The Castle's two Lebel rifles, and a rifle grenade. The rod-grenade is relatively rare, as it is made from a French F1 grenade. The French pretty much stopped using rodded grenades in 1915, opting instead for the Vivien-Bessiere cup discharger... which you just *happen* to see an example of attached to the Castle's Lebel Mle1886/M93 rifle.
Above that, you see the Mle1886/M93/R35, the shortened form of the rifle, with the correct bayonet (Neffi can weigh in on how relatively rare those are - especially with the proper scabbard). Due to bad French defense planning in the 30's, the R35 soldiered on into World War II with French forces in North Africa.
Read the complete post at http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2013/07/now_for_a_littl.html
Posted
Jul 23 2013, 06:07 AM
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Argghhh! The Home Of Two Of Jonah's Military Guys..