Erm, the stuff about machineguns is... interesting. And up to Slashdot standards of historical accuracy.
1) Machineguns tend to be big, heavy and sit on bipods and tripods. PoWs tend to go marching into PoW camps, and once there are on the inside of compounds (or conventional prisons, or enrolled in your army ). Thus, you probably want something smaller and lighter to escort the prisoners with.
2) Actually, the whole 16th and 17th century saw prisoners being taken with regularity. OK, sometimes they got massacred afterwards, but they definitly got taken. 18th century, I'm not sure about. Napoleonic Wars... trust me. Entire divisions surrendured on occasions.
Ian Whitchurch
Slashdot Mirror
Erm, the stuff about machineguns is ... interesting. And up to Slashdot standards of historical accuracy.
1) Machineguns tend to be big, heavy and sit on bipods and tripods. PoWs tend to go marching into PoW camps, and once there are on the inside of compounds (or conventional prisons, or enrolled in your army ). Thus, you probably want something smaller and lighter to escort the prisoners with.
2) Actually, the whole 16th and 17th century saw prisoners being taken with regularity. OK, sometimes they got massacred afterwards, but they definitly got taken. 18th century, I'm not sure about. Napoleonic Wars ... trust me. Entire divisions surrendured on occasions.
Ian Whitchurch