The Mle 1914 Hotchkiss machine gun chambered for the
8mm Lebel 8 mm or 8mm may refer to:
;Film technology
*8 mm film, a photographic cine film format principally intended for domestic use. The term may also refer to later variants:
** Super 8 mm film
** Single-8 film
** 8 mm video format, a type of video recor ...
cartridge became the standard
machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) ar ...
of the
French Army
The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (french: Armée de Terre, ), is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. It is responsible to the Government of France, along with the other components of the Armed Force ...
during the latter half of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. It was manufactured by the French arms company
Hotchkiss et Cie
Société Anonyme des Anciens Etablissements Hotchkiss et Compagnie was a French arms and, in the 20th century, automobile manufacturer first established by United States gunsmith Benjamin B. Hotchkiss. He moved to France and set up a factory, ...
, which had been established in the 1860s by American industrialist
Benjamin B. Hotchkiss. The gas-actuated Hotchkiss system was first formulated in 1893 by
Odkolek von Ujezda and improved into its final form by Hotchkiss armament engineers, American Laurence Benét and his French assistant Henri Mercié.
The Mle 1914 was the last version of a series of nearly identical Hotchkiss designs : the Mle 1897, Mle 1900 and the Mle 1909. The Hotchkiss Mle 1914 became the French infantry standard in late 1917, replacing the unreliable
St. Étienne Mle 1907. The
American Expeditionary Forces
The American Expeditionary Forces (A. E. F.) was a formation of the United States Army on the Western Front of World War I. The A. E. F. was established on July 5, 1917, in France under the command of General John J. Pershing. It fought along ...
(AEF) in France also purchased 7,000 Mle 1914 Hotchkiss machine guns in 8mm Lebel, and used them extensively at the front in 1917 and 1918. Hotchkiss heavy machine guns, some being of earlier types, were also used in combat by Japan, Chile, Mexico, Spain, Belgium, Brazil, and Poland.
The Hotchkiss machine gun, a sturdy and reliable weapon, remained in active service with the French army until the early 1940s. By the end of 1918, 47,000 Hotchkiss machine guns had already been delivered to the French army alone. Including all international sales, the grand total of all Hotchkiss machine guns sold by the manufacturer in various calibers was well in excess of 100,000 units.
History and design
Early models
The Hotchkiss was based on a design by
Captain Baron Adolf Odkolek von Ujezda of
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
, first patented in July 1889 with further patents following in the following years, tested in 1893 in
Saint-Denis, near Paris. The patents had been purchased in 1894–1895 by the firm of
Benjamin Hotchkiss. Benjamin Hotchkiss was no longer alive at the time of the purchase, but the Odkolek design was further developed and greatly improved under the direction of American-born Laurence Vincent Benét. In 1898 an export model was offered for international sales by Hotchkiss and sold to
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
,
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
,
Japan,
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
,
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...
and
Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
that year. With some useful changes, such as the addition of five cooling radiator rings on the barrel, the same basic design led to the Mle 1900.
The gun was tested in 1901 by two
Chasseur
''Chasseur'' ( , ), a French term for "hunter", is the designation given to certain regiments of French and Belgian light infantry () or light cavalry () to denote troops trained for rapid action.
History
This branch of the French Army orig ...
battalions and in 1903–1904 with
cavalry units.
The French Army bought another 50 Hotchkiss machine guns in 1906 for comparative trials but adopted the more complex Puteaux Mle 1905 (upgraded as the
St. Étienne Mle 1907) to equip the infantry in 1907–1909.
Nevertheless, 600 Mle 1900 machine guns were also purchased by the French military for use in overseas colonies
Model 1914
At the beginning of the
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, the
Manufacture d'armes de Saint-Étienne proved to be unable to produce enough St. Etienne machine guns. The French military forces chose to adopt the Hotchkiss Mle 1900 with some minor modifications,
as the Mitrailleuse Automatique modèle 1914.
The Hotchkiss gun is initially supplied to second-line troops but in 1916 front-line units began to use the Mle 1914. That year, a parliamentary committee of inquiry concluded that the Hotchkiss was more reliable than the St. Etienne and the production of the latter was stopped.
