Very early and very rare World War I era shoulder patch for the 31st “Dixie” Division consisting of a triangle bisected with red and blue denoting a machine gun battalion with two “D”s back-to-back. This patch was very quickly changed to a white disk on which is a red circle within which are two red “D”s back-to-back. The 31st infantry Division was a unit of the Army National Guard originally established in early 1917 as the 10th Division with Alabama, Florida and Georgia national guardsmen. Later that same year, the 10th became the 31st. Trained at Camp Gordon, Georgia, the Division arrived in France in September 1918 and was designated as a replacement Division. The Division returned to the U.S. in July 1919 where the men were mustered out of service. The 31st Division was mobilized in 1940 with National Guard Divisions from Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi.

Russian Medallion

A Russian, large, bronze-clad metal table medallion commemorating Vasily Alekseyevich Degtyarev (1880-1949). The obverse has a raised relief image of Degtyarev with the inscription, in Russian, “In Honor of the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Vasily Alekseyevich Degtyarev 1880-1980.” The reverse inscription reads, “Russian Gunsmiths USSR,” with a central image of a DP-28 light machine gun that Degtyarev created and which was the main light machine gun of the Russian army in World War II. The medallion measures 75 mm in diameter and also has the original red plastic box/stand.

WWI Brodie Helmet

U.S. World War I Brodie helmet for a machine gun company of the 27th Infantry Regiment of the American Expeditionary Force Siberia (A.E.F. Siberia). Painted in white winter camouflage with the A.E.F. Siberia insignia painted on the front of an “S” (for Siberia) superimposed upon a standing bear within an artillery shell. On the right side of the helmet is painted “27th” over “MG.” The machine gun companies were issued Browning Model of 1917 water-cooled machine guns and Browning Automatic Rifles (BAR) Model of 1918. Nearly 8,000 men, mostly from the 27th and then the 31st Infantry Regiments, were sent to Russia during World War I after the October Revolution from 1918 to 1920 and suffered severely from the brutal Siberian winter.

They were sent to Russia to help rescue the 40,000 men of the Czechoslovak Legions being held up by Bolshevik forces as they attempted to make their way along the Trans-Siberian Railroad to Vladivostok and, hopefully, to the Western Front. Additionally, they were sent to protect the large quantities of military supplies and railroad rolling stock that the U.S. had sent to Russia in support of the war effort against Germany before the Bolshevik Revolution. They failed in their mission.

Cap and Collar Badge

South Waziristan Scouts officer’s cap and collar badge circa 1920s. The cap badge has the British king’s crown over crossed Vickers with “South Waziristan Scouts” banner below with four lugs to the rear. The collar badge has the king’s crown over a mountain goat head and two lugs to the rear. South Waziristan is the southern part of Waziristan, a mountainous region of northwest Pakistan. The region was an independent tribal territory from 1893, remaining outside of the British-ruled Empire and Afghanistan. Tribal raiding into British-ruled territory was a constant problem for the British, requiring frequent punitive expeditions between 1860 and 1945. The region became part of Pakistan in 1947.

Sweetheart Pin

A sweetheart pin for the 3rd Machine Gun Company, 1st Canadian Division has red, white and blue enamel on a brass badge, with the king’s crown to the top and a Vickers machine gun on tripod to the center. The top banner reads, “3rd M.G. Co.” and below is “1st Canadian Division.” Pin back.

Swedish Machine Gunner Badge

A Swedish 1950s-era army machine gunner’s silver metal shooting breast badge that has three Swedish crowns to the top with two crossed M45 submachine guns to the center. Pin back.

Ernest Vaux, grandson of the Brewery’s founder, Cuthbert Vaux, was a Major in the Durham Voluntary Artillery when he volunteered for service with the Imperial Yeomanry (a British volunteer cavalry regiment) during the Second Boer War. He was appointed Machine Gun Commander with the temporary rank of Lieutenant in the British Army serving in the Imperial Yeomanry, 15th Company of the 5th Battalion, a part of the Northumberland Hussars, from July 1900 to June 1901 in South Africa. He commanded a Maxim machine gun detachment that operated in the Transvall, Orange River and Cape Colony areas of South Africa (though mostly in the Transvall) and took part in over 80 operations there. Major Vaux was “Mentioned in Dispatches” no less than 7 times for his service in South Africa and was awarded the Queens’ South Africa medal with four clasps. In November, 1901 he was awarded the prestigious DSO (Distinguished Service Order).

Upon his safe return to Sunderland the brewery, in late 1901, created a new brand of ale, Maxim Ale, with a very distinguished looking label featuring the Maxim machine gun in recognition of Ernest Vaux’s exploits. The initial recipe for the ale (said to be created by Ernest Vaux himself) was so strong that pub landlords complained that it put their patrons to sleep so the strength was reduced. But in 1938 the brewery increased the strength and renamed the brand Double Maxim.

Founded in 1837 by Cuthbert Vaux, and run by family members for generation, the Vaux brewery was purchased by Wards Brewing Company in 1972. Nevertheless, after over 150 years of brewing history, it closed, along with Wards, in 1999. In 2000, two former directors of Vaux and the head brew master resurrected the brand and established the Double Maxim Beer Company purchasing the rights to both the beer recipes and brand names.

Alas, the historic and renowned North East England brewery name of Vaux, and the iconic image of the Maxim machine gun on a British ale label, are long gone and now exists in name only.

Despite the similar name and subject matter, this new title is completely separate from the 1994 book Misfire: The Story of How America’s Small Arms Have Failed Our Military, by William Hallahan.

With that noted and out of the way, let’s look at the 2019 title by authors Bob Orkand and Lyman Duryea. Col. Duryea and Lt. Col. Orkand are both retired U.S. Army Infantry members, and both served in Vietnam during the early years.

