issue hand grenades before the War to include the M1912 and the hex-shaped design of Col. Stender– having gained experience in field expedient ones in the 1904-05 Siege of Port Arthur. This particular model was redesigned and lived on as the M1914/30 which was only totally withdrawn from Warsaw Pact service in the 1980s. The only thing I have to throw rocks at on this one is that I think the rifle is a 91/30 and not a Mosin 91 (and many images of the Women’s Battalion show them with Japanese Arisakas, but I digress), but close enough. Also, the Adrian helmets were only used by the Russian Expeditionary Brigade sent to the Western Front.
US Infantryman (Doughboy), arrival in France, 1917. Equipment provided by: Lee Martin, historical adviser, collector and living historian, photographed by Thom Atkinson. Note the cleanest campaign hat ever! Also keep in mind that, while the “Regulars” showed up in France with M1903 Springfields, most of the new Yanks came over with Enfields. The dominoes are a nice touch
If anyone knows the source, please let me know so I can link back. Thanks
Combat Gallery Sunday: The Martial Art of Geoffrey Muirhead Bone
Sir Muirhead Bone N.E.A.C., H.R.W.S., H.R.S.A was born 23 March 1876 in Glasgow, the son of a journalist. Bone trained to be an architect, whilst attending evening drawing classes at Glasgow School of Art where, in 1894, he decided to become an artist.
He worked for a period as a freelance illustrator for the Scots Pictorial as he honed his skill in pencil, watercolor, charcoal and gouache; as well as an etcher and sculptor.
Summer, Isle of Whithorn
His drawings of Scotland served as inspiration for later etchings, and this precise and charming watercolor has all the definition of an etching. Bone was an outstanding draughtsman with an acute sense of observation. Bone moved to London in 1901 but was to travel extensively throughout his life.
In May 1916, at the suggestion of William Rothenstein, 40-year-old Bone was appointed the first Official War Artist of the British War Propaganda Bureau, serving with Allied forces on the Western Front and for a time with the Navy.
The war artist Lieutenant Muirhead Bone crossing a muddy road, Maricourt, September 1916. IWM
His first assignment: The Somme, where the flower of British and Commonwealth youth was snuffed out in the blink of an eye 100 years ago this month.
As noted by the Imperial War Museum:
Bone arrived in France on 16 August 1916 at the height of the Somme offensive. He was made an honorary second lieutenant and provided with a car, giving him easier access to the battlefields.
He toured the Somme battlefields in the south – Maricourt, Fricourt, Montauban, Mametz Wood, Contalmaison, Trônes Wood, High Wood, Delville Wood and Pozières. He worked quickly in pencil, pen, charcoal and chalk and by 6 October had sent home approximately 150 finished drawings.
He mostly recorded life behind the lines, illustrating the context and impact of the battle rather than scenes of fighting. He depicted the work of the medical services, encampments, soldiers off duty, soldiers marching, landscapes and ruined towns.
He later said: ‘I did not like to imagine war scenes & so only drew what I saw & then only when I had a chance to draw it. I am afraid [this] resulted in rather prosaic work’.
The detail and accuracy of Bone’s drawings provided an authentic, eyewitness record of the immense logistic efforts of the Somme, one that proved extremely popular and resulted in more war artists being commissioned.
The Querrieu – Albert Road An Anti-observation screen
Welsh Soldiers
tanks!
Erecting Aeroplanes
The Château, Foucaucourt
A Dead Tank
Guards Mustering for a Royal Review behind the Somme 1916
Watching our Artillery Fire on Trônes Wood from Montauban 1916
The Untilled Fields
Tommy, pencil 1916
Many of these were published during the war as The Western Front, a two-volume set of drawings with captions by Muirhead Bone, published in 1917, which is a classic of military art for the past 99 years.
