By Dr. Frank Buchhotz & Thomas Bruggen
By Jim Dickson
This is a massive 6.25-pound, 511-page hardcover book printed on glossy paper as befits the most comprehensive work ever published on this important subject.
Written by two former German Army officers it carefully details the story of the machinegun in Imperial Germany. The photographs are first class with many in color.
The timing of this book couldn’t be better. WW1 was defined by barbed wire and machineguns with machineguns producing most of the casualties of the war yet all the recent histories of WW1 that I have seen ignore both barbed wire and machineguns! As a historian I am used to the victors rewriting history to suit themselves but I don’t know what is behind this latest agenda unless it is rabid hoplophobia.
You cannot have even the most basic understanding of the war without knowing the part machineguns played in it and no one used them more efficiently than the Germans. Now, for the first time, the complete story of the machinegun in Imperial Germany is told. The initial trials and experimentation culminating in the adoption of the first Maxim MG01 plus the learning curve of what to do with the new weapon are covered even down to the uniforms of the special troops assigned to them.
The development of the Maxim MG08 and all the production problems related to it as 19th Century manufacturing methods became 20th Century mass production are covered as they were finally solved and the MG08-15 Maxim became the most produced machinegun of Germany.
That is not to say that it was the only machinegun used. If there were even a few of other types in service, you will find them covered and that includes captured allied machineguns.
Indirect fire accounted for many of the casualties in WW1 and would be extremely useful today if the American army did not think it too complicated to teach and equip its troops to do. The chapter on this important subject will shed light on why so few of the men reporting to the trenches made it safely. Indirect fire took a fearful tole of those reporting to the trenches in WW1.
Even the first machinepistol, the MP18 has a chapter.
All the accessories, field expedient mounts, gun shields etc. are thoroughly described and illustrated.
Anyone reading this book will have a far clearer understanding of The Great War. It is a top quality book well worth the price.
It is available for $132.50 which
includes shipping and handling from:
Dolf Goldsmith
P.O. Box 160249
San Antonio, Texas 78280
