Anzio photo shamelessly ripped from net. Cool pic.

Claven2

Claven2

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I've shamelessly stolen this form e-bay, but a really cool photo form Anzio.

$(KGrHqVHJEwFG44+styQBR3F7Zn-+Q~~60_57.JPG


In it, I see...

- Four K98's, all are lam stock mid-war cupped buttplate production. One has the rear band on backwards (sloppy Whermacht soldiers!).
- A No.4Mk1 Enfield
- An M91 Carcano long rifle
- An M91 Moschetto carbine with a warped bayonet and a second moschetto barelled action
- A Hotchkiss Machine Gun, probably in 6.5 Carcano
- A complete MP40 and an MP40 lower
- What looks to be a Besa machinegun missing it's handguard
- Three M41 carcanos


Did I miss anything?
 
the one the black fella second from left is cleaning.... is it a lewis ????? looks like a lewis aircraft gun...look real close
 
At first glance I thought that the flexible mounted lmg on the left was a Lewis gun, missing its gas cylinder. Looks like the mainspring housing just under the pintle.
Is the one on the right a Breda, its butt group on the ground below it?
 
The firearm the fella on the right is holding looks suspiciously like a Breda. You can see the hinged magazine, and the Lieutenant might be holding the charger for it.
 
Lieutenant: (pointing the charger) this is a nice rifle but see that Lee Enfield there....would swap this or my M1 for it anytime. :)
 
I'm too new to recognize all the guns. But it's interesting to see the whities and darkies side by side unless it was staged. After all, that was then. Makes me wonder if battle really brought them together for the betterment and understanding of both.

I can be a total redneck about a LOT of things. But it's always amazed me that so many can hate so intently based on skin colour. Poke a hole in us and we all bleed the same colour after all.
 
The white guy is an officer,most blacks were restricted to support roles in WW2 and a number of theses units led by white officers.With the exception of a few places blacks where limited to non combat roles and most advancement in what they were allowed to do had more to do with a need then any enlightenment on the part of government similar as to why women were allowed to go into the factories.

Eric
 
http://www.history.com/images/media/interactives/AfricanAmericansWWII.pdf

From Wikipedia

During World War II, most African American soldiers still served only as truck drivers and as stevedores (except for some separate tank battalions and Army Air Forces escort fighters).[27] In the midst of the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944, General Eisenhower was severely short of replacement troops for existing military units which were totally white in composition. Consequently, he made the decision to allow African American soldiers to pick up a weapon and join the white military units to fight in combat for the first time.[27] More than 2,000 black soldiers had volunteered to go to the front.[28] This was an important step toward a desegregated United States military.


Patton
See also: George S. Patton

As the 761st was about to enter combat, Patton reviewed the battalion and made a speech to the men which offered a guarded vote of confidence in their abilities:

Men, you're the first Negro tankers to ever fight in the American Army. I would never have asked for you if you weren't good. I have nothing but the best in my Army. I don't care what color you are as long as you go up there and kill those Kraut sons of #####es. Everyone has their eyes on you and is expecting great things from you. Most of all your race is looking forward to your success. Don't let them down and damn you, don't let me down![2]

However, like most American military officers of the era, Patton expressed his doubts about using black men in combat. On returning to headquarters following the review, he remarked, "They gave a good first impression, but I have no faith in the inherent fighting ability of the race." He only put this sentiment aside and accepted the 761st when he desperately needed all the ground power he could get. Even after the war, Patton was not inclined to reform his perception of black soldiers. In War As I Knew It, he relates the interaction described above, and comments, "Individually they were good soldiers, but I expressed my belief at the time, and have never found the necessity of changing it, that a colored soldier cannot think fast enough to fight in armor."[3]

Eric
 
The "Hotchkiss" machine gun looks more like a FIAT Revelli.

Hesitation-lock rather than pure gas-op.

Check in Chinn, Volume 1 or in "Italy" in SAOTW.

Pretty sure it is not French.
 
I had thought the leftmost MG was a Besa, like this one, but missing the handguard and wearing a buttstock. Look at he barrel, front sight and flash hider.:

zb60.jpg


Then I thought maybe a VMG-27, but can't be. Unlikely one would be at Anzio and the butt is wrong.

IMG_8101.jpg


Not sure what it is now...???
 
BCRider said:
I'm too new to recognize all the guns. But it's interesting to see the whities and darkies side by side unless it was staged. After all, that was then. Makes me wonder if battle really brought them together for the betterment and understanding of both.

I can be a total redneck about a LOT of things. But it's always amazed me that so many can hate so intently based on skin colour. Poke a hole in us and we all bleed the same colour after all.
Click to expand...

Blacks in the US Army were with a few exceptions put in non-combat roles, such as supply, truck driving, and more morbid things such as grave details. They were almost always lead by white officers - the white guy in this picture is a Lieutenant, so he's probably in charge of them.

If you read into the subject of the blacks in the US Military during the war, you'll often hear from the some of the more openminded officers who were in charge of the blacks saying that they were great troops who wanted to prove themselves.

It's sad that this was the state of affairs at the time.
 
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