The Great War

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The Lewis machine gun.

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Bump

Have a Chauchat.

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>>33537221
Go download Dan Carlin's Blueprint for Armageddon while it's still free my niggas

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Belgian dog Calvary.

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>>33538093
Goddamn I love those Belgian top hats.

Have a Verdun fortress.

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>>33538267

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>>33538267
Damn. Artillery is no joke.

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>>33538300

>>33538305
One of the strangest things when you first start reading about WW1 is both how artillery makes some defenses absolute worthless. But then one side will use an absolutely mind numbing amount of shells in a matter of a few days and still can't penetrate enemy defenses.

Carlin brings up examples of artillery breaking down fort's thought to be impenetrable and also of artillery being mostly shrapnel and doing dick all to Germany defenses at the Somme.

>>33538305
It's also interesting to watch how all sides start out in different starting positions and develop the doctrines slowly over the course of the war.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r77_ZYEjV20

Gives a good basic overview.

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Fort de lorcin

Then

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>>33538442
Now

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Artwork

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The fighting in the Italian mountains is also pretty horrifying.

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>>33538547

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>>33538554

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>>33538560

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Illustration of village fighting in 1918

>>33538636

Jesus, that guy is not only wounded but has to be evac'ed out on that rickety-ass gondola. Fuck that, he's prob a mile up. Fuck that.

Let's all agree that All Quiet on the Western Front, The Road Back, and Three Comrades are pure trenchkino

All that senseless misery and death makes me sad. Imagine what Europe would be like if they didn't castrate themselves fighting two pointless wars.

>>33538742
Why the fuck did the French let a 15 year old enlist I mean sure they were short on men and on the edge of defeat but they had to fucking know he was probably underaged fucking look at him

>>33537221
The A&E one? If so great film recommend it every time asked about WW1.

>getting water down by the river

>>33538836

Rick Schroder kino

>>33538636
>"Close your eyes Luigi it will probably be over soon!"

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42cm gamma-merat

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>>33538836
Yup. Although I've heard in 1919 they made a movie about it. That would be interesting to see.

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>>33538994
They did.

>>33538952
>>33538994
Nice senpai, that one is really underrated.

>>33538080
I'll second that, listened to it all the way through while working the late shift a while back. Thinking about doing it again.

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>>33539024

Watching it now

>>33538774
Drummer boys and signalers were usually 14-16

>>33539037

Is that the 3+ hour podcast?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFMT_BVBBsA

>>33539075
Yea, it took me a while to get through it. Mostly listened when I had some mundane task to do.

>>33539075
And that's just the first of six episodes.

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>More classy infantry

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>This thread

Needs more tanks!

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How can one man be so based?

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I'm reading Storm of Steel right now and it's awesome.

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Survivors of the 308th "The lost battalion"

I actually have studied WW1 heavily in college, but never got to learn about WW2 in depth. This leads to a question I've been wondering about- while WW2 was obviously a horrible experience for all involved, it lacked in some of the more horrible aspects of WW1. Trench warfare was a factor on the eastern front, sure; but lesser so than in WW1, and almost nonexistant on the western front- let alone in asia. Poison gas, while maybe used at the camp resorts, was never used in battle in WW2.

I know with the poison gas, both sides expected the other to use it; and all sides issued gas masks to both soldiers and civilians, but neither pulled the trigger. But trench warfare? Why did germany not dig in once the allies started advancing through France?

>>33539047
That's fucked that's some revolutionary war shit senpai

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Americans street fighting in the village of Exermont.

During the Meuse-Argonne offensive.

>>33539267
They were even younger in the revolution like 12-14

>>33539192
>black bess
IT'S REAL!

>>33539276
>>33539268
quick load out in a yuropoor village what you pick?
enfield
springfield
1911
38. spl
bar
chowchow
shotgun

>>33539206
Nigga spent to much time in the sand!

>tfw I want a lebel
Don't fucking judge me

>>33539261
I reckon because technology had advanced so much compare tech of ww1 and ww2

>>33538774
The Belgian Army let the literal 14 year old Prince and heir to the Belgian throne enlist.

>>33539299
I think the mix of MGs with 1870s tactics at the beginning of the war really led to trenches. Imagine marching in columns only to get mowed down. Not to mention LITERAL FUCKING CAVALRY WITH SWORDS AND PIKES!

