Picture of the day

Not far away geographically, and twenty years closer in time, a passel of Free French pose with their hardware. Quite the selection:

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I like the guy in the golf shirt with a sporting rifle. He looks like a surprised time traveller from 1967.
 
The golf shirt guy is in trouble. There is no front sight on his carbine that I can see.

I blew the pic up to 500% it has a rather large muzzle and might be a Geha type shotgun.

DAD, the pic is posed so muzzle, trigger finger control etc is pretty much at the discretion of the photographer for effect.

From my experience in stressful circumstances, unless the situation had turned critical, muzzle and trigger control were always primary, safety first.

When in base camp, the only people allowed to have loaded firearms were those on the defense perimeter or looking for threats.

It was acceptable, under stressful times to have full magazines in pouches but not inserted into firearms. When alerts were called, all firearms in the hands of responders and defenders were to be fully loaded at all times but no rounds chambered until the sh1t hit the fan.

In the field, it all depended on the situation in real time.

Most combatants I knew, carried a firearm with a full mag, no round chambered, other than the point and tail man.

When things go awry, things happen. Good training, on a regular basis pretty much alleviates accidental issues. Not always.

Hit the ground hard, with a round in the chamber, rifle in ready mode and finger on the trigger will lead to accidental discharges.

I've seen that happen on several occasions, thankfully without negative results, but hit the ground wrong, land on a rock or root, and have the muzzle direction deflected???????????? The list goes on.

Anyone who's been there done that can verify.

That's one big thing well-trained troopies have over wild, untrained, emotional renegades, they usually don't have accidents.

That doesn't guarantee it won't happen. Even the best trained troops and individuals can have something go wrong, no matter how well trained they are.
 
In front of the Bren Gunner, it's a very special potato masher grenade.

Look like a standard grenade with some grenades retain all around with a string.

I have never seen in person a 100 rounds Bren Gun mag, seem very rare.
 
In front of the Bren Gunner, it's a very special potato masher grenade.

Look like a standard grenade with some grenades retain all around with a string.

I have never seen in person a 100 rounds Bren Gun mag, seem very rare.

Those look like drums for a MAC 1934 machinegun. I have no idea what that gun with the AA sights is. It is no Bren gun. My guess is maybe a Browning aircraft machine gun salvaged from an aircraft wreck, then adapted to ground use. The ring sight looks a bit damaged, maybe?
 
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On this day in 1944, Allied forces in Italy begin a 123-day offensive against the fortified mountain-top abbey Monte Cassino. More than 55,000 US, British, Commonwealth, French & Polish troops are wounded or killed before the summit is finally taken; German casualties are 20,000

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In front of the Bren Gunner, it's a very special potato masher grenade.

Look like a standard grenade with some grenades retain all around with a string.

I have never seen in person a 100 rounds Bren Gun mag, seem very rare.

Geballte Ladung is the term for it. Make shift anti tank weapon.
 
was in use in Switzerland until the 80's when the old stick grenade 43 was replaced by the hand grenade 85. My dad, who was a fusilier, still tells very fondly of it. His favorite weapon, the hand grenade, because you didn't have to clean it after use.
 
was in use in Switzerland until the 80's when the old stick grenade 43 was replaced by the hand grenade 85. My dad, who was a fusilier, still tells very fondly of it. His favorite weapon, was the hand grenade, because you didn't have to clean it after use.

I've used the post-war Portuguese version of the M43, "Potato Masher" grenade, and when push comes to shove quite preferred it to other designs.

I had the opportunity to compare them against the Soviet F1, US MkII, and Chinese stick grenades. The M43 was the best under stressful conditions.

It was awkward to carry in a readily accessible manner but you could throw it further and more accurately, with a bit of practice.

The Soviet and US grenades took a lot more practice and couldn't be thrown as far. The Chinese stick grenades were better for distance and were maybe in second place as far as preference goes.

That was over 50 years ago. Modern grenades are lighter and more powerful, etc.
 
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