Guns and Camels

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

I thought to begin recording Guns and Camel pictures thus ~ One interesting fact I have unearthed is~ Unlike other empires and armies, the Mughals used large elephants and camels for their cavalry.

Horses were still used by the Mughals in their cavalry. Like the soldiers, animals were also armored on most of their bodies. Some camels even had guns mounted on them. The zamburak, for example, was a camel with a mounted swivel gun upon its back.

I placed another thread on http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=21529 however that deals with artillery / small cannon mounted on Camels ...whereas this one is rifles either of the Camel gun/Jezail designation or Martini Henry etc etc...

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

[kronckew]

US Army Camel Corps

See This ref.: http://theblogofteresa.com/us-camel-corps/

it did not turn out well, having been an idea of jefferson davis' pre civil war, it was disbanded after the war...

quote from ref:

"The route taken to Fort Tejon passed through lands controlled by the Mojave Indians who often attacked civilian transports, but avoided any military soldiers. As Bishop was now a civilian and the camel experiment was now officially a civilian experiment, no soldiers were with the camel and during one such trip a large force of Mojave Indians threatened Bishop’s men. Bishop ordered them to mount the camels and charge the attackers. The surprise charge of the men on such strange beasts did in fact rout the Mojave Indians and went down in history as probably the only camel charge in the west, which ironically was performed by civilians as opposed to the military."

hollywood even immortalised them in a 1976 movie: Hawmps

[Kubur]

Just for you Ibrahem...
A camel mounted gatling gun
Poor camel no need to go to the hairdresser after that...
Best,
Kubur

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

I assume there is a picture ?

[kronckew]

it must be wearing camouflage.

[Kubur]

Oh guys iwas born before computers!!

[kronckew]

me too!, well, unless you count that ww2 thing at bletchly park that took vacuum tubes and needed a huge power station's worth of juice to run it and was constantly crashing as the tubes burned out. in that one a computer bug usually was a real insect stuck in a relay.

[Bob A]

[fernando]

Very impressive but rather unreal, maybe ?. Wait till those guys in the back start shooting their gatlings all in a row and those camelidae start jumping with panic and run the hell out of the battle field .

[kronckew]

i recall seeing moroccan camel mounted warriors charging across a field during a celebration and suddenly firing their jezails very smokily into the air. didn't seem to phase the camels at all. they get used to it in training (or get eaten if they don't).

anyway, looking for a video of this (i failed to find one) i found this photo from an aussie war memorial site, it's from the imperial camel corps.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07JGpardvLU

also see https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/F00042/

it has a section where the guns carried by the camels are re-assembled and mounted on carriages and fired. the two-part barrels are interesting. they appear to be breech loaders too. starts at 01:42-ish

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Please see http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=21529 where I did camels and heavy guns.

[fernando]

Originally Posted by kronckew

i recall seeing moroccan camel mounted warriors charging across a field during a celebration and suddenly firing their jezails very smokily into the air. didn't seem to phase the camels at all. they get used to it in training ...

I guess i had a different perspective; one in that a dozen camel riders cracking their jezails in a fantasia is rather distinct from a camel platoon thundering with their gatlings. My comprehension was that camels were practical to carry heavy guns, but not shooting whilst advancing on the field.
But then, one is always learning .

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

No evidence exists of firing any weapon other than a rifle from a standing camel. The camel when crouched on the ground was a different matter though the best solution was a fully dismounted one.

[fernando]

As i realized.

[Andreas]

Another two.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Please see http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=21529

[Andreas]

And here's a Camel not with one but two machine guns!
(Sorry, couldn't resist).

[kronckew]

hmmm, one wing would be dromedary, two must therefore be bactrian. poor thing is missing one rear leg completely and only has one poor shrivelled one back there that appears to be missing it's foot. no wonder they are called 'tail draggers'. probably can't carry much of a load either. their main advantage was being able to swim in 3d in that gaseous fluid we call 'air'.

they were however famous for not needing anywhere near as much water as a mammalian camel, but did drink a lot of petroleum product, and had a fondness for spitting castor oil in it's rider's face. the secret rarely mentioned malady of ww1 pilots was their perpetual diarrhoea