>>33539299
Well sure, but if Germany's goal was to defend the motherland once the allies began advancing, digging in would have made sense. They could have used forced conscripts from France, Poland, and Austria to wear down the allies in a war of attrition, but chose not to.

I mean fair enough- airplanes, tanks, trucks, artillery, etc was more advanced... but was that really all that made the difference?

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Who's this?

Who here watches the great war on YT? A friend started watching it when it began but I have only started a couple months ago. Really interresting format and he seems to know his shit.

>>33539362
No but buy the Hardcore History podcast on the great war, fantastic podcast and well worth the cost.

>>33539261
Tanks made trench warfare pointless.
As did modern aircraft.

>>33539405
Then why was trench warfare a factor on the eastern front? They had thousands of tanks, and many planes on lend/lease from the us.

>>33539325
That's me, lad.

Just got done watching Ian's video on the Lewis gun. I can't imagine the hell that was keeping that thing functioning and loaded while engage in extended periods of trench warfare.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l73mR4D9pYw

>>33539428
Trench warfare existed. But what was the outcome?
Kursk
El Alamein
Stalingrad
Italy
The entrenched armies were defeated or they retreated.

>>33539790
What do you mean? Stalingrad was entrenched, and survived literally years of hoards of germans attacking, it's one of the best stories of defending from invaders. Its actually a fantastic example of how trench warfare could have been viable in defense on the western front.

If the Germans used trench warfare they could have killed off americans and brits with expendable conscripts.

From what I can tell, the western front was essentially finished as soon as the allies successfully landed in France. Imagine if the germans had dug in along the ardennes forest instead of going on the offensive?

>>33539815
The German did build defenses in the west. The Siegfried line. While it did slow the allies it, it did not stop them.

Much like the Gustav line in Italy. Unlike WW1 armies in ww2 were extremely mobile.

Stalingrad was urban combat. It devolved into trench warfare after much of the city was flattened.

It was also on a river which made flanking rather difficult. Especially when the Russians controlled the eastern bank.

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>>33537221

>>33539261
When the allies were advancing through France the Germans were in a full quite unorganised retreat after barely escaping from the Falaise Pocket.

They did dig in whilst defending Germany and the low countries but it wasn't to the same scale as WW1. You might have individual companies digging their own trenches around an objective as supposed to one big long winding trench. There were slit trenches and prepared fighting positions for artillery, anti tank weapons and tanks but not one long front line.

>>33539405
Is right. Most armies had envisioned medium tanks to be used to exploit breakouts and the machines in 1944 were far more capable than 1918 in speed, armour and armament.

They would and did make mincemeat out of Trenches.

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>>33537221
>Watching Gallipoli with my dad
>Get to the battle scene
>MAKE SURE YOU DON'T HAVE A ROUND IN THE CHAMBER, AFFIX BAYONETS
>Dad gets confused and angered
>That ending shot
>Dad reaches maximum WHAT THE FUCK
>He thought WWI was basically like WWII
Do you guys know or ever meet anyone who didn't know what the First World War was?
I mean at least he knows a bit more now..

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Going to Verdun this summer, lads

I'll take pictures

>>33540129
ill see you when I see ya

>>33540195
Been there once, beautiful place.

>>33539981
>that poor guy tumbling down at the end.

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>>33537221

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>>33538686

>>33539815
Bullshit. We lost Stalingrad due to many reasons, not only because the Soviets entrenched themselves. Model ignored every order regarding not building defensive lines and still couldn't stop the Soviets. You really think a fully motorized/mechanized foe in the West would have cared AT ALL?
We barely had time and material to build proper defenses in the West outside of the Siegfried line anyways, hell we didn't even know where the invasion would happen and had to split already small forces up. Hitler didn't feel like giving Rommel and Rundstedt command of the available tanks and both disagreed as to where and how they should be used.

There was no winning the Western Front after the US entered, everyone realized and knew the invasion would come at one point and there was no stopping it.

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browning m1917 crew with superior american chemical protection (kops-tissot masks)

>>33539790
The defenders (soviets) at the Battle of Kursk beat off the germans in one of the biggest armoured battles in history, then chased them all the way to Berlin.

>>33538349
It's because some forts where more modern then others. The french forts had a big layer of sand ontop of the fort, and a layer of concrete ontop of that. They could take a beating.

The belgian forts where plain concrete and cracked open.

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>>33538641
thats insane.

