I looked in the pictures I had of the big shield... I could not find it. Also the square hole is odd for something that rotates...
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I found it! I found it! I think!
On page 177 of The Devils Paintbrush!
Its the shield hole cover off an infantry assault shield. It was designed to push ahead of a crawling soldier and has a hole to stick your GEW 98 through. This covers directly about the gun.
That explains it but sorry its not a Maxim shield. However you could see where they got that idea.Comment
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Its such a crappy picture in the book, I don't think it will scan. There seems to be several different shapes. Check this:
From:
http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/fo...owtopic=114100Comment
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I can see the similarity between my plate and the one pictured. Thanks for your time in researching this.Comment
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I sold a brass jacketed Maxum a couple of years ago. Was the brass type pre WWI?Comment
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Thanks for the correction Gentlemen.
EricComment
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Ohh didnt see the page 2 already had it ...
and only after one beer...
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Thanks for the follow up. I did a google translation of the Ebay auction. It translated the shield as "a rare Gerrman grave sign of the first world war". Looks like the shield plate is a match to my plate. Could this type of shield have been used in front of a machine gun position whereby the Marine associated it with the Maxim ?Originally posted by Ville Kosonen View PostOhh didnt see the page 2 already had it ... and only after one beer...Comment
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I do not think it could have been used for shooting through. The hole just is not big enough. However I have seen pictures where they used these shields to protects the MGers sides. Remember most of the time the MG did not face directly into the enemy trenches but was put on the flanks and shot into the side of the enemy... makes it much harder to miss. So they would use these shields to protect the side that faced the enemy trenches. Yes this is a captured Russian 1905 Maxim but shows what I was talking about. The Germans did stop using these shields for the most part later in the war as they were targets for Artillery!
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