Did Soldiers Really Urinate on their Machine Guns? Gun Myth explained by Expert Jonathan Ferguson

It sounds like an internet myth, but in this episode of Myths & Misconceptions, Jonathan investigates the historical evidence behind the myth as to whether desperate gun crews really resorted to using other methods when water ran out. Check out IWM's website here: https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections Sources/Info: Ezekiel Baker. 'Twenty-Three Years Practice and Observations With Rifle Guns' (1804, p.11). https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Twenty_three_Years_Practice_and_Observat/X28CAAAAYAAJ?hl=en BBC QI XL Series 'I' Episode 2 (2011) https://vickersmg.blog/in-use/myths/units-mgc-i-coy-100.htm Herbert W. McBride, 'A Rifleman Went to War' (Lancer, 1987). G.S. Hutchinson, ‘Machine Guns: Their History & Tactical Employment’ (MacMillan, 1938) p.122, p.186-7. https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Machine_Guns/lwohAAAAMAAJ?hl=en Stephen Bull, 'Trench' (Osprey, 2014), p.124. Judith Cook, ‘Apprentices of Freedom’ (Quartet, 1979), p.75. George F. Earle, 'History of the 87th Mountain Infantry, Italy, 1945', p. 91. http://www.10thmtndivassoc.org/87thhistory.pdf Popular Science, Vol. 158, No. 3 Mar 1951, p. 9. Merrill Twining, ‘No bended knee: the battle for Guadalcanal’ (Presido, 1996), p.135. IWM oral history interview with Ronald Norley (Reel 2 @26:45-27:39) https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80015073 Franklin D. R. Kestner, '"To the Last Man!": Kulbes' Mongrels at the Chosin Reservoir (‎James Livingston, 1991), p.63. David Coombes ‘Morshead: Hero of Tobruk and El Alamein’, (2001, p.135). Subscribe to our channel for more videos about arms and armour Help us bring history to life by supporting us here: https://royalarmouries.org/support-us/donations/ Sign up to our museum membership scheme here: https://royalarmouries.org/support-us/membership/ ⚔Website: https://royalarmouries.org/home ⚔Blog: https://royalarmouries.org/stories/ ⚔Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RoyalArmouriesMuseum/ ⚔Twitter: https://twitter.com/Royal_Armouries ⚔ Instagram: http://instagram.com/royalarmouriesmuseum We are the Royal Armouries, the United Kingdom's national collection of arms and armour. Discover what goes on behind the scenes and watch our collection come to life. See combat demonstrations, experience jousting and meet our experts. Have a question about arms and armour? Feel free to leave us a comment and we'll do our best to answer it.