Post by Old Bill on Nov 10, 2010 20:38:19 GMT -6
Here's a bit of trivia I stumbled on while looking for something completely different.
www.chakoten.dk/cgi-bin/fm.cgi?n=979
The Rexer was a British made copy of the Madsen Light Machinegun. Unfortunately, the manufacturer neglected to get a license to make it and ceased and desisted after legal proceedings were brought. Some of the Rexer guns found their way to South Africa and examples popped up in the East Africa campaign, including two that were reported with the 25th Royal Fusiliers (my avatar pic is Captain F.C. Selous with a company of the 25th).
The Madsen was an unusual LMG with a hinged block action, like the Martini-Henry rifle. You would think that with the complexity it would be unreliable, but Madsens seem to have worked well enough (rimmed cartridges reportedly caused problems) and were in production from 1903 to the 1950's. According to Ian Hogg, 34 countries purchased it at various time. It was used in South American conflicts between the wars and also in the Far East. Denmark's neutrality in WWI limited its sales to the belligerents. In WWII the Germans, occupying Denmark, used Madsens to arm occupation and rear area troops.
Too bad it didn't see much service in WWI. The general shape looks like it could accomodate and the size and shape would make for reasonable portability in a skirmish.
Doing some more research, it appears Germany and Russia employed a number of these. The Russians bought them for the Russo-Japanese War and still were using them in WWI. The Germans used them as observer guns in aircraft and formed three machinegun battalions armed with Madsens. Need to do some more reading on this.
www.suite101.com/content/the-madsen-machinegun-a45023
www.chakoten.dk/cgi-bin/fm.cgi?n=979
The Rexer was a British made copy of the Madsen Light Machinegun. Unfortunately, the manufacturer neglected to get a license to make it and ceased and desisted after legal proceedings were brought. Some of the Rexer guns found their way to South Africa and examples popped up in the East Africa campaign, including two that were reported with the 25th Royal Fusiliers (my avatar pic is Captain F.C. Selous with a company of the 25th).
The Madsen was an unusual LMG with a hinged block action, like the Martini-Henry rifle. You would think that with the complexity it would be unreliable, but Madsens seem to have worked well enough (rimmed cartridges reportedly caused problems) and were in production from 1903 to the 1950's. According to Ian Hogg, 34 countries purchased it at various time. It was used in South American conflicts between the wars and also in the Far East. Denmark's neutrality in WWI limited its sales to the belligerents. In WWII the Germans, occupying Denmark, used Madsens to arm occupation and rear area troops.
Too bad it didn't see much service in WWI. The general shape looks like it could accomodate and the size and shape would make for reasonable portability in a skirmish.
Doing some more research, it appears Germany and Russia employed a number of these. The Russians bought them for the Russo-Japanese War and still were using them in WWI. The Germans used them as observer guns in aircraft and formed three machinegun battalions armed with Madsens. Need to do some more reading on this.
www.suite101.com/content/the-madsen-machinegun-a45023
