Re: WWII MGs

At 11:53 AM -0500 3/7/03, Flak Magnet wrote:
>That's long enough to hamburger anything soft and squishy down-range!

There was an instance that I'm rather fond of recounting in the 
Battle of the Somme where 10 MGs from an MG company fired just shy of 
a million rounds over the course of 10 hours. The point of the effort 
was to deny the Germans vital ground for assembling a counter attack 
on positions that the British had just taken. From what I've read, it 
worked too. All of the fire was indirect at long range.

>It makes me wonder why there aren't modern weapons with water-cooling
>capability for use in static positions... or perhaps there are and I'm
>showing my Ameri-centrism...

There are AA guns that are configured thusly. I think the ZSU-23-4 
has water cooling jackets on it's barrels.

Mainly I think it's a doctrine thing. We dumped them in WWII because 
they were too heavy, then we loaded up the infantryman to, what, 
Twice his load in WWII, reduced the range and weight of the ammo load 
and doubled or tripled it.

The British had the Vickers guns up through the 50s and I think 60's 
as reserve weapons based on their utility and durability alone. In 
mechanized roles with some kind of transport vehicle (Austin Champs 
or Land Rovers post war) they're just as useful as any other weapon 
and more durable. The water supply is the only critical thing.
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