Initially, I found this book somewhat difficult to read due to it jumping around in time too much. The first chapter begins by describing a January 1961 snowstorm in Washington, D.C. This leads into the inaugural ceremonies for President John F. Kennedy. In fact, I actually started reading it and then put it aside for later. Once I got past the first chapter, it generally went better.

Duryea and Orkand describe the trial by fire of the M16 rifle in the early days of the Vietnam War. It may be difficult to imagine now, nearly 60 years later and in service with over 80 nations, but the early versions of the rifle had serious issues.

As the book explains, there was a chain of events that led to many lives lost. This perfect storm of failures could have been avoided if the proper choices had been made.

To sum up, the ArmaLite firm had developed their AR-15 rifle using a specific load that used IMR-4475 (Improved Military Rifle) extruded smokeless powder made by DuPont™. This particular load gave an average velocity of roughly 3,150 fps, enough to penetrate a steel helmet at 300 yards. The Army insisted on a muzzle velocity of 3,250 fps in order to pierce a helmet at 500 yards. (The authors note that the NVA soldiers wore a soft pith helmet, while the Viet Cong seldom wore any headgear at all.) In order to achieve the higher velocity without exceeding the allowable maximum chamber pressure (52,000 psi), the IMR-4475 powder was replaced with a spherical “ball” type powder, WC846. However, while the chamber pressure was not exceeded, the port pressure was. As the bullet moves down the barrel, the pressure behind it begins to decrease as the powder is consumed. This pressure curve is different for each powder. Ball powder WC846 retains more pressure closer to the muzzle, so as the soldier’s bullet passed the gas port (a small hole in the barrel), the gas system was exposed to noticeably greater pressure.

This increase in port pressure caused a dramatic increase in the rate of fire, which in turn led to more parts breakage. Much more importantly, the jump in port pressure led to a surge in Failure to Extract (FTE) malfunctions. With the pressure in the barrel still high, the brass cartridge case was still expanded tightly against the chamber wall. This greatly increased the resistance of the empty case to slide out of the chamber as the extractor claw pulled on the case rim. In addition to the propellant issue, the chambers and barrels were not chrome-plated on the early rifles. In the very humid climate of Vietnam, corrosion soon set in, causing the chamber to become pitted. Perhaps the troops could have prevented such corrosion if they had been made aware of the issue and kept their guns well cleaned. This is the next great failure. The rifles often did not come with a cleaning kit. And, to make matters worse, the soldiers were often told the new wonder-gun did not need cleaning!

The result was huge number of FTEs during firefights, caused by a combination of excess port pressure and pitted and corroded chamber walls, brought on by a lack of training and cleaning kits. Once the rim had torn off the brass case, the only way to get the case out was to push it out with a cleaning rod. And, as noted, there were too few issued. The book refers to documented cases of troops under fire searching for a cleaning rod.

Unfortunately, the powers that be did not wise up to this problem nearly fast enough. The natural tendency of the upper military is to blame the troops on the ground. Duryea and Orkand state: “The first military reaction to poorly functioning weapons is to blame it on inadequate maintenance by the troops. A little bit of professional communication would have revealed that the problem wasn’t with the men. Many commanders looked no further.” And also: “This is a perfect example of senior officers out of touch with the men doing the fighting. The greater the distance from the action, the greater the tendency to discount reports from the field.” This is noted in chapter 5, called, appropriately enough, “CYA—The Name of the Game.”

As I mentioned above, chapter 1 is somewhat tedious to read. Chapter 2 gets into the technical aspects, including a brief mention of studies done in 1929 by the Ballistics Research Laboratory that recommended a smaller diameter round like .25 or .276. Naturally, the Army stayed with a .30-caliber round.

Chapter 3 looks at the early years at ArmaLite and of Eugene Stoner’s work there. It also looks at the Ordnance Department’s stubbornness to consider any outside designs (NIH, or Not Invented Here), and the .223/5.56x45mm round. This aversion to anything new also included the general concept of an assault rifle. The Ordnance Department loved their heavy, semiauto M14, not the light, selective-fire AR-15. Also discussed are Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and his team of “whiz kids,” young and bright, but with little military experience who tended not to listen to experienced military advisors.

Chapter 4, titled, “The Small Arms Systems Test,” looks at the SAWS test that took place between July and November 1965. Included in the test were the M14, M14E2, XM16E1 and the belt-fed M60 MG. The guns were put through a series of trials, with all potential issues noted. There was a list of 29 possible malfunctions! (Not every gun faced all issues. Number 29 is a partial misfeed from a linked belt and only applies to the M60.) This is where the problems faced by the XM16E2 should have been noted and corrected, if not already dealt with.

Chapter 6, “The Troops Deploy,” starts out a bit dry with a long detailed summary of which units went where in Vietnam. If you were there, you will probably enjoy seeing your unit listed. After several pages, it changes direction to discuss propellant characteristics, specifically IMR-4475 and WC846. Both powders were used in the M193 cartridge. Also mentioned is that the brass used in the cartridge case was not sufficiently hard. This caused the soft brass to flow into the tiny pits in the chambers, further adding to the resistance noted in the explanation above. I was not aware of this prior to reading this book.

Chapter 7 is written by Col. Duryea and describes the death of PFC Joseph Reid. Private Reid was the first soldier to die under Duryea’s command, and his death was directly due to an FTE. This is followed by a series of quotes from various sources, giving opposing opinions on the XM16E1. Several quotes are from the Ichord Subcommittee Report that examined the M16’s problems. In response to growing complaints about the rifle’s reliability, the House Armed Services Committee formed a subcommittee headed by Congressman Richard Ichord (D-MO). This report can be found on the web, if interested.

Chapter 8, “Someone Had Blundered,” continues with the Ichord Report and its findings. Some highlights include noting that the decision to use WC846 powder may have been influenced by the manufacturer Olin Mathieson’s “close relationship” with three Army commands involved with ammunition purchase. The report also states that it was “at least unethical” for Maj. Gen. Nelson Lynde, Jr., the commanding general of the Army Weapons Command, to jump straight to Colt immediately after retiring from the Army.