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>>33542004
It's based off of an eye witness account where during the Battle of Hartmannswillerkopf the position of some Chasseurs Alpins (Mountain infantry) were surrounded by Germans infantry and in response they charged down the mountain with skis and bayonets but were heavily outnumbered and killed in hand-to-hand combat

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>>33539075
In total it's 18 hours long.

>mfw it's only a half hour shorter than the Guns of August audiobook

>>33539325
me on the right

>>33540129
>Do you guys know or ever meet anyone who didn't know what the First World War was?
yeah, most millenials

>>33540129
>MAKE SURE YOU DON'T HAVE A ROUND IN THE CHAMBER, AFFIX BAYONETS
Seriously, what the fuck ?

>>33538080
sounds like a Alex Jones doc

>>33539267

Jack Cornwell VC

>The shielded 5.5-inch gun mounting where Cornwell was serving as a sight-setter was affected by at least four nearby hits. The Chester's gun mountings were open-backed shields and did not reach down to the deck. Splinters were thus able to pass under them or enter the open back when shells exploded nearby or behind. All the gun's crew were killed or mortally injured except Cornwell, who, although severely wounded, managed to stand up again and remain at his post for more than 15 minutes, until Chester retired from the action with only one main gun still working. Chester had received a total of 18 hits, but partial hull armour meant that the interior of the ship suffered little serious damage and the ship itself was never in peril. Nevertheless, the situation on deck was dire. Many of the gun crews had lost lower limbs due to splinters passing under the gun shields. British ships report passing the Chester to cheers from limbless wounded gun crew laid out on her deck and smoking cigarettes, only to hear that the same crewmen had died a few hours later from blood loss and shock.

>After the action, ship medics arrived on deck to find Cornwell the sole survivor at his gun, shards of steel penetrating his chest, looking at the gun sights and still waiting for orders. Being incapable of further action, Chester was ordered to the port of Immingham. There Cornwell was transferred to Grimsby General Hospital, although he was clearly dying. He died on the morning of 2 June 1916 before his mother could arrive at the hospital.

>Died: 2 June 1916 (aged 16) Grimsby, England

>>33539192
> Erfurt

All hail the Thuringians!!!

>>33539325
Somebody who will do nothing wrong in his live.

>>33541440
>We

Topwew, lad.

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I recently watched Captain Conan.
It's the best ww1 movie I've ever seen, and probably the best war movie period.

French soldiers (corps francs for the most part, french sturmtruppen) on the Balkan front, then peacetime in Romania and skirmishes against bolsheviks. The action is very good for a french movie, it has an excellent portrayal of military justice (the focus of the scenes in Romania), and is quite philosophical without showing it down your head, as it's mainly expressed through a gallery of characters with very different views on war.
Bonus points for the great care towards historical accuracy.

And the lead actor performance is amazing. The final fight scene had me in tears with a couple lines.

I really recommend this movie, it's two hours well spent and I don't understand why I never heard of it before.

>>33541565
With tanks? Or trenches?

>>33538994
My museum has a stripped down Japanese Lewis gun for an aircraft sitting in the vault, collecting dust

>>33542499
So you don't accidentally blow your hand off maybe? I'm not sure

>>33543963
A reasonable precaution for aussies.

>>33538311
I can't help but wonder what happened to the fellow on the left.

Just for giggles, a maxim I read in an ebook I had on artillery of the Great war (check the /tg/ historical wargaming topic, the WW1 link, look for it in the other or non osprey section). Was something like:

Pomeranians (Prussians) march until they die
Berliners march until they collapse
Bavarians march until they are tired
Wurttembergers march until they don't feel marching anymore.

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>>33542499
Really. Wasn't the whole point to expend your ammo then use the stabby part?

>Pic the US answer to bertha.

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Suggested reading for WW1. Great book.

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>Augustin Trébuchon was the last Frenchman to die when he was shot on his way to tell fellow soldiers, who were attempting an assault across the Meuse river, that hot soup would be served after the ceasefire. He was killed at 10:50 am.

>>33543225
>his life

Your just his kind of people.

>>33544391
I remember reading this back in high school, an excellent book indeed.

>>33538071
Underrated weapon

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>>33544473
Fuck

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jTgkTEDDog

>>33537221
I got to watch the lost battalion in american history in freshman year. Pretty good movie

>>33544473

>served during the entire war
>at 2nd Marne, Verdun, Artois, and the Somme
>wounded twice
>only to die 15 minutes before the end

I didn't ask for these feels.

>>33544770
More like underwhelming

>>33538300
Are those bodies?

