Here’s the latest Armourer’s Bench video, I take a look at a very rare Model 1910 Maxim Silencer, even more rare as it is mounted on a M1903 Springfield.
The first silencers were developed in the early 1900s and some of the most successful designs came from Hiram Percy Maxim, son of Hiram S. Maxim - inventor of the Maxim gun. The early Maxim suppressors were a commercial success but Maxim also sought military contracts.
The US Army tested the silencers extensively between 1909 and 1916 and by the time the US entered World War One in 1917, a substantial number were in inventory from field trials. I discuss the design, development and history of Maxim’s silencer and with the help of new primary research answers the question - was the Maxim silencer used by the US Army during World War One?
You can also check out my full accompanying blog on the Maxim Silencer on the TAB website here.
For most people back home, regardless of country, it was the front pages of the local newspaper that announced the end of the war. Above are a collection of 10 newspapers from around the world: Britain, America, France, Canada, Ireland and Germany. These pages heralded the end of over four years of bloody conflict that saw tens of millions die and the world changed forever.
At the beginning of my WWI100 project I posted a similar collection of front pages that announced the beginning of the war, you can find that here.
Here’s the latest Armourer’s Bench video, I take a look at a very rare Model 1910 Maxim Silencer, even more rare as it is mounted on a M1903 Springfield.
The first silencers were developed in the early 1900s and some of the most successful designs came from Hiram Percy Maxim, son of Hiram S. Maxim - inventor of the Maxim gun. The early Maxim suppressors were a commercial success but Maxim also sought military contracts.
The US Army tested the silencers extensively between 1909 and 1916 and by the time the US entered World War One in 1917, a substantial number were in inventory from field trials. I discuss the design, development and history of Maxim’s silencer and with the help of new primary research answers the question - was the Maxim silencer used by the US Army during World War One?
You can also check out my full accompanying blog on the Maxim Silencer on the TAB website here.
Written by Canadian army doctor Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae, after the death of a friend in May 1915. McCrae didn’t survive the war, he died of pneumonia in January 1918.
“It took me from school at sixteen, it destroyed all hope of university training or apprenticeship to a trade, it deprived me of the only carefree years, and washed me up up ill-equipped for any serious career… We very young men had no place, actual or prospective, in a peaceful world. We walked off the playing fields into the lines.”
Cecil Lewis, an ace pilot with the Royal Flying Corps and Military Cross recipient, on the unexpected cost of war for young men who fought, survived and returned home to find their prospects less than promising.
The Entente delegation led by France’s Marshal Ferdinand Foch and Britain’s 1st Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Rosslyn Wemyss pose by the train carriage, 2419D, in which the armistice that finally ended the Great War was signed.
The negotiations and eventual signing of the armistice took place in the Forest of Compiègne in the early hours of the morning of the 11th. The German delegation, not pictured, was led by a politician Matthias Erzberger.
The armistice didn’t end the war, it merely paused it. It agreed an initial ceasefire between the 11th November to the 13th December 1918. It was subsequently extended several times until a peace agreement was finally signed on the 10th January, 1920.
In the photograph above are 10 poppies from around the world. I took this photo during a visit to the Scottish National War Museum, which currently has a small exhibition on the history of remembrance.
In one case they had collected remembrance poppies from all over the world. From top to bottom, left to right they are:
1. Scotland, 2. England, Wales & Norther Ireland, 3. France, 4. Belgium, 5. Ukraine, 6. the US, 7. Canada, 8. Newfoundland, 9. Australia, 10. New Zealand
The wearing of the poppy varies from country to country depending on tradition. In the UK it is extremely common for many people to wear them in the run up to the 11th November while in other countries it is less so.
The idea of wearing a poppy to commemorate the end of the Great War, and subsequent wars, began in 1921. The symbol of the poppy was chosen in reference to Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae’s poem ‘In Flanders Fields’ and following a campaign by Moina Michael the National American Legion adopted the poppy in 1920. In the UK its estimated that over 30 million poppies are made and sold each year. The money raised by the Royal British Legion, the charity established in May 1921 that sells them, is then used to assist veterans.
This selection of photographs shows men of the American Expeditionary Force in France celebrating the news of the Armistice and the end of fighting on the Western Front on the 11th November, 1918.
A new exhibition at the Imperial War Museum uses some of the seismic data collected during the war to recreate the moment the Armistice, which ended the Great War, came into effect.
‘Sound Ranging’ was used to try and gauge the direction and distance of enemy artillery fire. This piece of recording tape came from the American sector near the River Moselle. Using six microphones it captured the last moments of the war as the artillery slowly ceased fire at 11am on November 11th, 1918
A sound production company, Coda to Coda, were commissioned to recreate the sound captured by the ranging tape. You can listen and download it here.
Troops will stand firm on the position reached at 11am. A line of outposts will be established and reported to Army headquarters. The remainder of the troops will be cold fed ready to meet any demands. All military precautions will be preserved and there will be no communication with the enemy. Acknowledge.
- A telegram to the HQ of the British 3rd Corps on the morning of 11th November, 1918
The first Remembrance Day in the United Kingdom was held a year after the end of the First World War, ordered by King George V and held at Buckingham palace. The date has remained the 11th November but has since come to commemorate all the British and Commonwealth soldiers killed since 1914 up to the present day.
In both France and Belgium the 11th is a national holiday and rather than the poppy used in the UK is commemorated by the Bleuet de France (a blue cornflower). In the Netherlands a day of Remembrance of the Dead (of WWII) is held annually on the 4th of May followed by a celebration of Liberation Day (WWII) the following day.
Italy commemorates its fallen on 4th November, the anniversary of the Armistice of Villa Giusti which ended the war on the Italian Front. The National Unity Day of the Armed Forces is not a national holiday but much like the UK’s Remembrance Day is held on the closest sunday. Poland combines Armistice Day with its celebration of its independence on the 11th November, the tradition began in 1937.
Germany holds it’s Volkstrauertag (meaning ‘people’s mourning day’) on the second Sunday before the First Advent. It was instituted in 1922 but was not a national holiday, the Nazi party replaced it with a Heldengedenktag (meaning 'Day of Commemoration of Heroes’) this was last held in 1945. It was not until 1952 that a new day of remembrance was created to remember all that had died in war and as a result of oppressive regimes.
The US commemorated with Veterans Day, a national and state holiday which remembers the service of all living and dead American veterans. While Memorial Day which is held in May and remembers all American Armed Service personnel who have fallen while serving. Like the Commonwealth’s Remembrance Day, the US’ Veterans Day is held on the 11th November.
Within the Commonwealth Remembrance Day is not widely commemorated by a public holiday, with only Canada doing this, while Remembrance Day is usually overshadowed by the commemoration of ANZAC Day in April in both New Zealand and Australia which is held in April. While New Zealand holds their 'Poppy Day’ on the Friday before ANZAC Day.