Winston Babyface Churchill seen moments before robbing a bank
“Remember folks! Jesus saves, but Winston Churchill makes withdrawals!”
“Some of you Francs are okay. Don’t come to Mers-El-Kebir tomorrow.”
Winston Babyface Churchill seen moments before robbing
a bankIndia of vital food supplies.FTFY
From rarehistoricalphotos.com:
This photo was taken during an inspection of invasion defenses near Hartlepool, on July 21, 1940. The interesting thing about this picture is that both the British and the Germans used it for propaganda purposes.
Nazi propaganda minister Goebbels saw the image as a godsend and used it extensively domestically, with the other Axis countries, and even in airdrops over Britain during the Battle of Britain with the text in English “WANTED” and at the bottom: “for incitement to MURDER.”
The gun is specially an M1928, with a 50 round drum.
This gun was standard issue for the US military at the time, and numerous guns of this type were provided to the UK through Lend-Lease.
Shortly before the US entered WW2, it began producing M1928A1, which had a simplified handguard, and eventually a simplified sight. The gun could still accept the gangster favored drums, but the military favored issuing stick magazines.
The M1928A1 was shortly replaced by the even more simplified M1 Thompson. The charging handle was moved from the top to the side, the muzzle was simplified, the sights were standardized as simple types. By 1942, Thompsons had been revised to M1A1s, with a host of simplifications as well as durability improvements. An M1A1 could be produced in half the production time as the old M1928A1.
Forgotten Weapons video on the M1928A1.
Forgotten Weapons video on the M1A1.
As the war went on, the Thompson would be increasingly supplanted by the M3 “Grease Gun”. While the M3 lost out on style points against the Thompson, it was lighter and far faster and cheaper to produce than even the simplified M1A1.
The Thompson remained in limited use by the US military until the 1970s.
Interestingly, the M3 that replaced the Tommy gun was “retired” from service officially in '92. That said, a unit that I served in still issued them to our track drivers at least up to '01 when I got out. They were rugged, reasonably quick and made for a good compact defense weapon to keep in the M557.
I don’t have anything as recent as 01, but it’s quite easy to find pictures in the 80s of vehicle crews with them. I wouldn’t be shocked if a few random ones fell through the cracks and were still in trucks going into Iraq in 2003 somewhere.
As hideous as the M3 was, its was a solid and practical design.
The Thompson looks much cooler, but it’s hard to argue with the ergonomics and economics of the Grease Gun. Had no clue we were still using them so late, though!
One of the unexpected places they hung around in the 70s and possibly into the 80s was with Delta Force. In his book, Eric Haney writes about how they were liked for their low rate of fire and controllability.
If those guys are Delta Force, then every single one of them is a hundred times more bad ass than any of us.
The guy with the glasses and hipster mustache in the bottom left is Mike Vining. I’m not in the habit of learning modern special operations names, but this guy was an early internet meme. I mean look at him and look at his uniform. He did all the things.
Holy hell! And a Sergeant Major to boot!
Is it just me or does he look like bad luck Brian all grown up?
Oh yeah, the Thompson is an icon for sure.
I knew an old infantryman from the Korean War that used the M3 during his service. He was stunned we still used them.
Can’t see if his finger is on the trigger behind that drum mag, but the barrel sure looks like it’s pointed in prime direction to blow the dick off the soldier standing at the fore
Might just be a bad angle on the photo, but it might not
Finger resting on the receiver is a fairly new standard practice. While you can’t find an exact date, and it was certainly a cultural phase in, consensus is that finger on the receiver began being the professionally pushed standard in the very late 80s and early 90s.
Before then, it was acceptable to have a finger inside the trigger guard, and there are innumerable pictures of professional soldiers doing just that. I think it’s unfair to nitpick somebody on not following a gun safety practice that didn’t exist yet.
Oh I’m more nitpicking his barrel sweep than the finger. Can’t even see the finger. I’m pretty sure “hey don’t point the gun at your buddy’s balls” has been standard practice since the inception of firearms.
Totally could just be a bad angle though, I just enjoy poking fun at this famous image.
what’s fun about this is that he’s almost certainly several gins deep at this point
If several is 12, then yes.
“Someone bring me twelveral gins. Also a bunch of racist babble.”
—Winston Churchill
The modern equivalent would be if Rishi Sunak dressed up like an American gang member and was loading a magazine into a TEC-9 or DRACO.
