The random rantings of an old, 63 years, knifemaker (please don't say "bladesmith") on tools, technology and the world's unfortunate tendency toward overcomplication.
Damn! That didn't take long. You're right. The dashing young man in the Stahlhelm is holding a Moisin Nagant M91. He's Estonian and here, straight from the "mind" of Wikipedia, is a partial explanation: "Following the Bolshevik takeover of power in Russia after the October Revolution of 1917 and German victories against the Russian army, between the Russian Red Army's retreat and the arrival of advancing German troops, the Committee of Elders of the Maapäev issued the Estonian Declaration of Independence [4] in Pärnu on February 24, 1918."
My assumption was that he was a German from a regiment with a not very important assignment and they had been issued captured weapons to save the front line weapons for the main front.
He's holding a Russian/Soviet Nagant rifle!
ReplyDeleteNot German!
Damn! That didn't take long.
ReplyDeleteYou're right. The dashing young man in the Stahlhelm is holding a Moisin Nagant M91.
He's Estonian and here, straight from the "mind" of Wikipedia, is a partial explanation:
"Following the Bolshevik takeover of power in Russia after the October Revolution of 1917 and German victories against the Russian army, between the Russian Red Army's retreat and the arrival of advancing German troops, the Committee of Elders of the Maapäev issued the Estonian Declaration of Independence [4] in Pärnu on February 24, 1918."
My assumption was that he was a German from a regiment with a not very important assignment and they had been issued captured weapons to save the front line weapons for the main front.
ReplyDeleteI would not have picked up on the Estonian angle.
WWI Boche holding a 1891 Nagant?
ReplyDeleteMoE
Dangit. Oh well, I thought I was S-M-R-T.