One of my background topics of interest is the Danish made Madsen machine gun, bouight by some British colonial units in Africa pre WW1 (under the name Rexer) with later models of Madsens still in use in Brazil today.
A YouTube video with an outline of the workings of the Madsen can be seen here and the gun is covered by Forgotten Weapons and C&R Arsenal.
I was fortunate to meet another Madsen enthusiast at the Vickers Machine Gun Collection and Research Association exhibition at Bisley this weekend (2nd to 5th October 2026). This will prompt a review of material I have already and hopefully prompt more questions and research (I'm just looking again at "Rommel and Caporetto" by John and Eileen Wilks to check on the Germans use of the Madsen in this battle).
One question I have relates to the machine guns that were transported on the Libau/Aud/Castro for the Easter Rising and sent to the bottom of the ocean when Captain Spindler scuttled the ship. The story generally is that there were 10 machine guns in the cargo but nothing published appears to mention the type of gun. The general assumption appears to be that these were Russian M1910 Maxim machine guns.
These are very heavy and bulky weapons that need transportation, training and tools to maintain the gun, load the ammunition belts etc
I can't help but speculate if the guns were Russian Madsens. Several thousand were made by the Russians and would potentially have been in the haul of weapons captured by the Germans in the early part of the war. Germany would press many Madsens into use in what they would term Muskette Battalions and these would feature in the Somme in 1916 and later in Italy. Lack of parts etc would see them eventually being replaced by captured British Lewis guns.
The more man portable, magazine fed Madsens could have been of more useful to the Irish Volunteers during the Easter Rising than Maxim M1910s.
At some point I hope an archaelogical dive of the wreck or paperwork from German archives will identify the guns on the Libau/Aud/Castro.
There are a couple of books in the VMGCRA collection that refer to the Madsen.
At the Bisley Exhibition a 1910 book by Captain Applin was on display. Applin references the Madsen in his thoughts on how the British might use machine guns. This book (archive ref no V10785) has been digitized and available to view via the VMGCRA Patreon service.
Also available is a 1942 Small Arms Manual by Lt Col J A Barrow which has a nice chapter on the Madsen (and many othere WW2 weapons). This booklet (archive ref no V10170) has also been digitized and is available via the VMGCRA Patreon service.