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>>33539192

>>33545282
What kind of a cock sucker would shoot somebody 15min before the end of a war.

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>you will never go over the top with your /k/omrades
why life? #trenchfoot

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Dough boy in Italy.

>>33539428
In accounts of trench warfare in Tunisia during WWII, one tank commander gave the order to pull up to the trench, turn, and bury them alive.

that and tanks were in infancy during WWI, by WWII as long as the enemy didn't have an anti-tank rifle it was safe over no-man's land.

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>>33545486
Until an artillery shell landed on it!

>>33540347
>mobile artillery

>>33545448
To be fair, they were advancing towards the German position.
Last KIA of the war happened 1 minute before the armistice, granted that was kind of his own fault.

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>>33545448
Someone afraid of dying 15 minutes before the end of a war...

>>33539261
Trench warfare was ending before the end of WWI. The firepower that could be brought to bear was so high that there were no trenches in the later battles. Rather, you should imagine it like a zone of defended shell holes etc.
>>33539362
Read a book. That great war guy is just summarizing
>>33539405
Not really. Here's a fun fact for you, the Allies were fighting through dozens of miles of trench systems during the 100 days with little more than artillery and infantry and only a smattering of tanks. Tanks were useful, but trench warfare could be cracked with the proper application of firepower.
>>33544473
>As the final hours ticked down, the 28th Battalion [CEF] was further ahead than any other unit, having just captured Havre, located 7km east of Mons. Most men were silent waiting for the guns to quieten for the last time. In a slit trench, only a few minutes before the Armistice, Private Price, a twenty five year old farmhand who had been conscripted in 1917, looked around, perhaps dreaming of getting back to Canada.
"To his amazement, from a window of one of Havre's outlying buildings, a Belgian woman waved to him. As his companions stayed low and out of sight, Price inexplicably jumped from his protective trench and ran to the girl, presumably to steal a kiss, perhaps to have a story to tell his grandchildren about what happened at 11am on November 11, 1918. He never made it to those lips. A German sniper tracked him in the run and put a bullet through his chest. Price died almost instantly, a few minutes to 11.
dat sad feel tho

>>33545448
There are plenty of senseless deaths in war

>>33537221
Question for you all:

If the Chauchat didn't have those dumbass view port things on the sides of the magazines, would it have been useable on a squad level the way a BAR was in WW2?

>>33545710
Seems like it would have been, but then again, they used it for how many years without modifications?

>>33545710
No, the chauchat also had issues with the barrel locking itself in the cooling shroud when it got hot. The chauchat was not a good design, certainly not on par with the BAR.

>>33537221
I'll have to go take a photo but I have a helmet that belonged to a Lost Battalion member.

>>33538349
The Somme was just an issue of them picking the wrong kind of shells. They had access to high explosive shells, they just didn't fucking use them.

Some historians argue that if Britain had gotten their head out of their ass and used their HE shells at the Somme, they would have won there and the rest of the war soon afterwards.

>>33537221
That hit me harder than I initially suspected it would.

That future bio on the commanding officer.

>>33538080
Fucking this. I started listening to him after I ran out of audiobooks, for driving and boring household shit.

Might also want to check out Daniele Bolleli's History on Fire, it's basically the same thing, podcasts are a little shorter at about an hour each. But the thick accent takes some getting used to.

I like Dan Carlin, but he has a couple of quirks that annoy me. This is how he describes a battle scene:

>I'm not a historian. Now just imagine how it would have been like to live back then. I'm not a historian. This could just as easily have been you or me if we grew up back then. Remember, I'm not a historian. It's just unimaginable how everyone was expected to stand in a line and murder each other up close with spears and watch their friends and family get murdered. Also, I'm not a historian. Just a history fan. Not a historian. Remember that.

>>33544770

If only it didn't overheat under a hundred rounds and didn't have the stupid open magazine, it would have been more okay in that war.

>>33545710
A lot of the chauchat's complaints were marines using the terrible .30-06 versions, which were essentially loading .30-06 into a chamber made for 8mm lebel. Plus the .30-06 round exaggerated heat issues as mentioned here >>33546046 but to answer your question, no, it was much heavier than the BAR and had shit ergonomics that made it difficult for the user to keep the weapon on target

>>33538742
the kid a the beginning on the machine gun could have been a Kommando in another life

>>33543393
Not that anon, but honestly both.

Soviets did so well at Kursk due to defense-in-depth, and their numerical superiority, including armor.