12,000 copies of the publications were to be sold, 12,000 were to be used for propaganda and 6,000 were sent to America. The publication was also translated into French (Agence et Messageries du Figaro, 1916) and 300 of these editions were sent to France along with 500 in the original English. Plates and postcards were also reproduced for distribution. There is also evidence to prove, however, that what was represented in Bone’s sketches, etchings and lithographs was represented as truthfully as possible.
Besides his work on the Western Front, he spent a good bit of 1917 observing the wartime RN, which enabled him to publish With the Grand Fleet
Between Decks (H.M.S. “Lion”)
HMS Lion: A Gun Turret
Mounting a Great Gun
Final Assembly of a Naval Great Gun
Nightwork on the Great Gun 1917
Between the wars, he returned to what he loved and knew best: landscapes.
Then came WWII and Bone was off again, becoming a full-time salaried artist to the Ministry of Information specializing in Admiralty subjects.
Sir Muirhead Bone, age 64, at work on the bridge. 1940
HMS Illustrious entering the Basin at John Brown’s Shipyard, Clydebank 1940
Building HM Submarine Tradewind, a Royal Navy submarine under construction in a dockyard. The hull is in place in the water, with numerous workers on deck, where they are busy assembling the conning tower and whole upper deck. Two large cranes are visible in the background and there is a large rowing boat in the water in the left foreground. IWM ART LD 3315. Built as P329 at Chatham, and launched on 11 December 1942, HMS Tradewind was infamous for sinking the Japanese army cargo ship Junyō Maru on 18 September 1944. Unbeknown to the Commanding Officer of Tradewind, Lt.Cdr. Lynch Maydon, the Junyō Maru was carrying 4,200 Javanese slave laborers and 2,300 Allied prisoners of war of which she took down 5,620 with her into the darkness.
A portrait of George Anderson and Lawrence Smith Halcrow, shown manning a Lewis gun in an emplacement on the deck of SS Highlander. IWM 3020
Lowering a mine into the mining deck, Dec. 1940
Minelaying off Iceland
Minelaying: The last of the lay
Sir Muirhead Bone died on 21 October 1953 in Oxford, aged 77
Much of his Bone’s art is preserved and on public display throughout the UK, cataloged over at Art UK and in the collection of the Imperial War Museum and the Tate.
Warship Wednesday, June 22, 2016: A hard-luck mini battlewagon
U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Catalog #: NH 46708. Colorized by irootoko_jr.
Here we see the proud Mississippi-class battleship Lemnos, sometimes spelled Limnos (Greek: Θ/Κ Λήμνος) of the Royal Hellenic Navy at Constantinople, Turkey, probably in 1919. The Greek torpedo boat Dafni (completed 1913) is alongside. At the time this image was taken she had but 15 years on her oldest keel plate and another 22 years of service ahead of her.
First, let us talk about her background.
Authorized under the Naval Budget of 1903, the two-ship Mississippi-class battlewagons were the last pre-dreadnought battleships to be designed for the U.S. Navy and were a compromise design aimed at saving money while still being able to compete with the British, French, Germans and, increasingly, Japanese on a global scale.
Smaller than the 16,000-ton Connecticut-class that preceded them, the Misssip‘s were squatty 13,000-ton ships with roughly the same armament (4x 12″/45 caliber Mark 5 guns in a pair of twin turrets) but could carry more rounds per tube (71 vs the Connecticut‘ 60) and could be built for about 70 percent of the price. However, they were slower (just 17 knots compared to 18.85), and even if coal was wedged in every nook and cranny (which could lead to fire and explosions) they could only steam 5,800 nautical miles at 10 knots whereas some of the Connys could go 7,590nm.
And of course, when HMS Dreadnought was commissioned 2 December 1906, every battleship in every navy around the world was obsolete.
When meant that when the Greek battlewagon of our tale, which started off as USS Idaho (Battleship #24),Mississippi‘s sister ship, was commissioned after construction at William Cramp and Sons on 1 April 1908, she was already second-class at best.