The book quotes a Small Arms Review article, “The M16 in Vietnam.

Just The Facts!” in Vol. 9, No. 5, February 2006 where Christopher Bartocci states: “The principal and most serious cause of the malfunctions of the AR-15/M16 rifle in Vietnam was the failure to chrome-plate the chamber.” However, Duryea and Orkand note elsewhere that clean new rifles would often have FTE issues with WC846 ammo and not with IMR-4475 ammo. Most likely, it was a perfect storm of pitted, non-chromed chambers firing soft brass ammo loaded with WC846.

Chapter 9 is written by Lt. Col. Orkand. It begins with the touchy subject of the role of media in the war. Orkand says: “It wasn’t the press that ‘lost the war’ in Vietnam for the U.S. The war’s outcome, to the contrary, was a self-inflicted wound resulting from decisions made by our nation’s totally befuddled military and civilian leadership.” The several pages of media issues also include President Lyndon B. Johnson’s “If I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost middle America” comment, after watching CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite’s report in February 1968. The chapter then reverts back to further discussion of the Ichord Report. Orkand notes the tone of the report, with the words “unethical,” “unbelievable” and “borders on criminal negligence” quoted.

Chapter 10 takes a look at the TFX/F-111 aircraft project, of all things. The authors compare the TFX program to the M16 mess to point out McNamara’s faults. The Tactical Fighter Experimental eventually grew into the USAF F-111 Aardvark swing-wing jet. But it started out as a joint Navy and USAF fighter-bomber program. Both services were looking for new aircraft in the early ‘60s. McNamara ordered both services to work together on a joint design. He also felt the Marines and even the Army could make use of a jack-of-all-trades aircraft. In spite of the official selection board recommending the proposal by Boeing, McNamara ignored their choice and chose the General Dynamics design. The USAF also favoured the Boeing design. The Navy didn’t like either design but tried to develop a suitable variant. In 1968, after years of trying, the Navy cancelled its version.

Chapter 11 is a history lesson that deals with “Vietnamization,” the training of the South Vietnamese to fight on their own. It also looks at Code of Conduct issues and discusses corrupt Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) leadership and its effect on morale. A relevant point the authors make is: “No amount of training and equipment can offset corruption, lack of motivation and self-interest.”

Chapter 12, “Author’s Commentary,” Duryea comments on Colt continuing to test its guns with IMR-4475 ammo, while being well aware that the ammo used in Vietnam was WC846. Worse, the Army was also aware of this. For this, Duryea writes: “Colt and Army decision-makers were thus directly complicit in an unknown number of Americans killed in close combat, one of whom was my first KIA as a company commander.”

In summary, this book covers a lot of ground, not just the M16 woes. It looks at corruption in the ARVN, the role of media, the poor decisions made by LBJ, McNamara and Gen. Westmoreland. At times, I found it changing direction within chapters and to be rather repetitive on the propellant issue. It does cover an important period in U.S. military history through the eyes of two men who were there.

Early-Version M16s—A Perfect Storm of Failures
MISFIRE: The Tragic Failure of the M16 in Vietnam
Author: Bob Orkand and Lyman Duryea
Publisher: Stackpole Books
ISBN: 978-0-8117-3796-8
Copyright: 2019
Hardcover: 6.24”x0.87”x9.33”, 251 pages, with Color/B&W photos
MSRP: $29.95 (USD)

The Martini-Henry Rifle Collector’s Bible

The legendary Martini-Henry (M-H) rifle served Great Britain and the British Commonwealth in the late 1800s, during some of the bloodiest battles the British Army faced. You may recall it being featured in the classic 1964 movie “Zulu.”

The name refers to the design features it incorporated. It was a combination of the Martini action and a unique rifling pattern invented by Alexander Henry. Introduced in 1871, it was the primary rifle until the Lee-Metford and Lee-Enfield arms were adopted in 1888. Production ended in 1889, yet it continued to serve in reserve units until the end of WWI in 1918.

The Foreword is written by International Military Antiques, Inc. owner Christian Cranmer. (His son Alex often appears on “Pawn Stars” as an expert on old guns.) Christian describes bringing many tons of surplus guns and equipment from Nepal to the UK and United States in 2003. Soon after, a hardcore M-H collector named Neil Aspinshaw came calling. Aspinshaw, the author of this book, is also the creator and owner of www.martinihenry.org.

Following that is the Prologue: Wednesday, 22^nd January 1879: The last moments of a Redcoat. This is an account of the disastrous Battle of Isandlwana, in modern day Republic of South Africa where the British Army lost over 1,300 men in one afternoon. It is told through the eyes of Private 883 John Kempster. Naturally it is a somewhat fictitious account, as 883 perished along with most of his unit, the 1^st Battalion, 24th Regiment of Foot. Private Kempster was a real soldier, and author Aspinshaw is proud to be the custodian of his campaign medal. The book is also dedicated to him.

This book features many color photographs of complete rifles, interior close-up photos and old B&W period photos. It also has many old patent and engineering drawings and sketches, as well as several battle scene depiction paintings. This offers a great mix of images. Almost every picture is accompanied with a caption. Going beyond the images, the main body of text covers the M-H’s early development, the rifle trials, weaknesses and improvements and changes throughout its service life.

Besides the technical aspects, the author also describes the M-H in battle. He also tackles the thorny issue of reliability. Due to the bloody defeat at the hands of the Zulu warriors at Isandlwana, the rifle came under close scrutiny. Aspinshaw is of the opinion that the rifle was fine; although early batches of ammunition were problematic.

