LRDG : Why the Lewis Gun?

[yellow]

Perhaps this is one for the fire-arms forum but as most of people who read the threads here are SAS experts they will no doubt have the answer to me in a matter of minutes.

Can anyone tell me why the LRDG used the Lewis gun during WW2?

During WW1 the Lewis gun was replaced by the Hotchkiss automatic rifle. Apparently the gun didnt do so well in desert conditions.........but surely the fact that the LRDG were using the gun contradicts this?

Or is the only reason why they were using the gun was because it was the best they could scrounge at the time like a lot of their equipment?

Does anyone know?

Many Thanks,

Steve.

[Ciaran Byrne]

maybe because it wasn't water cooled, although thinking about it, neither was the Bren gun.

[Jack Dutton-Roberts]

Hello Steve,

I think it was to do with the fact that it used high capacity magazines and had quite a high rate of fire.

I also think they used it because it's what they could get their hands on at the time. Although I don't think they were 100% happy with using it.

Thanks, from Jack.

[lnijherald]

I think Jack could be right, but perhaps you can ask the guys from the www.lrdg.com website: lrdg@prodigy.net
Cheers, Luc

[SHEARING-CROSS]

HIYA ,I think the simple fact is this , it was the only machine gun avalable to them at this point in the war ,the LRDG were formed not long after the Dunkirk evacuation where the B.E.F lost huge quantities of brens , any brens that were in stock were certainly not going to be given away by the high command to a ` rag tag and bobtail ` outfit such as the LRDG ?, as a seperate point , i think this loverly romantic idea that the the original members of the LRDG were selected from soldiers originating from SOUTH AFRICA NEW ZEALAND , etc was because they were hard , out back ,mountain men used to all the natural dangers that desert life could fling at them ....... sorry i think they , ( the commonwealth ) troops were used ,again because the high command were not prepared to ` waste` good proper ,british soldiers on a
"silly idea that was bound to be an costly flop " ?