At best.
Still, Idaho was beautiful and new and the Navy had fun showing her off to the citizens of the country in the days of the Great White Fleet.
Idaho in 1909 just after commissioning. NH 60214 Naval History and Heritage Command. Both ships of this class initially carried a pole mast above the conning tower as shown in the plans above this photo, though shortly after commissioning, both ships had lattice masts added aft, and in 1910, the forward masts were replaced with lattice masts. Also note the elegant white and buff scheme, similar to that of the Great White Fleet that she was built too late for, that she carried for just a few months.
Figurehead, USS IDAHO Caption: Photographed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 28 June 1909. Description: Presented by information section, O.N.I., 1927. This was soon removed in the effort to make the fleet more battle-ready, but I cannot find what happened to it. Most of these ornate crests were donated to state legislatures or kept by the Navy and used to adorn bases. Catalog #: NH 115210
Idaho (Battleship # 24) Photographed summer 1909 by Brown & Shaffer. Note how she is now wearing haze gray and her figurehead shown above is removed. Collection of Chief Quartermaster John Harold. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Catalog #: NH 101497
Idaho joined the giant international naval review that was Hudson-Fulton in New York City from 25 Sept- 9 October 1909 upon the Hudson River just after greeting the Great White Fleet at Hampton Roads upon their return to U.S. waters.
Idaho (Battleship # 24) In the Hudson River off Fort Lee, New York, 1909. Photographed by William H. Rau. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.
Then the 1911 Naval Review
USS IDAHO (BB-24) Off New York City, 3 October 1911, during the naval review with Grant’s Tomb visible just over her port side. Note she now has two lattice masts rather than the single aft one shown above. Catalog #: 19-N-13812 National Archives
And the 1912 Naval Review
USS Idaho (Battleship # 24) Dressed with flags during the Naval Review off New York City, October 1912. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. The number 30 is her place in the review.
In fact, in the 6.3 years of semi-active service she gave her nation, Idaho‘s only tense times were a trip right after she was commissioned to Panama where she observed the elections there and then in the summer of 1913 when she was in Mexican waters for the near-constant series of crisis during that country’s revolution and civil wars.
Idaho did embark mids and naval militia on training cruises, wave the flag in Europe, and even sail as far up the Mississippi River as Vicksburg– possibly the last battleship to do so.
Still, in a move to make way for newer, larger dreadnought-style vessels, Asst. Scty of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt was able to put enough pressure on to get rid of low-mileage Idaho and her sister Mississippi by selling them to Greece amid the growing crisis in Europe that would bloom into World War I– making them the largest warships the Hellenic Navy ever operated.
The Greek battle line at the time consisted of the Italian-made Pisa-class armored cruiser Georgios Averof(10,200-tons/4×9.2-inch guns) and their elderly French-built ironclads: Hydra, Spetsai, and Psara– which were exceptionally small at just 5,300-tons, lightly armed (3x 10-inch guns) and slow (16 knots).
In a capital move, Greece paid $12,535,275 for the two American battleships– their full building cost.
The mighty Lemnos!
So in effect, the U.S. got a refund on the vessels when they transferred on 30 July 1914. Further, the funds were used to construct the New Mexico-class super-dreadnought, Idaho (BB-42), which at the time was unfunded by Congress.
Class leader Mississippi was renamed Kilkis after the crucial battle of the Second Balkan War, while Idaho became Limnos in honor of a victorious naval battle over the Turkish Navy during the First Balkan War.
Can you tell who Greece’s main rival was at the time?
Cruiser Averoff outboard with Kilkis (ex-Mississippi) who has a very dark new scheme and Lemnos (ex-Idaho)
Greece’s World War I record was spotty and the French disarmed the two battleships in 1916 just to be on the safe side, reducing their crews and impounding their shells, breechblocks, rangefinders, and torpedoes. However, after a change of government, the Greeks were allowed to rearm and nominally served in the Aegean in the last months of 1918– keeping an eye on the Turks.
