Anyone manage to identify the drum fed automatic weapon being used in the background by the Parachute Regiment in Athens in December 1944? Thanks Gus
Spot on Clive, Lots of weapons found their way into the hands of various groups when the Germans pulled out of Greece. I have a 1/6th model of the Luftwaffe MG 15. Basically a converted MG 34 with double Trommel magazine. Regards Tom
Hi TD This is the first pic I have found that has the Brits using German weapons during the December troubles in Athens. Thanks Gus
Hi Gus ?? where did I get involved in this thread ?? keep taking the pills TD - my first post in this thread
Captured MG 15s did show up occasionally in British use. In Adolf Hitler My Part in His Downfall, Spike Milligan recounts how he and his mates of 56th Heavy Regiment RA scavenged an MG 15 from a downed German bomber and then employed it as an AA weapon during the rest of the Battle of Britain. There's even a picture of Spike with the gun. If my dim memory is correct, then quite perversely an MG 15 also appears in the film Captive City (1962), which is I think the only English language film set during the 1944 Battle of Athens. I remember it in the hands of actor Percy Herbert, once again playing a British sergeant as he often did in the movies (Bridge on the River Kwai, etc.)
I'll save the suspense given that it is really a Rube Goldberg contraption. "In 1944, Sergeant Mel J Grevich, of the machine gun section G Company, 28th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division, decided to build a half dozen “Stinger” LMGs, using 1919s scrounged from damaged aircraft, a B.A.R. bipod, and M1 Garand or Carbine stocks, and an ammo box that held 100 rounds".