The author did not simply recycle old war stories in regards to this issue. He spent countless hours studying reports from the era, mainly housed at the British National Archives at Kew Gardens and the Royal Armouries at Leeds. Quoting heavily from these reports, Aspinshaw suggests that the problem lay with the ammo, specifically the “rolled case” 577/450 Mk III Boxer design. The rolled case method of fabricating cases from thin sheets of brass foil created a cartridge with a very unique appearance. Wrinkled best describes it. The brass foil is wrapped around a mandrel, along with other parts for the base. The parts were then soldered together to create a case somewhat like a paper shotgun shell. Incidentally, I did notice one minor error here. The brass foil is 0.003-inch thick, not 0.0003 inch as stated. Three thousandths of an inch thick is flexible but not flimsy. Three ten-thousandths of an inch would be like tissue paper. These rolled cases worked well as long as they were not dented or bent. Unfortunately, this often occurred in combat. Chapter 17, Ammunition for the Martini-Henry: The Boxer Cartridge, and Chapter 18, Boxer Ammunition and the Great Jamming Debate, go into detail regarding this. Aspinshaw feels that six factors affected the jamming issue. These are:

1) Case shape. It was not tapered; instead it was parallel-sided.
2) The case would expand tightly against the chamber wall upon firing.
3) Any sand or dust in the chamber or on the cartridge increased the friction.
4) Denting or damage to the fragile case would make it difficult to load into the chamber.
5) If the paper of the paper-patched bullet became “rucked up” or folded back over itself, it became difficult to load.
6) The internal lacquering of the cases could gum up the chamber.

These issues disappeared with the adoption of modern drawn brass cases.

Other related models of the basic Martini action were tested and used by the British military. These are covered in detail as well. Chapter 12 studies the short-lived Enfield-Martini (E-M). (Notice that in this case the Martini name is second.) This was meant to be an updated model, chambered in a new .402-inch cartridge. However, as cartridge design was progressing at a rapid pace worldwide, Britain did not want to commit to a new caliber only to replace it with a newer smaller diameter round soon after. So, after spending 6 years (from 1881 to 1887) toying with the idea of replacing the M-H with the E-M, the E-M project was cancelled. Amazingly, the E-M rifles already made were converted back to M-H rifles! These are the M-H Mk IV “long-lever” pattern guns, in the original 577/450 round. The .402 barrels were removed from the action, re-bored to .450 inch, then refitted to the action and re-proofed. These will have two sets of proof marks stamped into the underside of the barrel. Chapter 13 covers this nicely.

Chapter 14 looks at the Martini-Metford, while chapter 15 covers the Martini-Enfield. Both of these are chambered in .303 British. The names Metford and Enfield refer to the type of rifling used. Metford rifling worked well with black powder but quickly burned out with early smokeless powder. Enfield-style rifling, so named as it was developed at the Enfield arsenal, lasted much longer with Cordite propellant. Notice the order of the names, the M-E being a .303, and the ill-fated E-M being .402.

Chapters on gun manufacture (neat old factory photos!), ammo (as mentioned above), bayonets and scabbards and care and repair round out the topics. An Appendices section that covers Service and Armoury Marks, Unit Markings and a section on Identification: Gun by Gun help to sort out all the many variations. Oddly enough, it does not have a detailed Index at the end, only a basic chapter list at the front. Not a big deal, but it is nice to have an index.

This book does a splendid job of describing all the numerous variants of rifles and carbines that derived from the original Martini-Henry design. This author highly recommends this book.

The Martini-Henry: For Queen and Empire
Full title: The Martini-Henry: For Queen and Empire—The British Military Martini-Henry, Martini-Metford and Martini-Enfield Rifles and Carbines; the Definitive History of Their Development and Service, 1869–1904
Author: Neil Aspinshaw
ISBN: 978-0-9960731-2-7
Copyright: 2019
Binding: Hardcover color
Size: 8.75x 11.25in
Pages: 256; Colour/B&W photos: Many color and B&W (sepia tone) photos, plus patent drawings, factory drawings and battle scene artworks, etc.
Publisher: Tharston Press, an imprint of International Military Antiques, Inc. (IMA)

The Colt 1911A1 used by Mel Gibson as Lt. Col. Hal Moore.

The Colt 1911 used by Sam Elliot’s character, Sgt. Maj. Basil Plumley.

The Vietnam War is one of America’s most misunderstood conflicts. Unlike in World War II and Korea, where the enemy was often on the other side of a battlefield, the battle lines were almost invisible in the jungles and highlands of Vietnam. The Viet Cong (VC) blended in with the population and waged a brutal insurgency in the country, launching hit-and-run campaigns, bombings and ambushes against both the South Vietnamese and the American Armies. The North Vietnamese Army (NVA) would also cross the border and launch attacks on military bases. The “American War” lasted over 16 years and saw over 58,000 American fatal casualties and cost millions of Vietnamese lives. In the end, with lack of support for the war, the United States withdrew its forces from Vietnam and the capital of South Vietnam, Saigon, fell in April 1975.

Since the war ended, Hollywood has not been kind to the American Armed Forces. While there were some incidents where a few American soldiers did do some horrible things, nothing in comparison to the VC and NVA atrocities, Hollywood usually paints the American military with a broad negative brush in Vietnam-related movies. Compared to how American soldiers are portrayed in World War II movies or any film about an earlier conflict, soldiers in Vietnam movies are often portrayed as monsters. This anti-military attitude can still be seen in the film industry today, though it is not as common as it used to be.

In 2002, a movie broke away from this attitude. “We Were Soldiers” is based on the book We Were Soldiers Once … And Young. It tells the story of the 1965 Battle of Ia Drang Valley, where American soldiers, led by then Lieutenant Colonel Harold G. Moore, first clashed with soldiers from the NVA. The battle lasted 5 days and resulted in almost 500 American casualties (237 KIA) and thousands of North Vietnamese Army casualties (559 KIA). The initial fight was 450 Americans versus almost 4,000 North Vietnamese Army soldiers. The book was written by Harold G. Moore and journalist Joseph L. Galloway, who was on the ground in the fight at Ia Drang.