Battleship Kilkis in Piraeus port, 1918. Note the poor children in the foreground. Greece spent huge funds they did not have on new military equipment to fight the Turks. Photo via Bernard Flament
Greek pre-dreadnought battleship Kilkis (former USS Mississippi), Grand Harbour, Malta 1917.
Kilkis (EX USS Mississippi) – 1917 Colourised by Postales Navales
After the end of the war, Lemnos penetrated the Straits with the Allies and remained in and out of the Black and Marma Seas supporting Allied Intervention Forces in South Russia and the general occupation effort in rapidly imploding Turkey.
Speaking of which, both ships became very active once Greece and Turkey went to war in May 1919 and remained that way for the next three years.
Lemnos (Greek battleship) Firing a salute to U.S. Navy Admiral Mark L. Bristol, at Smyrna, Turkey, 15 September 1919. Lemnos is flying the U.S. and Greek flags at the foremast peak and the Italian flag at the mainmast peak. A British D-class light cruiser is in the right distance, also with the Italian flag at the mainmast peak. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.
Lemnos Dressed with flags at Smyrna, Turkey, in 1919, possibly on 15 September. She is flying the Greek flag at the foremast peak and the Italian flag at the mainmast peak. Photographed by Wayne. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.Catalog #: NH 46707
The two battleships helped in the occupation and then evacuation of Smyrna in the disaster following the Greek collapse and their skippers cast their lot with the uprising by the Greek army and navy against the government in Athens in Sept 1922 that effected regime change by forcing the unpopular King Constantine I to abdicate and leave the country, with a military junta ruling the country until early 1924, shortly before the Greek monarchy was abolished and the Second Hellenic Republic established.
After 1932, Lemnos landed most of her guns, turrets and even a good bit of her armor plate, which were utilized as coastal defense batteries around island straits and choke points in Greek waters for another couple of decades (more on this below). She remained afloat with her likewise mothballed but still armed sistership, being utilized for barracks, receiving and depot duties until World War II.
When the Germans busted through Greece in April 1941, both ships were found at anchor in shallow water at Salamis near Athens by Luftwaffe Ju-87 Stukas and were plastered.
German footage of Lemnos foreground and Kilkis background under attack 23 April
Photo #: NH 77440 Greek battleships Kilkis and Lemnos sunk in the basin of the Greek naval base at Salamis after they were hit by German air attacks on 23 April 1941. Seen from the harbor pier following the arrival of the German army. Kilkis, the former USS Mississippi (Battleship # 23), is in the foreground. Lemnos, ex-USS Idaho (Battleship # 24), is in the distance, with her guns removed. Franz Selinger, via the U.S. Naval Institute, provided the photograph and some caption information. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.
Battleship Kilkis sunk German aerial photo. Note she still has her guns. Those on Idaho/Lemnos were removed before the war for use ashore.
Both ships remained on the bottom and they were broken up after the war.
Wreck of the Greek battleship Kilkis being refloated, with Averof alongside her in Salamis port, 1949, via George Kapadoukakis
Salamis Naval base, 1949. Averof and the sunken hulk of battleship Kilkis being raised. Photo by George Stasinopoulos
But what of the guns we mentioned above?
The twin 12 inch (305mm) turrets from the Lemnos were installed in the 1930s at Cape Tourlos (37.767069, 23.554406) on the island of Aegina where they helped to defend the approaches to the port of Athens.
Captured by the Germans in 1941, they were manned by Marineartillerieabteilung 603 (MKB Ägina-Nord) until October 1944 and– along with the 19 152mm guns manned by the Italians on the island of Leros– helped proved the basis for the fictional “Guns of Navarone” by the Scottish writer Alistair MacLean, though in the book they were described as 280mm railway guns.