Design
The Hotchkiss machine gun was gas actuated and air-cooled, in contrast to the
Maxim gun
The Maxim gun is a recoil-operated machine gun invented in 1884 by Hiram Stevens Maxim. It was the first fully automatic machine gun in the world.
The Maxim gun has been called "the weapon most associated with imperial conquest" by historian ...
which was recoil operated and water-cooled. The Hotchkiss machine gun barrel features five large rings which materially assisted natural cooling and retarded overheating. The gas cylinder under the barrel features a regulator piston which can be adjusted to the normal rate of fire of 450 rounds per minute. The Hotchkiss machine gun itself (excluding the tripod) has only 32 parts, including four coil springs, and no screws or pins whatsoever.
[''Handbook of the Hotchkiss Machine Gun, Model of 1914'' US War Department] All parts of the gun are constructed in such a manner that it is impossible to assemble them improperly. The Hotchkiss fired from an
open bolt, like almost all modern machine guns, in order to avoid
"cook-offs" – cartridges being prematurely ignited by the overheated chamber. Although the Hotchkiss machine gun was easy to feed continuously with a three-man team, each individual strip held only 24 rounds of 8mm Lebel ammunition. This feature proved to be one of the Hotchkiss's shortcomings, as the crew needed to reload the gun several times for every minute of firing, far more often than on every other machine gun of the same period (the Maxim used a 250-round continuous cloth belt). Each empty feed strip was ejected automatically after its last round had been fired, leaving the bolt open in the rear position. Then introducing a new loaded strip into the gun triggered the release forward of the bolt and firing resumed. The Hotchkiss strips performed well with a three-man crew, but their capacity was too small for a single gunner firing from the inside of a tank. This led to the adoption of a 250-round articulated metal belt in 1917. It was widely used in all French tanks of the period and in some military airplanes.
Beginning in 1900, two basic tripod types were used prior to World War I, when the final and most effective third Hotchkiss tripod model (the Mle 1916) became adopted and widely distributed. A tripod that could be used for both the Hotchkiss and the St. Etienne machine guns was issued in 1915, the so-called "Omnibus Tripod". The French Hotchkiss had a rate of fire of approximately 450 rounds per minute of 8 mm Lebel ammunition, and a maximum effective range of 3,800 m (4,150 yd) with the "Balle D" bullet. Fire for effect was usually in successive bursts of 8 to 10 rounds. The gun could sustain continuous firing of about 120 aimed shots per minute almost indefinitely,
except for occasional barrel changes (during continuous fire, approximately every 1,000 rounds) which were quick and easy to perform with a special wrench. The barrel could attain a temperature of about 400 °C, at which temperature it would be dark red in color. At this point the barrel dissipated heat as fast as it was generated. This only occurred after long continuous firing in a combat emergency situation. The most common complaint about the Hotchkiss was its weight: the gun and tripod weighed a total of . There were also complaints concerning the tripods, particularly the "Omnibus" tripods, which were perceived as too high above ground and too heavy.
Service history
World War I
The principal user of the Mle 1914 Hotchkiss machine gun was the French infantry during World War I and the early days of World War II.
The Hotchkiss company delivered 47,000 Mle 1914 machine guns to the French Army between 1914 and the end of 1918. Several hundred were chambered in
11mm Gras for use against enemy balloons, as that was the smallest caliber of incendiary bullet; all other French examples were in
8mm Lebel 8 mm or 8mm may refer to:
;Film technology
*8 mm film, a photographic cine film format principally intended for domestic use. The term may also refer to later variants:
** Super 8 mm film
** Single-8 film
** 8 mm video format, a type of video recor ...
. The second-largest user of the Hotchkiss was the
American Expeditionary Force in France between 1917 and 1918, with the US purchasing and deploying 7,000 Hotchkiss machine guns during the war.
Naval Service
The Mle 1914 Hotchkiss was used by the
Marine Nationale
The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in th ...
during the inter-war period, primarily on the twin Mle 1926 mount. It was replaced in service by the
Hotchkiss Mle 1929 as it became available. During World War II some of these mountings were returned to service to try and compensate for the slow production of larger and more capable weapons, along with newer 7.5mm machine guns like the
Darne
The Darne machine gun is a machine gun of French origin.