In the movie Lieutenant Colonel Hal Moore was played by Mel Gibson. His second in command is Sergeant Major Basil L. Plumley, played by Sam Elliott. Hal Moore graduated from West Point and served until 1977, serving in both the Korean and the Vietnam Wars, eventually becoming a Lieutenant General. Sadly, he passed away in 2017. Basil Plumley first joined the Army in 1942 during World War II and saw combat in Operation Overlord (D-Day) and Operation Market Garden. He next saw combat during Vietnam, where he joined the First Battalion, Seventh Cavalry under Hal Moore. He served until 1974, but continued to work for the Army as a civilian. He passed away in 2012.

In the movie, Lieutenant Colonel Moore uses a Colt M1911A1, and Sergeant Major Plumley uses a Colt M1911 pistol. The M1911 was one of the greatest pistols in the history of the United States military, seeing service in World War I, World War II, Korea and of course Vietnam. It also saw service in the militaries of New Zealand, China and many others. It is still in service in a number of countries and some local police agencies in the U.S. It is popular with collectors and gun owners in the U.S. in general. The M1911A1 was “typed” in 1926 and was an upgraded version, with small changes having been made to make it more reliable and easier to shoot—a result of lessons learned from World War I.

 The M1911 shoots .45 ACP ammunition, generally with 230-grain ball projectiles. The ammunition is loaded in a seven-round magazine in the grip of the gun, though soldiers usually had an eighth round in the barrel or “one in the pipe,” as they called it. The gun uses two safety systems, a grip safety and a manual safety. The grip safety requires squeezing the lever on the back of the grip to shoot. The manual safety is next to the hammer on the left side of the pistol. The pistol weighs less than 3 pounds, including ammo.

Other guns used in “We Were Soldiers” include AK-47s used by the NVA, though they are seen using other guns like the SKS and even an MG34 machine gun. The Americans used the M16 rifle (XM16E1 configuration), M60 machine guns and M79 grenade launchers. At one point, helicopters in the film use GE M134 Miniguns. Early in the film, there is a sequence showing French soldiers fighting Viet Minh in 1954 in the same general area as the 1965 battle, called “French Mobile Force 100.” In this sequence, the French carry the MAS-36 rifle, Browning Hi-Power pistols, MAT-49 submachine guns and use Browning M1919A4 machine guns mounted on jeeps. The Viet Minh are seen using SKSs, ZB26s and PPSh-41s as well as PPS-43s.

“We Were Soldiers” is a great movie. It was well-received by critics and audiences alike and is considered one of the better Vietnam War films. The actors do a great job, especially Mel Gibson and Sam Elliott. Madeleine Stowe does an outstanding job as Hal Moore’s wife, Julia Moore. Barry Peppers is good as Joe Galloway, as is Greg Kinnear as Lt. Col. Bruce P. Crandall and Ryan Hurst as Sgt. Ernie Savage. The battle scenes in the movie are compellingly done and can be a bit brutal at times, so perhaps it is not a film to show children. In any case “We Were Soldiers” is a must-see for everyone who loves war movies.

Dan Shea’s Time On Set

I knew that my father (and father of Small Arms Review), Dan Shea, had something to do with this movie and asked him about it.

“I was invited out as Small Arms Review to cover the movie set at Fort Hunter Liggett in California,” he said, “which had terrain and basic vegetation very similar to the II Corps highland area of Vietnam in the Ia (river) Drang valley on the Cambodian border side near Pleiku. My good friend Mike Papac was lead armorer, and I had supplied him with some intel pamphlets from my library—1956 British Viet Minh reports with uniforms, tactics and equipment. Very helpful in the French Mobile Force 100 scene. We also spent a bit of time going over making all the M16s appear to be XM16E1s, which Mike was an absolute stickler for. Anyway, I was out messing around with Mike Dillon and Miniguns—he heard I was headed to the set—and he had four M134 Miniguns to ship to Mike Papac and decided to fly his vintage U.S. Army-painted Huey from Phoenix to Hunter Liggett, via LA. He and his son Chris flew with me as baggage, we stopped in LA and picked up Syd Stembridge and flew the coast of California at 50 feet over the surf, up over the redwoods; it took about 11 hours from Phoenix. Before we got to the Valley of Wind I was sidesaddle at the door and monkey-strapped on the side, and Mike said, “Close the door, no one rides like that.” I said, “Huh, imagine that” and came in. I guess slick jockeys don’t look back at “cargo grunts.” Coming in on the set just after the napalm scenes, with Mike scooting the Huey done up as U.S. ‘Nam-era paint, was something spooky! Anyway, we delivered, spent a couple of days, and here’s the most important thing: wherever I went, I found guys in the right age group, and they were all ‘Nam vets … undercover. They didn’t want anyone to know they were ‘Nam vets and all said, “I’m here to make sure they do this right for a change.” They damn sure did, great movie. Mike Papac’s attention to detail was exemplary, and everyone else doing costume and equipment was on the same page. I was blown away; been on more than a few “‘Nam movie” sets with all the baloney. What amazing detail all of them did on this one!”

Special Note: The movie does not cover the battle at L.Z. Albany that happened after the film’s ending. Here the American soldiers were almost wiped out in an ambush by the NVA. Over 130 soldiers died and 124 were wounded. Because of this, both Americans and Vietnamese claimed to have won the battle.

Knob Creeker Note: For those who knew the late “Big Dan” Robinson, Dan was in Delta company at LZ X-ray.

Special thanks to Mike Papac of Cinema Weaponry!

Anyone interested in the history, development, selection and use of modern military rifles will find this book to be a very useful reference source. Assault Rifles covers all aspects of the infantry rifle design, from its first inception, to its current state and to future trends.

