Extract: Fortitudin, 1997-98

Being placed in an exhibit on Belleau Wood would certainly be appropriate, as this was the action in which Marines first encountered automatic machine gun fire to any appreciable degree, and the German Maxim machine guns took a deadly toll in the hard-fought battle. The sunny wheat fields through which the Marines attacked to reach the woods were completely covered by interlocking fields of fire, and once in the woods , the Marines found that each machine gun was mutually supported by others. Fiercely defending their dug-in positions, German crews manned the heavy, sled-mounted Model 1908 guns, while two-man teams fired the light Model 1908/15 machine guns. One after another, these machine gun nests were finally conquered by Marine rifle fire, grenades and bayonets, but only after a cost of about 5,000 Marine casualties in a contest which dragged over four weeks, from June to July 1918.

Following Belleau Wood, Marines faced the slow, but deadly, rattle of German Maxims in the Vierzy Ravine at Soissons in the next month, at the St. Mihiel salient in September, at Blanc Mont in October, and finally in the Argonne Forest at the Armistice on 11 November. Each weapon that the Marines captured was prized as a trophy, and today, the Marine Corps Museum's collection boasts at least four trophy weapons: one heavy and three light Maxims. The heavy machine gun, which was featured in the Museum's popular special exhibit on World War I (see Fortitudine, Spring 1980), was captured by the 5th Marines at the Bois de Vipre, near Blanc Mont. It is now on exhibit on the west side of the second deck of the Marine Corps Historical Center. Two of the light Maxims are in the Museum's reference collection at Quantico; one light Model 1908/15 has a brass plate on its butt stock which states that it was retrieved from the battlefield of Blanc Mont by BGen Charles L. McCawley in 1918,

while the brass plate on the other machine gun states only that it was "captured by Marines in the World War." In 1979, BGen James Roosevelt, USMCR(Ret), presented the third "pedigreed" light 1908/15 t the museum. I had been captured on the list night of the war by elements of the 5th Marines in their famous attack across the Meuse River, and was then presented to his father, later President Franklin d. Roosevelt, by Maj. Gen. John A. Lejeune in 1919, when then Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt was visiting the 4th Brigade of Marines in Germany. At the suggestion of the registrar at the Roosevelt home in Hyde Park, New York, retired MgySgt Wendell A. "Tex" Parks, the weapon was transferred to the Marine Corps Museum (see Fortitudine, Spring 1979) where it has been on display in the "time Tunnel" ever since.

Long time visitors to the Marine Corps Museum will recall that these World War I German Maxims are only a small part of the Museum's automatic weapons collection. This collection traces its beginnings to the study collection, which famed weapons expert Col. George Chinn, USMCR, gathered when he wrote his definitive work on the technological history of automatic weapons. Sponsored by the U.S. navy's Bureau of Ordinance in the 1950's this multi-volume work is considered one of the "Bibles" on the world's machine guns. At the urging of the museum's founder, Col. John H. Magruder III, the collection f nearly 60 machine guns was displayed in a large room at the entrance of the old Marine corps Museum at Quantico. This impressive array included groupings of every early machine gun type, and featured a whole section of Maxim guns, most of them with beautiful brass water jackets and mountings. When that museum was closed and moved to the Marine Corps Historical Center in 1977, space limitations dictated that only select high-lights of the collection could be displayed in the new museum (see Fortitudine, Winter 1977), and the balance were moved to the Museum's reference collection in Quantico. The weapons left behind included German, Austrian, and South American export models, and British examples. One of the British guns is identical to the guns used by Cecil Rhodes' "private army" during the 1893 Matabele Campaign, in what is now Zimbabwe, during which Maxim machine guns were used for the first time in combat.

Included in the new exhibit at the Navy yard were a prototype Maxim, usually referred to as serial number 1, a M1910 Russian Maxim on its wheeled and armored mount, and the Later M1915 British Vickers derivative. The prototype Maxim was donated to the Museum in the early 1950's by Val Forgett, the founder of the Navy Arms Corporation, after he had acquired it in a private auction. (Soon after, he also gave the Museum a one-of-a-kind .22-caliber maxim prototype submachine gun.). when the Museum's "Marines in Miniature" galley was erected in the early 1980's it replaced the automatic weapons display, and the machine guns were moved to the second deck, where yet another new acquisition was added this priceless collection. In 1977 the Cape May, New Jersey, sheriff's Department had seized an American-made M1904 colt maxim machine gun which had been abandoned in a derelict building and, following the suggestion of the armorer at the local U.S. Coast Guard installation, they transferred the weapon to the Coast Guard which , in turn, offered it to the Museum. It was eagerly acquired, as it is one of only about 250 which had been made by the Colt Firearms company, under license. (Two years before, the same armorer had been instrumental in assisting the Museum to acquire its unaltered M1895 Colt "potato digger" machine gun, which was still chambered for the 6mm Navy cartridge and one only a handful not converted after the turn of the century to fire the .30-caliber Army "Krag" round. It is on exhibit in the "Time Tunnel.")

Since the acquisition of the M1904 the one Maxim which we have accepted is a complete camouflaged painted M1908 which was donated by BGen Robert M. Gaynor, USAR (Ret). Captured by Pennsylvania National Guardsmen of the 28th Division in the Argonne Forest during World War I,

it was later loaned by the Museum to the Heritage Gallery national Guard Museum in Washington, D.C. where it was on exhibit for six years, until being returned to the Museum's reference collection. For the past 40 years, this significant collection has been used by scores of serious researchers who spend hours, and sometimes days, examining the details of our weapons. Perhaps the most well know researcher in recent years is Dolf Goldsmith, who spent days on end, assembling data for his exhaustive publications on early machine guns. Several of our guns and accouterments are featured in his work on the Maxim gun, The Devil's Paintbrush, and he also went through our British guns searching for information prior to the publication of The Grand Old Lady of No Man's Land, his acclaimed study on the Vickers machine gun.