Salient language, and sub-machine guns

[withcall]

Help please! Two seemingly unrelated queries, but they both occur in a book I am reading. First one - would the rural population in the villages around the Ypres Salient have been Dutch speakers in 1917? Secondly - is there any way a German raiding party would have been carrying sub-machine guns in 1917? Googling suggests that they were first unveiled in the March offensive of the following year. Thanks in advance.

[Charpoi Warrior]

I suspect there weren't many locals still in the area by 1917, but I think it was a Dutch speaking area.

[centurion]

Not sub machine guns but possibly assault rifles if one counts the French Chauchat as an assault rifle as some were used by German attack squads. Other possibilities could include the Madsen light machine gun or the Bergman light machine gun. It's always possible that the author has confused a reference to the latter with the later Bergman sub machine gun - they were in fact different weapons

[centurion]

Further to this, there are photos of German assault troops with Bergman Mg 15 air cooled light machine guns, taken in 1917 and I have seen these erroneously referred to as Bergman sub machine guns.Also used by German and KuK mountain forces in Italy

[withcall]

Thank you centurion - very helpful.

[IanA]

Regarding language, The folk around Ypres would speak Flemish (Dutch) but, until 1883, all teaching in secondary schools had been in French so they would be bilingual. The peasant farmers may have only spoken Flemish but, as many officials insisted on conducting business in French, even they might have been able to 'get by'.

[Guest]

Just guessing, but would this count? Click

Mike

[centurion]

The Flemish would have been closer to Afrikaans 'Dutch' than Dutch Dutch. It appears that Flemish and Afrikaans both stayed closer to the original 17th century Dutch (much in the same way as some "hill-billy" dialects stayed closer to the 17th century English of Shakespeare). In the 1980s a South African colleague found it easier to be understood in and around the Salient than she did in Holland and I've been told that South African soldiers had similar experiences in and just after WW1.

[Tom W.]

Help please! Two seemingly unrelated queries, but they both occur in a book I am reading. First one - would the rural population in the villages around the Ypres Salient have been Dutch speakers in 1917? Secondly - is there any way a German raiding party would have been carrying sub-machine guns in 1917? Googling suggests that they were first unveiled in the March offensive of the following year. Thanks in advance.

German trench radiers often bought fully automatic Austrian Steyr M1912 pistols. I've got photos or such men.

[centurion]

Why did they buy them - the German government had already purchased a large number? Even with the extended magazine they don't look much like sub machine guns.