The emplacements (sans guns) appear to be still visible on Google Earth. Idaho‘s 8″ and 7″ guns were likewise scattered and, knowing the Germans, may have been relocated anywhere in Festung Europa.
While some of Idaho’s guns and armor may be somewhere in a forgotten coastal defense battery long since left to ruin, items left in the States from these briefly-used ships are slim.
The silver service and ship’s figurehead shield from the Mississippi are in downtown Jackson at the Magnolia State’s Capitol.
Idaho‘s Tiffany & Co. presentation silver service, seen below in a 1912 photo, went on to serve on the Greek-funded USS Idaho BB-42 and was turned over to her namesake state in 1942 to prevent it from being lost during WWII. It had been paid for by a $7,500 allocation by the legislature in Boise and presented by Gov. Hawley to BB-24 some four years after she was commissioned.
I can only assume it is somewhere in Boise, hopefully on display.
Displacement: 13,000 long tons (13,200 metric tons); 14,500 full load
Length: 382 ft. (116 m)
Beam: 77 ft. (23 m)
Draft: 24.7 ft. (7.5 m)
Speed: 17 kn (20 mph; 31 km/h)
Range: 1,900 nm at 10 knots with standard 600t coal bunkerage. When overloaded with 1,800 tons could make 5,800
Complement: 34 officers and 710 enlisted in U.S. service. Unknown in Hellenic service.
Armament: (As commissioned, largely disarmed 1932)
4 × 12 in (305 mm)/45 caliber Mark 5 guns (2×2)
8 × 8 in (203 mm)/45 caliber guns (4×2)
8 × 7 in (180 mm)/45 caliber Mark 2 guns
12 × 3 in (76 mm)/50 caliber guns
2 × 21 in (530 mm) torpedo tubes
Armor:
Belt: 7–9 in (178–229 mm)
Barbettes: 6–10 in (152–254 mm)
Turret (mains) 8–12 in (203–305 mm)
Turret (secondary): 7 in (178 mm)
Conning tower: 9 in (229 mm)
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Combat Gallery Sunday : The Martial Art of Geoffrey Stephen Allfree
Born 11 Feb 1889 in Kent, England, to the Rev Francis Allfree– the vicar of the Parish of St Nicholas-at-Wade and Sarre, young Geoffrey Stephen Allfree embarked on a career as a merchant mariner until 1911 when he took up painting.
He volunteered to take the King’s Schilling at the outbreak of war in 1914 as a Sub-Lieutenant in the Royal Navy Reserve and served several years in motor launches. By 1918, he was named a war artist and covered a number of maritime subjects of the Great War.
The Wake of a P-boat. A view from the stern of a patrol boat of the waves and spray created by the boat as it moves across the surface of the water. Another vessel is visible in the patrol boat’s wake..IWM ART 563
A Monitor’s Turret. A detailed side-on view of the two-gun turret of a Monitor, with part of the ship’s superstructure visible behind the turrent to the left. A portion of the deck is visible, with a sailor standing on it in the right foreground. The silhouettes of buildings are visible in the background, showing that the Monitor is moored in a dock. IWM 564
Submarines In Dry Dock. a view of two Royal Navy submarines being refitted in a dry dock. The foremost submarine is shown from the bow, whilst the second, to the left, is shown from the stern. Both are supported by scaffolding and struts. Men work on the deck and hull of the foremost submarine, with a few men also standing on the floor of the dry dock. IWM 777
HMS Revenge in Dry Dock, Portsmouth, 1918. A view of the looming bow of the Royal Navy battleship HMS Revenge whilst undergoing maintenance in dry dock at Portsmouth. The huge ship is tethered to the dockside and supported against the side of the dock with large struts. The lower half of the hull, usually below the water level, is a rusty orange color. Only the tallest part of the ship’s superstructure is visible at the top of the composition. The lead ship of her class of 5 30,000-ton modern battleships, Revenge was commissioned in 1916, just before the Battle of Jutland and survived both World Wars, going to the breakers in 1948. IWM 765
HMS Revenge In Dry Dock At Night, Portsmouth The Work was Continued through the Night by the Aid of Huge Flares. IWM 761
A Monitor. A front-on view of a large Monitor at sea, with its two-gun turret facing towards the bow. Parts of the ship’s superstructure are painted in a chequered pattern. A number of sailors are visible standing on deck and there is a stationary gun platform visible in the background to the left. IWM 568
Dazzled Tramp In Portsmouth Harbour. a view of the starboard side of a dazzle camouflaged Merchant Navy transport ship, which is moored in Portsmouth harbour. IWM 793
A Torpedoed Tramp Steamer off the Longships, Cornwall, 1918. A tramp-steamer in dazzle camouflage keeled over to port and grounded on a cliff-lined Cornish beach. A heavy sea flecked with foam washes over the wreck, while a stormy sky passes overhead. Shafts of sunlight illuminate the sea and cliffs with an unearthly glow. The remains of an earlier wreck can be seen stranded on the point in the upper left. IWM 2237.
