Started reading C.R. Crutchley's Machine Gunner 1914-1918 (an excellant read, by the way) today. In several instances it mentions guns being taken forward by transport. Can anyone provide some insight as to what vehicles were used?
I presume that many were by horse drawn wagons . . . would this have been done with a standard GS-wagon or were special carts utilized? There's also a picture showing MGC mules in the desert . . . could someone provide information as to how the gun, tripod, and ammo were attached to the mule? I understand light trucks were used, particularly in the desert, including the Ford Model-T and the Napier. Would appreciate whatever you can add.
That looks a bit pre-War to me, Ivor. The gun is a Maxim, if I'm not mistaken. It's an interesting pic in itself - with slung rifles, bandoliers, and the odd bit of Slade-Wallace, they might be Scottish yeomanry, if there was such a thing.
I've got a pic of Uhlans unloading a captured Russiam Maxim from what looks like an ordinary caisson or limber. As far as MG carriages go, the early French cavalry seem to have equipped their cavalry with Hotchkisses on carriages v similar to the one in the pic, and there are pics of Belgian Grenadiers using what looks like the same thing, but the men are wearing bearskins, which makes it pre-War (and possibly just a trial, since there's no official mention of such an arrangement). It does seem to have been a cavalry thing
I would guess they would have been moved by GS Wagon or lorry behind the lines. In the battle zone one man carried the tripod and another the gun.
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If you touch on foriegn armies. MG wheeled transport was common. The German arny utilized two types; standard 4 wheel axle, and an articulated version. I'll post some pics if, and when I get my scanner working.
As I read further into the book, I found several references to both mules and carts on the Western Front . . . no metion of motorized vehicles at all. Will strat reading about the Middle East tomorrow and fing out how they did it.
Lewis guns were also transported in small carts - in fact there's one surviving at the RAF Museum, Hendon - in use in the Battle of Britain area as a small grocers cart with the top taken off!