This book is the collaboration between authors Maxim Popenker and Anthony Williams. Mr. Popenker, a Russia-based author, is the owner of the excellent website, Modern Firearms. Mr. Williams, from the U.K., also has his own site called Military Guns and Ammunition. This site focuses on current and older military ammo up to 57mm artillery-size rounds. Both authors have previously contributed articles to Small Arms Review.

Although the first gun to take the title “assault rifle,” or Sturmgewehr in German, was the StG 44, the authors make mention of a Russian design from the First World War. The Fedorov Avtomat of 1916 was the first to meet the accepted definition of a true assault rifle. Specifically, it must be capable of full-auto fire (usually selective fire), be magazine-fed and fire an “intermediate” power round. The cartridge used was the Japanese 6.5x50SR (semi-rimmed) Arisaka round. This seemingly odd choice of ammo came about due to capturing guns and ammo during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905 and buying large amounts from Japan at the start of WWI. While very few Fedorovs were produced (~3000), they did see some action in the Russian Civil War (post-1917 Revolutions).

Assault Rifle is divided into two main sections. “Part I, Introduction,” starts with a look at the history of guns in battle, technical aspects of the various guns, as well as a very thorough study of assault rifle cartridges. The second section is a country-by-country study of the various guns in use, as well as experimental prototypes.

From a personal perspective, I found the first section to be the more interesting part, as it deals with the “nuts and bolts” of the design and development process. Part I details the progressive improvements of recent assault rifles, as well as some little-known, and sometimes unusual, experimental models. Procurement process shenanigans are mentioned as well. The portion on cartridge evolution and the ultimate selection by NATO members is most interesting. The authors detail the large volume of research that goes into designing the “perfect” cartridge.

A fine balance must be drawn between various factors when choosing a service round. Sufficient knockdown power, minimum recoil (in order to allow for controllable full-auto fire), high enough velocity to give a flat trajectory, heavy enough bullets to retain momentum at longer ranges and yet still be light enough to carry a sufficient number, etc., are all valid points to consider.

After much research by Britain, along with additional support from Belgium and Canada (“BBC committee”), the 7x43mm cartridge was submitted for NATO trials in 1950. However, good old-fashioned politics reared its ugly head at this point. The U.S. military decided to keep a .30-caliber bore diameter and simply shorten the venerable .30-06 service round slightly to create what would eventually become the 7.62x51mm NATO. The great flaw in this choice was that it was far too powerful to be fired from the shoulder in full-auto mode, meaning that the gun and ammo combo was outdated even before it was adopted.

Very soon after the adoption of the M14 and its 7.62×51 cartridge, the U.S. was once again looking for a true select-fire, intermediate-round assault rifle. The result was the famous M16 and its .223 Remington (5.56x45mm NATO) round. While the M16/5.56 combination fits the description of an assault rifle, there has been criticism of its lack of knockdown power.

Now, far too many years after the original British studies (from 1945 to 1951) which led to the 7×43 proposal, the U.S. military is testing the 6.8×43 Remington SPC (Special Purpose Cartridge). Although not identical, the 6.8×43 is suspiciously similar to the 7×43 round rejected so long ago. Part I, Chapter 4 covers this controversy in detail.

“Part II: The Weapons” deals with the guns. It is very encyclopedia-like, listing the entries on a country-by-country basis, first giving a rundown on the history and make-up of the country, then a more detailed look at the choice of arms. As Maxim Popenker is Russian, the entry for Russia and the former Soviet Union (USSR) is very thorough. Included are several prototypes entered in the trials that eventually led to the adoption of the AK-47. Several more types that competed in the Abakan (code-named after a city in Russia) trials of 1984 are also profiled, as well as a few others developed since then. One of the most unusual guns is the APS underwater assault rifle. The APS (Avtomat Podvodny Spetsialnyy), or special underwater automatic rifle, was developed for Navy Special Forces divers, and it truly can be fired under water! This unique gun uses a special 5.66x39mm MPS round with a 120mm-long, needle-type bullet. Also briefly mentioned is a newer updated version called the ASM-DT that can be used underwater with its special ammo or on land with standard 5.45×39 ammo. Clever!

It must be noted, this book is 15 years old, so it is missing the most recent designs. There is no mention of the Beretta ARX160, CZ 805 Bren, Fabryka Broni MSBS, HK416 or HK433, or the Kalashnikov Concern AK-12. Aside from that, this title covers the subject nicely. While not a large book, it does contain a lot of information.

Note: Since the publication of Assault Rifle, the two authors have joined forces again to publish two more books titled, Machine Gun: The Development of the Machine Gun from the Nineteenth Century to the Present Day and Sub-Machine Gun: The Development of Sub-Machine Guns and Their Ammunition from World War I to the Present Day. Unfortunately, these latter two books are no longer available from the publisher. Assault Rifle still is available, however.

Title: ASSAULT RIFLE: The Development of the Modern Military Rifle and Its Ammunition
Author: Maxim Popenker and Anthony G. Williams
ISBN: 1861267002 (print) / 978-1861267009 (website)
Copyright: 2004
Binding: Hardcover, with a color dust jacket
Size: 7.75 x 10 inches
Pages: 224; Color/B&W photos include 250 B&W photos
Publisher: The Crowood Press Ltd

During the years immediately before the World War I, small hollow off-white china ornaments decorated with civic arms and other crests were popular souvenirs for many people in England who took holidays or daytrips to seaside resorts. Crested china was typically bought from the places on the crest and carefully carried home. During World War I, holidays were still celebrated at most East Coast and South Coast resorts, and the ornament makers began to create designs related to the War.

The ornaments were largely made in the potteries around Stoke-on-Trent by companies such as Arcadian, Carlton, Grafton, Savoy, Shelley, Swan, Willow Art and W.H. Goss. The peacetime ornaments included figurines of everyday objects, local museum antiquities or items such as ring trees, stamp boxes and pin trays.

