Yeah, there don’t seem to be many photos of the US soldiers in camo in existence…
Notice the ones in the second pic above have lost the camouflage netting from their helmets…
During the battles in Normandy there were indeed complaints by Waffen-SS commanders concerning several of their soldiers wearing captured US camo gear.
Well, I guess they might have had a few friendly fire incidents themselves. BTW, friendly fire isn’t very friendly when directed at you. 
Here’s a nice thread over at Axis featuring Germans using captured arms…
Ha! I think we have that one here somewhere also. I think I asked whether any Axis forces used numbers of captured Tommyguns and someone informed me that indeed numbers of Heer railway troops some crews used them…
And they got some from the african victories, talking about africa this are germans with british .55 rifle Boys.
those german fellows cant have as yet fired the beast, they look too happy… The Boys was referred to as “Charley the Bastard” due to its sharp, and very unpleasant recoil.
Check this out.
those german fellows cant have as yet fired the beast, they look too happy… The Boys was referred to as “Charley the Bastard” due to its sharp, and very unpleasant recoil.
Yup, in spite the fact it had a shoulder spring shock reducer and a generous muzzle brake. I must say the gun itself looks quite new.
Check this out.
Nice, any idea of the date of that photo.
If I remember correctly this photo was taken during an exhibition of captured weaponry in France in spring 1944.
Thanx FTG.
I read that shortly after the war loads of Waffen-SS camo clothing were shipped to the US because it was considered “ideal to wear while duck hunting.”:lol:
Well, if that’s not incongruous…disguised German bunker of the Atlantic Wall in France:
The spurs on the German officer are not at all incongruous when you consider that the vast majority of German transport was the ‘Transport Personal 4x4 Equine Mk 1’. This included personal mounts for officers (and this chap is certainly an officer).
Most of the German coastal defence formations had very large quantities of captured weaponry, with everything from Italian submachine guns to British antitank mines to Czech artillery to Russian Maxim MMGs to Polish antitank guns and French transport. Some formations in Normandy, such as 1. SS-Pz-Div ‘LSSAH’, had also been present at the disarming of Italian combat formations and equipped themselves wholesale with Italian equipment (1. SS in particular making good use of Italian camouflage cloth and Italian softskinned transport).
Well in the Osprey book about the atlantic wall there are several pictures with emplacement of czech, french, russian and even british guns from 25 to 152 mm. The logistic for all those was a crackhead thing I guess.
Toothy german parachutist with Bren.
It sure looks like exhibition, since the pit is made as it seems with more interest towards the spectator than the gunner’s defense
It looks like a battlefield trophy and the paratroop might be using it as a small arm until the ammo runs out. But does anyone know if the Bren could be easily reconfigured to take the German 7.92mm round?
It is possible to re-chamber a bren’s barrel to fire the 7.92 mauser cartridge, if they captured enough to make it worth their while.
The only possible flieger bug maybe the the rim relief for the .303 (.540") this exceeds the max diameter of the mauser case head/rim. (.470") Beyond that, there is enough meat in the barrel to ream, and rifle the barrel to fire the other cartridge, which is generally, a bit larger and longer. The next bug may be in the magazine,mag. well, and feed system. The 7.92 is longer overall than its English counterpart. (.303@ 3.075" ) (7.92 @ 3.228") Thats alot of cartridge to find room for. Having not held a Bren, (that I remember,) I cant say that there could be a way to make it hold, and feed the longer round without extensive rework(or even with it). But if the need, and availability were sufficient, Germany may have done it. My personal guess would be that if I were a Wehrmacht soldier with a bolt action rifle, I would happily take up a Bren if I came across one.
He’s wearing SMG mag pouches, which does tend to suggest that the Bren was a very short-term acquisition. There is another famous photo of German troops at Arnhem firing at British aircraft with a captured Bren (which is mounted on stacked ammo cases!).
From a soldier’s point of view, the best weapon was often the one that was lightest, most reliable and easiest to clean. The author George MacDonald Fraser described how, having been promoted to L/Cpl, he threw his newly-issued Thompson into a Burmese stream as soon as he could find a .303 rifle to replace it - the Thompson was just too damn heavy and prone to rust! Those factors far outweighed the firepower advantage. Similarly, Robert Morgan of the US 327th Glider Infantry Regiment, describes how he ditched his BAR for much the same reasons.
It does make me chuckle when my cadets, whose experiences of WW2 weapons goes no further than playing Call of Duty, often tell me that they would choose a Thompson or BAR over any other weapon… Of course, they’ve never had to carry one (or its ammo) or clean it or fire it.
Goes without sayin (too much) that I feel the same way each time I see (for example Tamiya figurines) a daring proud german soldier picture with a MG42 shooting it from the waist… :rolleyes:
By the way: I see an MP40’s barrel at rest next to the paratrooper…