HMS Iron Duke. The ship is starboard side on, steaming from left to right with a smaller ship in front of the battleship’s bow. The lead ship of her 29,000-ton class, Iron Duke was commissioned into the Home Fleet in March 1914 as the fleet flagship, fought at Jutland, and made it through WWII to be broken in 1946. IWM149.
A Dazzled Oiler, With Escort. A large dazzle-painted oiler at sea being escorted by a smaller vessel, with the white chalk cliffs of the coastline visible in the background. IWM 567.
Motor Launches Engaging a Submarine. A motor launch at full steam, moving from right to left, with her bow lifting out of the water. Two figures on the deck are manning a light gun. Another motor launch is visible just behind. Both are moving quickly towards a German submarine that has surfaced, in the background to the left. The artist served in motor launched throughout the war, even while in work as a war artist, so this image was real life for him. IWM 148
His work included very popular if stark memorial art to the loss of the cruiser HMS Hampshire
Speaking of loss, the artist was killed at age 29 during the war when on 29 Sept 1918– just six weeks before the Armistice– his craft, HM Motor Launch No. 247, was lost at sea.
From the IWM:
A four boat flotilla of Motor Launches had entered St Ives Bay for shelter during a strong southerly gale, which rapidly escalated to hurricane force winds. In the eye of the storm,the Motor Launches started engines and tried desperately to work their way into deeper water. Allfree’s launch developed engine trouble, one mile off Clodgy Point and started to drift helplessly towards Oar Rock. The St. Ives’ lifeboat raced to reach the stricken ship, but arrived minutes too late by which time the launch had blown up on impact with the rock, presumably as its depth charges detonated. There was only one survivor.
A number of his pieces are in the National Collection in the UK and displayed at various public locations while the Imperial War Museum has some 53 on file and keeps a detail of his own biography as part of their Lives of the First World War series.
Historical Firearms has a good piece on the the Austro-Hungarian Standschutze Hellriegel submachine gun. Apparently this mad bulky water cooled (!) burp gun was developed during 1915 and blended pistol caliber ammunition with the firepower of a machine gun making it one of the first weapons which could be considered an SMG.
When you think SMG, you don’t really think something with the same portability as a Vickers Maxim with 1/10th the range
Dig the assistant gunner waiting patently with the leather and wood frame spare mag carrier
“Today the crew performed the task of a gunners gang, taking down the traversing gear for our #4 5″/51 broadside gun, which we use for demonstration. The gearing was assessed to be too dirty, slowing the travel of the gun left and right. The gearing was taken apart, cleaned thoroughly, and greased anew”
USS Olympia (C-6) was of course Dewey’s flag at Manila Bay, commissioned 5 February 1895 after her completion in San Francisco.
She carried and used those weapons in training new bluejacket gunners during the war, then in support of the U.S. Expeditionary Forces to Russia during the civil war in that country, and in carrying the Unknown Soldier of WWI back from France.