>>33539295
me2 bud

>>33546442
we're wating faggot

>>33537221
Trench warfare question:

Why did it suck so hard?

Everyone talking about WW1 goes on and on about how shitty it was, getting trenchfoot and living in mud puddles for months on end and such. But why?

I feel like if you made me live in a trench for months, and I had at least a couple hours a day of free time, within a couple of weeks I'd have it pretty comfy. Build some floorboards and drainage for the shitty water, dig a whole separate trench to be a latrine trench to keep the smell down, make some rooms and shelving, turn the shitty nasty hell trench into a comfy unnaground /k/abin.

Why didn't they do this more?

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>>33547256
>Why didn't they do this more?
Because they tried but it would get blown up daily from artillery. And then the rain came.

>>33547256
Now try it knee deep in your dead comrades.

>>33547256
And you really didn't stay in the same trench the entire time. It was a tug of war.

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>>33539261
The advancement of tech and military strategy; as well as awareness of the past encouraged many powers to not repeat the mistakes of ww1. Plus more and better tanks/planes made trenches inconsequential.

>>33547290
>>33547331
All this except the artillery could be solved by more trench improvement. Dig a separate burial trench, and construct rain awnings that divert rain into drain trench.

Artillery was kind of an ever-present threat anyway. If artillery hit you you'd be dead anyway, so what does it matter if your komfy kabin was smashed too?

>>33546648
You are wrong on many levels. The failure at the Somme was a hugely complicated problem. Part of the problem was the sheer length of the frontage and relative lack of shells. Shrapnel will cut wire just fine thank you, and the Brits actually preferred it to HE for good reason. HE left the target landscape a moonscape, it wasn't easy to advance over it.

Moreover, some units actually took their objectives just fine on 1 July. Part of the problem was the bombardment lifted off the German frontline too early and the infantry were left unsupported.

>>33547256
British and French doctrine emphasized the impermanence of the trench fortifications. They were largely on the offensive and it wouldn't do to allow your soldiers to improve the trenchlines only to vacate them when they moved out.

Moreover, any work done to improve the lines would be done at night, not exactly conducive to precision work, or you would be shelled mercilessly. Also, no fire, since you will be shelled mercilessly. You can not poke your head up or stretch, or you will be sniped and shelled mercilessly.

It fucking sucked.

>>33543313
I didn't know it was forbidden to say we when you're talking about your country/people/history. You always learn something new.

>>33547602
No one expected trenches to be permanent. That said, British trenches were built much better than French trenches through much of the war, including things like regular latrines isolated from the main living spaces if possible.

>>33547256

German trenches tended to be nicer and more permanent, but the Germans in that Luttendurf 1918 offensive were really morally wrecked when they started to find the Anglo-French trenches and how stacked to the gills their enemies were with really nice amenities and goodies. Yeah on the one hand it's great loot on the other hand it destroys any belief in the myth of "we've got the enemy on the ropes" and hammers home the despair of your own circumstances.


>>33545448

Generals had given orders of advances or offensives to within the last hour of the war. Getting shot at the end of the war is shitty but getting court marshalled and perhaps even executed for refusing to obey the orders of some cocksucker chateau general with a few hours left of the war is just as shitty.

And I know the lions led by donkeys myth is somewhat overblown except in the case of Italy but it's still infuriating to realize there was some detached desk jockey son of a bitch telling his men to go fight for one more 100 yard scrap as if it would really make a difference in the post armistice negotiations. Yeah, I'm sure the hand vs Germany will be greatly improved by holding the post office on the edge of the Langlois village nobody ever heard of.

>>33546743
It was literally one of the most widely used machine guns. It was actually very reliable for what it was.

>>33541715
thats one of the worst things i have read

>>33545448
Someone who thought they were about to end the war without killing someone

>>33547638
Right, but the Germans had fortifications that protected them from the shrapnel, so the artillery barrage didn't actually kill all that many of them. Maybe the shrapnel shells cleared the path up to the Germans just fine and kept their heads down for a while, but when they got there the Germans were still alive and healthy and manning their machine guns. HE shells may have had more luck actually killing German soldiers and destroying machine gun positions.

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the best documentary on WW1, the great war by the BBC, is up on youtube

all 26 parts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxK-qR14pVg

>>33546790
Kursk was poetry.
They Sovets blunted the German attack with defence in depth.
General Zhukov begged Stalin to trust him and not comit the reserves to the defence.
They take those reserves and slam tha salient shut behind the Nazis with a Blitzkrieg like armored assault.
Nazi Germany died there.

