This might be a cool muster stage if someone could get the gear needed.

[Delmonico]

[Niederlander]

Already working on it for next year, although without the elephant!

[pony express]

I've seen that picture before and all I could think was....what an incredibly BAD idea it seemed to me.

1. What's the elephant going to do when you start firing a machine gun off his back? Especially a potato digger, that spews gas downward to operate the action?

2. And then there's an even bigger problem, at least for the gunner(as well as the elephant). If you're up against a whole battalion of men, and one guy sitting up on top of an elephant shooting a machine gun, who you gonna shoot at first? He's going to be the center of EVERYONE'S attention, at least as long as he lasts.

Might work ok if you're just up against natives with spears.

[Niederlander]

Ever seen the drawing of the camel with a Gatling gun mounted on it?  That seemed like a bad idea, too!

[Ol Gabe]

Out of simple curiosity...
How is the gun held in place on the Pachyderms back, don't see any restraining or mounting straps? Is it possible this is one of those "Let's try this and see what happens..." staged pics?
Also, is there any indication where it was taken and which unit is seen in the pic? With the electric power high lines in the back it looks to have been taken in a populated civilized area on flat ground, might be a circus Elephant borrowed to test out the use of the gun, still, it seems a bit odd there are no straps to hold it in place.
The old standard on Elephants always was that an African Elephant had an ear shaped like the continent of Africa and the same applied to those from India. Hard to tell in this pic which it is.
The mention of a Camel with a Gatling Gun mounted on it reminds me of the use of Elephants in India, they were used as transport for the round magazine Gatling barrel, carriage and suchlike. In the movie GUNGA DIN they were shown in use at the climactic temple battle at the end of the film where the guns, carriages and ammo boxes are all unloaded from Elephants and set for quick use.
I'm guessing there are more pics like this out there in some old manual or Ordnance report, good luck finding them!
Best regards,
'Ol Gabe

[Sam Perfye]

Gabe, not sure how the gun is held in place other than the tripod. The "unit " on the other hand is easy , USMC. Taken sometime after 1900 from the look of the gunners uniform. Judging from the blood stripe it's a sergeant wearing the standard undress uniform. The lack of belts on either of the men would suggest a staged photo, perhaps outside of Tun Tavern . Al.

[Drydock]

The elephant we could probably get.  The Potato Digger might be a problem . . .



(Clearly a staged for laughs photo ((Oh those silly Marines!)) but I can't help thinking of the swivel guns mounted on some Indian elephant baskets at the turn of the 18th century)

I've often thought an SKS in a Tapco Intrafuse stock, with the butt removed and tripod mounted, would make an acceptable staged MG.

[Pitspitr]

Do elephants buck?

[Niederlander]

Gabe, not sure how the gun is held in place other than the tripod. The "unit " on the other hand is easy , USMC. Taken sometime after 1900 from the look of the gunners uniform. Judging from the blood stripe it's a sergeant wearing the standard undress uniform. The lack of belts on either of the men would suggest a staged photo, perhaps outside of Tun Tavern . Al.

I personally find it hard to believe that a couple of young enlisted Marines would do such a thing! (Wink, Wink!)  I can just imagine a Lieutenant trying to explain how an elephant was "liberated" from wherever they got it, as well!

[River City John]

Do elephants buck?

Yes. In slow motion. Then they trample.


RCJ

[Delmonico]

Do you know what you give an elephant with diarrhea?
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
Lots of room.

[Guns Garrett]

Wors said just before the photo was taken:

"Watch this...here, hold my beer..."

[Pitspitr]

So is this where the idea for the tank came from?

[Mogorilla]

Elephants definitely trample.   I believe some of the elephant units (Sassnids maybe) issued spikes and hammers to the handlers.   Apparently if the elephants took some wounds, they would get downright mean, then friend or foe were in danger, the handlers were expected to use the spike and hammer to drive into the elephant's brain to stop the runnign amok.

[River City John]

Will Cuppy had a great passage on the subject:

"The Romans had learned about elephants while fighting Pyrrhus, whose elephants defeated him in 275 B.C., and even before that, in Alexander's time, King Porus had been undone by his own elephants.
Thus, if history had taught any one thing up to that time, it was never to use elephants in war. Don't ask me why Hamilcar did not see this. The Carthaginian elephants were trained to rush forward and trample the Romans, but only too frequently they would rush backwards and trample the Carthaginians. If this happened to you, wouldn't you notice it? And wouldn't you do something about it?"





RCJ

[Drydock]

War elephants are like socialism: "In all history, this idea has never worked; But only because WE haven't tried it!"

[Grapeshot]

The first thing that ran through my mind was, "What the heck are those Marines doing?"  Then I realized that it was for their poster stating:  M.A.R.I.N.E.......Muscles Are Required Intelligence Not Expected.