With the coming of War, new designs were created, such as grenades and mines, ships, airplanes, ambulances and military headdress and tanks. Depicting military subjects accurately was less important than the topicality of the model or its label; therefore, some crests on this china have proven to be “imagined” or are unofficial designs.

Crested china Vickers machine gun on tripod consisting of two-piece construction. Gun swivels 360 degrees on tripod. Gold high-lights. Crest atop water jacket is of Ayr, Scotland. Front of tripod head marked, “RD No. 66144.” (“RD” is “Registered Design” and is a form of copyright to prevent others from copying the style of the image.) Left side of water jacket marked “Model of Machine Gun.” Bottom of gun marked “402” and “Savoy China Stoke-on-Trent England” logo.

Crested china WWI Talbot armored car with two Vick-ers machine guns mounted fore and aft on the top. Crest of Chelmsford on hood of car under a banner that reads, “Many Minds One Heart.” Bottom mak-er-marked “Savoy China (introduced c.1910 until c.1928) Stoke-on-Trent England” for “BR&Co sellers” (Birks Rawlins & Co.).

Crested china commemorative World War I Vickers machine gun on tripod. Large crested front has blue and yellow shield of St. Albans. Atop water jacket is the Machine Gun Corps Skill-at-Arms badge of “MG” within wreath. Rear of tripod marked “The Victory of Justice Armistice of the Great War Signed Nov. 11th 1918.” Gold highlights around muzzle, rear and ammunition belt. Made by Carlton China with maker’s stamp on bottom.

Crested china golf ball with the central image of the king’s crown over crossed Vickers over “Machine Gun Corps” banner below.

Crested china good luck horseshoe with central mage of king’s crown over crossed Vickers over “Machine Gun Corps” banner. Above reads, “The Old Horseshoe” followed by a four-line poem. At bottom is, “The Legend” and a short history of why the horseshoe is considered a good luck symbol. Reverse maker-marked “W.H. Goss.”

Crested china bushel basket with crest insignia of the Machine Gun Corps in center of bottom of basket. Gold trim to edge highlight. Bottom maker-marked “W.H. Goss Ashbourne Bushel RD No. 450628.”

Crested china white porcelain figurine of World War I Machine Gun Corps “Tommy and his gun” firing a Vickers machine gun with gold trim highlights to cap, eyes, machine gun and base. Painted crested front has large coat of arms for Southampton. Bottom mak-er-marked “Arcadian China Stoke-on-Trent.”

Crested china with five fluted vase positions rimmed in gold. The vase is diminutive in size measuring only 3 inches wide and 2 inches high. Affixed to the front is the New Zealand Machine Gun Corps insignia of king’s crown over crossed Vickers with “N.Z” below. There is no maker mark, but it is of the Carlton style of crested china.

Crested china teddy bear with central image on stomach of the king’s crown over crossed Vickers and “Machine Gun Corps” below. Gold accents on ears and eyes. Bot-tom maker-marked “Arcadian China.”

As we patiently wait for the newest book by highly respected author Dolf Goldsmith to be released, I feel a look back at his previous series of books on the Browning family of belt-fed machine guns is in order. (The Vickers Machine Gun: Pride of the Emma Gees is an update of his classic title, The Grand Old Lady of No Man’s Land. Released in 1994, Grand Old Lady is long sold out and is very expensive on the used market. As I write this, I see asking prices of $690 to $920 on Amazon.)

The Browning Machine Gun series of books was originally planned to be a set of three books covering the .30-caliber guns. Volume I explores the early development phase of John M. Browning’s machine guns, their use in the latter days of WWI, further refinement between the Wars and their huge influence in WWII in U.S. service. Volume II covers the use of rifle-caliber Brownings in foreign use prior to and during WWII. Volume III covers mounts and all the various accessories and tools, etc. Later, a fourth volume covering the mighty .50-caliber M2 family joined the set. In 2016 this was followed by Volume V: Dolf’s Notebook, containing hints and tips for working on Browning machine guns. The first four volumes are published by Collector Grade Publications, while the fifth is published by Chipotle Publishing, LLC.

The first two volumes will be reviewed this issue. I hope to review the others in due time.

Collector Grade Publications has earned a well-deserved reputation for producing quality, in-depth reference books about military firearms, and these two books certainly meet the standard. These two books follow the established Collector Grade format of dividing the subject into parts, then into chapters, with each chapter further divided into many short segments. Often these segments are only a paragraph long.

Volume I

Volume I, “Part I: Gas Operation,” looks back at John Browning’s first experiments with full-auto guns. He first converted a Winchester Model 1873 lever action to fire full-auto by harnessing the muzzle blast to cycle the lever back and forth via a linkage rod and cup arrangement. He referred to this device as an “Automatic Magazine Gun.” He then designed a belt-fed gun he called the “Apparatus.” Although extremely crude looking, this worked well enough to prove the concept. In 1892, he (along with his brother Matt) obtained patents for both devices.

Soon, Browning was able to interest Colt’s Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Company in his design. It matured into the gas-operated Model 1895 “Potato Digger” gun and became the first true automatic gun in U.S. service, used first by the Navy. Volume I also covers foreign sales of the M1895 and the improved Model 1914 in the period leading up to and including WWI. The book features numerous, fascinating, old photos from the mid-1890s to the WWI era.

Part I, Chapter Two deals with the M1914 guns built under license by the Marlin Firearms Company. Several variants such as the Tank Gun, the Model 1917 and Model 1918 Aeroplane Gun are profiled.

“Part II: The Switch to Recoil Operation” details John Browning’s move to design a recoil-operated machine gun. In fact, Browning had already designed and patented a recoil-powered shotgun for the civilian market. This was the FN-produced Browning A-5. Having acquainted himself with the recoil principle, he then applied this to a machine gun, the Model 1901. This led to the Model 1917, as covered in “Part III: The Browning in World War I.”