>>33547256
Well Flanders is below sea level for one thing.

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Charles whittlsey, Alvin York, and Samuel Woodfield were palbearers for the casket of the Unknown at Arlington.

>>33538641
Man, imagine having to fight hand to hand wth giant skis on.

>>33538080
Listened to this on a road trip. Even my wife tripped on it, Dan Carlin is the man.

>>33547977
The focus on destruction is misplaced. The Brits found out very quickly you don't actually have to kill the German defenders, just stop them from manning their parapets as the infantry advance through No Man's Land. Hence the subsequent development of the creeping barrage and other neutralizing measures.
The Somme plan was fatally flawed, but more HE would not have solved anything.
t. I study WWI artillery full time

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>>33547256
They were inundated with fucking giant rats who fed on dead bodies. In one of those documentaries, a soldier's diary says he can pretty much sleep while they crawl over him but 'I can't help but wake up when one steps on my face'

>>33548796
And lice. Endless hours were spent plucking lice from clothing else the men would go mad from the itching they caused.

Every little misery like that only compounded the daily horror of the war. Truly, of all war I would want to be in WWI the least.

>>33548829
>Truly, of all war I would want to be in WWI the least.

I don't know who would say otherwise. More men died in other conflicts but the brutality and dread of WWI is truly hard to fathom. Fighting in a fucking mud sewer for years and years trading less than 1 mile of land.

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Shotguns with bayonets though

>>33548939
Gas warfare alone is nightmarish in its implications. Drowning from the inside due to chlorine gas inhalation is a particularly terrible way to go

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>>33538547
Pic related is my great grandpa in his italian military uniform

>>33549771
Bet he saw some shit if he served on the Isonzo front

>>33544391
Dreadnought and Castles of Steel for the naval side

>>33549760
Phosgene scares the shit out of me

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being a prisoner of war looks like fun

>>33550382
>in Algeria
Why? Did they ship them there?

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>>33537221
The London Scottish Regiment was the first British Army Territorial unit to see combat in the First World War at the battle of Messines

They were issued Shoddy magazines which wouldn't feed properly so they had to battle the germans by loading each round individually by hand, and they still managed to hold on.

>>33537221
Bewilders me how hundreds of thousands of brace men would be swallowed up by artillery and machine gun fire. Their commanders being the incompetent fools sent wave attacks and thought that was a "good idea."

I'm sitting my fatass in a chair watching these great war documentaries while a century ago, soldier last were being teared apart by shrapnel.

>>33538071
>On every level except functionality, i am a machinegun
>*jams*

>>33550733
>They were issued Shoddy magazines which wouldn't feed properly
That sounds like bullshit. SMLE magazines were fitted at the factory, not issued to the individual soldier.

>>33548939
That is only the horrors of the Western Front. Imagine being mortally wounded and left to be eaten by flies in 110 degree weather in Gallipoli, frozen to death on the Eastern front, or dying of dehydration on the Mesopotamia front

>>33551268
Kut was a pretty bad deal.

>>33540338
I need to know more

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>>33546743
You know what else had an open mag design? Pic related. Yet nobody complains about mud getting in it. Chauchat wasn't perfect but fuck those overblown issues.
Good luck putting 20 lebel rounds in a half-moon mag without holding the spring back anyways.

>>33538641
I could imagine this being effective today, with proper ski boots and skis, but those fucking leather bindings, going down several km per hour and with a fucking rifle in your hands. These dudes were not fucking around.

>>33540129
Kid in my history class in high school around 2007 wanted to know why we didn't drop smart bombs on the concentration camps fences so the Jews could escape.

Half of my class thought the second world war had happened within the last 20 years.

>>33551082
The London Scottish Regiment weren't issued SMLE rifles until later into the war, at the beginning they were using older MLE's Mk 1's converted to take Mk VII ammunition, the rifles had defective magazine springs, which lacked the strength to push rounds into the breach, their ammunition supply was also not suitable for their rifles at Messines and subsequently ejection and battery issues were common

This is a well documented problem

You can read about it in the books Ypres 1914: Messines: Early Battles 1914, Over The Top
By Martin Matrix Evans

http://news.sky.com/story/remembering-first-reservists-to-fight-in-wwi-10383233,

https://greatwarphotos.com/tag/london-scottish/