It’s nice to see, that although she was decommissioned as a warship 9 December 1922 (now some 93-years ago) and has been used as a relic and museum ship since, at least one of these old 5-inch casemate guns is still fit for service.
Here we see perhaps the pinnacle of German Great War sniping rifles.
It is a JP Sauer & Sohn Gewehr 98 Sniper Rifle with detachable Zeiss 2.5x monocular optical sight that superimposed a pyramidal aiming point in the field of view. The large objective allowed for better light-gathering, but the best feature was a radium-enhanced reticle that allowed precise sighting in near darkness.
Best of all, the optic could be removed easily if the regular “iron sights” were the best for a specific shooting scenario.
Also of note is the 20-round “trench mag,” hinged breech cover to keep mud, blood and beer out, and the classic Mauser pigsticker on the end, for when raiders come a’ callin.
Combat Gallery Sunday : The Martial Art of Thomas Baumgartner
Born in Munich in 15 July 1892, Thomas Baumgartner was a Bavarian through and through. Studying at the Aktklasse at the Munich Academy from 1911, he was awarded the prestigious Goldene Medaille from the Münchner Glaspalast following exhibition of his works, including that of General Von Keller in particular.
Specializing in portraits, the young man was not picky about who he painted, spending the same amount of time and attention on both high society and common man
Portrait of Bavarian author Ludwig Thoma by Thomas Baumgartner 1912. This image was oddly enough used by a brand of beer and thus on beer steins in Munich for years.
Bavarian Koenig Ludwig III
During the Great War, Baumgartner was tapped to continue to craft portraits of high-ranking Bavarian and other German officers, as well as a wonderful series of paintings of captured Allied troops highlighting their uniforms in 1916.
Assorted Russians from three different regiments, with the soldier in the center wearing the typical short cap of those worn by Tsarist Rifles battalion.
Asiatic Russians. The one on the right is a junior NCO, a lance sergeant, as noted by his pogoni (shoulder boards) too bad you can’t make out the regimental number
Note the scars on these West African French soldiers, likely from Senegal
Asian Commonwealth soldiers, likely from the Malay Rifles though it is broadly possible though unlikely they are from “The Suicide Battalion” 46th Battalion (South Saskatchewan), CEF due to the battalion insignia. The 10th Regiment (1st Burma Rifles) Madras Infantry was formed during the war, but served in the Middle East after Baumgartner painted this picture, making it unlikely these men were from that unit.
British Indian troops
French Tirailleur Algerians
Nepalese Gurhkas
Scots, with tartans very close to that of the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders
British commonwealth troops, possibly from the West Indies but it’s hard to tell without shoulder or collar insignia
After the War, Baumgartner resumed his more traditional work.
In the 1920s he became first a regular contributor then later an editor for Jugend (Youth) magazine, a Bavarian art journal that popularized “Jugendstil” a sort of German art nouveau style that remained well liked through the Wiemar era while the style lost favor in the rest of the world.
Jugend remained in publication, though heavily edited, after the Nazis came to power, until 1940 when it folded for good. After all, Hitler thought himself both something of an artist and a Bavarian.
This led Baumgartner into some very dark works during the 1930s and 40s including Der Kampf des Arztes mit dem Tod but was nonetheless an “approved artist” under National Socialism and during the same time provided portrait services to many in the upper level of the Third Reich, which I don’t have the stomach to repeat here.
He was one of the driving forces behind founding the Haus der Deutschen Kunst (House of German Art) in Munich.
Baumgartner survived the war and lived until 1962, returning to the occasional portrait of those close to him in the twilight of his life.
Baumgartner’s neighbor in Kreuth, farmer Lorenz Hagen, who was 99 years and 9 months old when painted.
Some 46 of his paintings are in the collection of the Deutschen Nationalbibliothek and his traditional portraits trade modestly.
