World War I machine guns are still effective, but now against drones

The Ukrainian defence forces during the Russian invasion, especially in the beginning, often used machine guns from the 1900s to shoot down drones.

Here's What We Know

Defence24 wrote that at the beginning of the Russian invasion, the Ukrainian Territorial Defence Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine removed several thousand Maxim machine guns (or PM M1910) dating back to the 1900s from their warehouses. Back then, they were sent not only to the front line, but also to mobile air defence groups, where they effectively hit enemy drones.

To explain, the analogue of the Maksim machine gun in the Russian Empire was the PM M1910. It first appeared in the 1880s, and was adopted in 1910 and used during the Russian Civil War and both World Wars.

This particular weapon is in abundance in Ukrainian warehouses. The M1910 is undoubtedly the oldest machine gun in the world and on the battlefield of the Russian-Ukrainian war.

The Kyiv Post also reported earlier that military analysts consider this machine gun to be "the best continuous fire machine gun" and "the best part is... there are thousands of them in stock, mostly in pristine condition".

This is yet another example of how weapons and certain methods of warfare known from the First and Second World Wars are being used on the frontline in Ukraine.

However, it is not only Maksym's machine gun that is a symbol of this, but also widespread trench warfare, the use of cannons and howitzers. And this phenomenon, until recently, was characteristic of both Ukrainians and Russians. As for the latter, information has recently emerged that they use artillery from the time of Joseph Stalin.

Source: Defence24