Patrolling the borderlands - July 1914 (1 Viewer)

[NZGary]

Great TG Belgians and French marine. More Belgians please? I know Empire have stepped into the breach but love these chaps.

Gary

 

[Artillery_crazy]

Guys,

Why are the Belgians armed with French Lebel and not Belgian under licence Mauser rifles?? Was this a historical research blunder...before having the masters going into production{sm3}{sm2}{sm2}{sm2}
Cheers
A_C

Great TG Belgians and French marine. More Belgians please? I know Empire have stepped into the breach but love these chaps.

Gary

 

[lancer]

I expect the Lebels were a matter of expediency for TGM as the arm with the slung rifle is identical to both the Belgians and the French Marine. A cost saving measure, for sure. At any rate. I have and quite like both figures. -- Al

 

[Guy]

Guys,

Why are the Belgians armed with French Lebel and not Belgian under licence Mauser rifles?? Was this a historical research blunder...before having the masters going into production{sm3}{sm2}{sm2}{sm2}
Cheers
A_C

AC
TG is 100% right !!!!
Rifles in use in the Belgian army in 1914-1918
The Albini M1867 ( used by the Forces Publics)
The Comblain M1882
The Gras M 1874
The Lebel M 1886 ( used by Carabiniers)
The Mauser M 1889
(source : the National Army Museum)
guy

 

[Artillery_crazy]

Hi Guy,

Will not dispute the records for two main reasons ( you´re Belgian .... hence knows more of your Army than we blokes..{sm4}{sm4} ) and two given the mixed bag of weapons the Belgian Army had by the end of the Yser battle....this may well be true...
What one can point out is that most international WW1 literature and references to the Belgian Army as far as the infantry went make reference to and includes pictures of the Jas sporting a Mauser.....
And for economy purposes the expedient of adding a French soldier's arm with the Lebel at slope, hence cutting down on manufacturing costs is very tempting......
Cheers
A_C

AC
TG is 100% right !!!!
Rifles in use in the Belgian army in 1914-1918
The Albini M1867 ( used by the Forces Publics)
The Comblain M1882
The Gras M 1874
The Lebel M 1886 ( used by Carabiniers)
The Mauser M 1889
(source : the National Army Museum)
guy

 

[Guy]

Hi Guy,

Will not dispute the records for two main reasons ( you´re Belgian .... hence knows more of your Army than we blokes..{sm4}{sm4} ) and two given the mixed bag of weapons the Belgian Army had by the end of the Yser battle....this may well be true...
What one can point out is that most international WW1 literature and references to the Belgian Army as far as the infantry went make reference to and includes pictures of the Jas sporting a Mauser.....
And for economy purposes the expedient of adding a French soldier's arm with the Lebel at slope, hence cutting down on manufacturing costs is very tempting......
Cheers
A_C

HI AC
I do not want to know best, but remember that more than 3/4 of the Belgian territory was occupied by the Germans in 1914 a couple of weeks after the outbreak of the war. Therefore to equip the new recruits and to resupply the Belgian army with Belgian uniforms ,weapons and ammo became impossible.(The Belgian weapon industry was and still is mainly located in the French speaking part of the country, very close to the German border) The Belgian Army had to look abroad for refitting its army and the closest neighbour was and still is France . Of course a lot of infantry units were equiped with the Mauser rifle M 1889 when the war broke out (more than 50.000 were produced before 1914) But since the Belgian army , at the outbreak of the war consisted roughly of 177.000 men a lot of them had other weapons to fight with . The Label rifle was also the only rifle in the Belgian army capable of firing a grenade out of the trenches.
guy