“Part IV: The Interwar Brownings, Chapter Seven, The M1917 Becomes the M1917A1” is a long, detailed look at the water-cooled gun. “Chapter Eight, Early Aircraft Machine Guns” follows the Model 1918 air-cooled gun. There are many intriguing variants and mounts featured here. Part V studies the M2 Aircraft gun (not to be confused with the .50-caliber M2HB).

“Part VI: Manufacturing Brownings for WWII” is where we are introduced to the iconic M1919A4 and M1919A6 of WWII fame. The massive War effort is dealt with here, including sections on production by Rock Island Arsenal and Saginaw Steering Gear (SSG, once a division of General Motors Corp.). I found the SSG segment very interesting. At first, there was some concern that as SSG had never built any type of firearms before, they would not be able to build a complex machine gun. SSG eventually built nearly 368,000 M1919A4 guns by June 1945. More amazing, the cost per gun dropped from $657.75 per gun for the first small batch, to an astonishing $54.72 per gun! Also, the total man-hours per gun dropped from 76 to 12 man-hours per gun.

“Part VII: Brownings in WWII” uses many personal recollections of the M1919A4 and A6 in combat. Likewise, “Part VIII: The Latter Days” looks at post-WWII use, including personal recollections from Korea. The book closes with a rather uncomplimentary look at the gun that replaced the Browning series of guns, the M60.

Volume II

While Volume I covers the development of the early prototypes in great detail and the adoption by U.S. services, Volume II deals with Browning machine guns in foreign service. As the guns were highly refined at this point (Pre-WWII era), Volume II does not cover the earliest days all over again. Rather, it briefly touches on guns from the interwar years (1920s and 1930s), then goes right into WWII service. Initially, this meant aircraft guns mostly, but later included ground guns as well.

Again, as is the Collector Grade way, Volume II is divided into parts and chapters. Part I is “The Browning in Britain.” This deals with the air-cooled, aircraft guns primarily. Interestingly, these aircraft guns were chambered for the .303 British cartridge. The Hawker Hurricane and the Supermarine Spitfire each were armed with eight Brownings, four in each wing. Many historians believe this decision, made several years before the start of the War, helped to win the Battle of Britain.

“Part II: British Commonwealth Brownings” looks at the gun’s use in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa. The chapter covering Canada is the longest and deals with WWII production by two Canadian firms, later Browning use in Korea and conversion to 7.62×51 NATO. The two Canadian producers were the John Inglis and Co. Ltd. and Border Cities Industries Ltd., a division of GM, Canada.

“Part III: European Brownings” starts with Belgian FN licensing and royalties agreements with Colt, and then division of territories. Other European countries covered in Part III are the Netherlands, Norway, Poland and Sweden. The last three each produced their own versions of aircraft, vehicle and ground guns.

Part IV deals with South American use, specifically Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay. These were supplied by Colt. The Bolivian and Paraguayan guns faced off against each other in the Chaco War of 1932–1935. A brief history of this war is given.

“Part V: Other Users” looks at pre-WWII Chinese manufacture and use. Also, Israeli and Japanese uses are very briefly dealt with.

These books are a fantastic resource for all aspects of Browning MG knowledge. From early photos from the Rock Island Arsenal Museum, John M. Browning Firearms Museum, the National Museum of the Marine Corps, the U.S. Naval Historical Center, MoD Pattern Room, Springfield Armory National Historic Site, U.S. National Archives, etc., to getting access to many public and private collections worldwide, this series is a monumental effort. Many of these photos feature unique views of seldom-seen tank, vehicle and aircraft mounts.

Often, long blocks of conversation from the development and early use phases are quoted. This text is presented in italics to differentiate it from the author’s text. Mr. Goldsmith used his connections in the collecting community to connect with other notable authors such as noted gun writer Peter Kokalis and former Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) Armourer Peter Laidler to offer additional insights. Several guest authors also provide information on specific countries.

This series is clearly a labor of love. I expect no less from Volumes III and IV as well.

Details

The Browning Machine Gun: Volume I
Rifle Caliber Brownings in U.S. Service
Author: Dolf L. Goldsmith
ISBN: 0-88935-370-0
Copyright: 2005
Binding: Hardcover and dust jacket
Size: 8.75×11.25 inches
Pages: 552 pages; 568 illustrations
Publisher: Collector Grade Publications
Available through: collectorgrade.com and SAR Bookstore

The Browning Machine Gun: Volume II
Rifle Caliber Brownings Abroad
Author: Dolf L. Goldsmith
ISBN: 0-88935-380-8
Copyright: 2006
Binding: Hardcover and dust jacket for both volumes
Size: 8.75×11.25 inches
Pages: 392 pages; 486 illustrations
Publisher: Collector Grade Publications
Available through: collectorgrade.com and SAR Bookstore

December 1, 2016 update:
Imperial Russian silver/nickel shooting medal. Obverse has image of a Russian Maxim Model of 1910 on a wheeled carriage mount and dated “July 16, 1914”. The reverse has the inscription reading “Special Machine Gun Competition Prize.” It is further engraved “To Junior Officer of Machine Gun Unit.” Medal is 28mm in diameter.

November 1, 2016 update:
World War I Imperial Russian Army shoulder boards. Pair for the 7th Siberian automobile machine gun platoon armored car driver. Branch insignia “7Sb Shifrovka” indicating the 7th Siberian rifle regiment. Red stripe and single star indicate rank of Ensign of Reserves. Silver plated buttons with Russian imperial eagles. Russia maintained the largest force of armored cars of any of the allies. A typical armored car platoon consisted of two or three twin-turreted (Maxims) gun cars such as Austins or Fiats and one or two armored trucks mounting short-barreled 75mm guns. American-made Indian motorcycles provided communications and some had machine guns (Colt Automatic Gun) mounted to them to provide anti-aircraft cover. By November 1917, over 200 armored cars were in service.