The Russian Mosin Nagant Forum

Hi!

(Please excuse me for my bad English. I will always try my best.)

I always love to see original historical photos of Mosin-Nagant rifles in use. And I know I am not alone with this. Common "historical" means more than 100 years old but I think in connection with the history of Mosin-Nagant rifles all photos before June 1941 and the German-Soviet war are more interesting (Not least because of that the Soviet propaganda from 1941 to 1945 had enough photos of Mosin-Nagants in use especially snipers.)

Well, show your original photos of Mosin-Nagant rifles in use before June 1941!
Mosin-Nagant rifles use in Imperial Russian Army and every other nation and conflict before June 1941 ... in use from 1892 to 1914, in World War I from 1914 to 1918, in Russian Civil War, in Latvian War of Independence from 1918 to 1920, in Finnish Winter War from 1939 to 1940 ... every photo scan in great quality.

Of course I will start with a photo of my collection:



A 100 year old photo from World War I. A German Landsturm privat of 2. Landsturm-Infanterie-Bataillon Schroda, V. Armee-Korps (peacetime location: Posen) with a Imperial Russian Mosin-Nagant 1891 infantry rifle, type from 1893 to 1908 with magazine rear sling swivel.

Sebastian

More please.

I like that photo and also request that you share others with us. I really like the detail on the ammo pouches and suspension system

I hope many others will post their historical photos of Mosin-Nagant rifles in use before 1941. Here's the next:



A 100 year old photo of World War I too. A German Landsturm private too. He is from Landsturm-Infanterie-Bataillon Auerbach, XIX. (2. Königlich Sächsisches) Armee-Korps (peacetime location: Leipzig) with a Imperial Russian Mosin-Nagant 1891 infantry rifle, type from 1909 to 1918 with steel cross bolt and sling slots in the stock, old type barrel bands.

The way he holds his Mosin-Nagant is the typical way German "Jäger" were instructed to hold their rifles in comfortable position. Most probably this guy was in a Jäger-Bataillon in his national service before he joined the Landsturm. "Jäger" were the better educated infantry man, knowing more about camouflage, shooting from all positions, shooting while moving and so on ... the "Elite" at that time.

The Landsturm troops were German units consisting of older but defense capable man that automatically joined the Landsturm after their regular national service and were only called to military exercises or when it is war.

There are 2 interesting points for Mosin-Nagant collectors:

1. The Germans didn't used/issued all Mosin-Nagant rifles that they captured. In WWI in Germany there were many gigantic military warehouses full with captured weapons of all enemy nations. They captured a lot Mosin-Nagant rifles BUT just a few thousand were really used/issued by/to German units. The biggest part of them were just laying in German military warehouses for all the time in WWI. Regrettable, because it can be a tactical advantage to proceed against Russia while using Russian rifles ... Captured rifles were only issued to second-rate military units.

2. Nearly all German captured Mosin-Nagant rifles that were really used/issued by/to German units in war were issued to the Landsturm. Landsturm units used many older German rifles like the Gewehr 88.

Sebastian

There are some photo's in this section you might find interesting.
viewforum.php?f=26

This gentleman was Michael Lang.

He was a "Russian German" (Germans who lived in Russia for 4 generations) and he could speak German and Russian. This is why he was made into an officer over the other "Russian Germans" who were drafted off the farms in the Volga area and could only speak German at the time. They fought for Russia in WWI. He returned to Russia (Volga area) after the war.

ABTOMAT wrote:A 100 year old photo from World War I. A German Landsturm privat of 2. Landsturm-Infanterie-Bataillon Schroda, V. Armee-Korps (peacetime location: Posen) with a Imperial Russian Mosin-Nagant 1891 infantry rifle, type from 1893 to 1908 with magazine rear sling swivel.

It is a great picture of German ersatz sling! Danke!

Here you can see Russian WW1 ersatz slings for Mosins with stocks without sling slots or sling swivels.

GS

Genetically Swiss wrote:

Is there any Mosin rifle in this picture?

They look like they're waiting on a artillery round to hit. The two standing are not worried.

ElP wrote:

Genetically Swiss wrote:

Is there any Mosin rifle in this picture?

I don’t know, but I liked the photo.


GS

This photo is not from my collection, but is quite good.