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USMC, Flying Sergeant in Nicaragua with Thompson 1920's


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Excellent photo, haven't seen that one before. These guys look quite prepared. Below i posted a link to an excellent but brief research paper (link below) written on the US Marines "second" Nicaraguan Campaign. Marine air became profound to the mission. Totally establishing a completely new concept now known as Air Support. Cheers JB

 

http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a603355.pdf

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Augusto César Sandino Guerrillas with captured U.S.M.C. Colt Thompson as type shown in OP. There were some 500 engagements with Marines and Guerrillas. The Guerrillas killed 38 U.S. Marines in combat between 1927-1934. U.S. withdraws the Marines in 1934. Anastasio Somoza becomes Commander of the National Guard. Somoza arranges for assassination of Augusto César Sandino. Somoza eventually becomes President. By 1978, Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), the anti-Somoza guerrilla contingent, starts the Nicaragua civil war. In 1985, Reagan Administration secretly channels funds to the Contras soldiers fighting the Communist Sandinista in violation of the Boland Amendment.

 

Amazing how the Colt TSMG turns up during historic events that effect the United States Presidency half a century later.

 

Sandion Guerillas 1927/28

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Nicaraguan forces in 1928 with Colt 1921 TSMGs

 

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U.S. Congress displays captured Sandinista weapons June, 1979 (note TSMG)

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Nice photos, thank you for posting.

 

A while back I was reading a testament to the ‘impartiality’ of the Thompson gun from General Augusto César Sandino, who was full of praise for the Thompson. I read somewhere that he stated that during July / August 1927; “I had the opportunity to observe this weapon [Thompson] in field service in a hostile country, and in actual combat, and it easily proved itself to be one of the most powerful weapons with which infantry troops can be armed”.

 

Sandino Guerillas 1928.jpg

 

​'Impartiality', on the opposing side, the USMC were using the 'Post Office' Thompsons to fight General Sandino's Guerrilla force.

 

​Below is a USMC intelligence report, with details from a witness who states he saw eight Thompsons, amongst other weapons listed, in the possession of Sandino Guerrillas.

 

MattesonInterview-USMC Intel Rpt .jpg

 

​This website has numerous references of Thompson submachine guns begin used by both sides in reports, just do a search in the top right of page, if interested.

 

http://www.sandinorebellion.com/index.htm

 

Stay safe

 

Richard

Edited by rpbcps
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​This website has numerous references of Thompson submachine guns begin used by both sides in reports, just do a search in the top right of page, if interested.

 

Richard

 

Great link, Richard.

Here is a report that is directly related to the OP photo. The need for additional U.S.M.C. pilots and aircraft for air cover was eventually addressed.

 

US Military Attaché Major A. W. Bloor's Reports on the Nicaraguan Civil War,

March 5, 1927

The Air Service consists of three second hand observation planes (commercial type) and two American pilots, Major W. C. Brooks and Major L. S. Mason, both of whom hold commissions in the Aviation Section of the National Guard. There are no enlisted men in the Air Service.

While these planes are not equipped for bombing, three bombs were dropped from them on Liberal troops at Filadelfia during the fighting at Chinandega on February 9.

A shipment of 100 twenty pound aerial bombs was recently received from the United States. Upon test the fuses were found to be defective, but the defective fuses have been replaced by improvised ones and the bombs made serviceable.

Majors Brooks and Mason are good pilots. Their principal employment has been in reconnaissance missions but in the future they certainly will be given bombing missions also.

 

Schilt's MOH action:

As if oblivious to the cramped space he was entering, between Jan. 6 and 8, 1928, Schilt took his fabric-winged but steel-fuselage Vought O2U Corsair biplane on 10 trips into embattled Quilali, hauling in 1,400 pounds of medical supplies and evacuating 18 Marines who had been founded in fighting with rebels. Since Schilt’s O2U had no brakes, leathernecks on the ground had to stop it by grabbing the wings when as it touched down.

Hostile fire on landings and take-offs, plus low-hanging clouds, mountains, and tricky air currents, added to the difficulty of the flights, which the citation for Schilt’s Medal of Honor describes as feats of “almost superhuman skill combined with personal courage of highest order.”

Lt. Christian F. Schilt in Nicaragua

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POTUS Coolidge decorating Schilt with his MOH

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Schilt on Approach at Quilali, Nicaragua, Ca. January, 1928

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Edited by Arthur Fliegenheimer
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Arty,

Quite the collection in the 1979 photo! Hmm, could be 1 large order from Interarms some years earlier!

Ron, Bingo!

 

Michael Isikoff

Washington Post Staff Writer

December 22, 1986

 

"Over the years, John Cummings, CEO of Interarms, an arms dealership with headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia, and former Central Intelligence Agency arms specialist who is the brother-in-law of former Texas senator John Tower, has supplied arms to some of the era's most notorious right-wing dictators: Somoza in Nicaragua, Batista in Cuba and Trujillo in the Dominican Republic."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/longterm/library/polo/polo1286.htm

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