Development
The French gun-making company Darne, which became famous for its innovative shotguns, began making military weapons in 1915, when it was contracted by French government to man ...
.
Japanese version
During the
Boxer Rebellion, Japanese forces acquired a French Mle 1897. Japan acquired a license and began producing Hotchkiss Mle 1897 machine guns in
6.5x50mm Arisaka caliber. During the
Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...
, each Japanese division had 24 Hotchkiss machine guns. Being lighter than the Russian
Maxims, the Hotchkiss performed well.
The production evolved to become the
Type 3 Heavy Machine Gun
, also known as the Taishō 14 machine gun, was a Japanese air-cooled heavy machine gun.
Design
The Type 3 heavy machine gun was based on the design of the Hotchkiss M1914. Although the Hotchkiss used 8mm cartridges, from 1914 Japan produced the ...
in 1914. The
Type 92 Heavy Machine Gun
was a Japanese heavy machine gun, related to the Hotchkiss machine gun series. It entered service in 1932 and was the standard Japanese heavy machine gun used during World War II. Known for its reliability, it was used after the war by various fo ...
, a scaled-up Type 3 chambered for
7.7mm, was also based on the Hotchkiss design.
In China
In 1930 to 1935, the
Republic of China bought 1,192 Hotchkiss Mle 1914 machine guns from France. The Chinese also copied this gun and used the German
7.92×57mm Mauser. After the
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...
broke out in 1937, China ordered 1,300 more guns, but only 300 guns were delivered. It was also used during the
Chinese Civil War
The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on m ...
.
In Czechoslovakia
In 1919–1920,
Czechoslovakia
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
, p1 = Austria-Hungary
, image_p1 ...
bought 855 Mle 1914s from France and received another 89 from the
Czechoslovak Legion in France
Enrollment of Czechoslovak volunteers in the French Foreign Legion started in Paris on 21 August 1914. The 1st Company, Battalion C, of the 2nd Infantry Regiment of the Foreign Legion, was created in Bayonne on 31 August. Meeting in the city, the ...
. 985 Hotchkiss Mle 1914 machine guns were in service within the
Czechoslovak Army at the end of 1920 and 929 were still recorded in 1938.
In Poland
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
received its first Mle 1914 Hotchkiss machine guns together with the arrival of the
Blue Army in 1919. During and after the
Polish-Bolshevik War the
Polish Army
The Land Forces () are the land forces of the Polish Armed Forces. They currently contain some 62,000 active personnel and form many components of the European Union and NATO deployments around the world. Poland's recorded military history stre ...
bought additional guns in France and by 1936 there were 2,620 guns in Polish service (used under the ckm wz. 14 - "HMG Mk. 1914"). In the mid-1920s the army ordered 1,250 guns of a slightly modified version rechambered to the standard
7.92×57mm Mauser calibre. However, the army found that the newly delivered machine guns, dubbed
ckm wz.25 Hotchkiss were substandard: the barrel was prone to overheating and the accuracy was found to be too low.
Instead of trying to renegotiate the contract with Hotchkiss, the Polish General Staff ordered large numbers of
Ckm wz.30 machine guns instead and both 1914 and 1925 models of Hotchkiss were withdrawn from infantry service by 1936. Some were sold abroad; many were modified to arm the
Renault FT
The Renault FT (frequently referred to in post-World War I literature as the FT-17, FT17, or similar) was a French light tank that was among the most revolutionary and influential tank designs in history. The FT was the first production tank to ...
tanks,
TK-3 and
TKS
The TK (TK-3) and TKS were Polish tankettes developed during the 1930s and used in the Second World War.
Design and development
The TK (also known as the TK-3) tankette was a Polish design produced from 1931 based on the chassis of the British ...
tankettes, and
Samochód pancerny wz. 29 and
wz. 34 armored cars. During the
Invasion of Poland
The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week aft ...
of 1939, the wz. 25 and wz. 14 machine guns were nevertheless used in combat by some Polish infantry units, notably the
Border Defence Corps and
National Defense
National security, or national defence, is the security and defence of a sovereign state, including its citizens, economy, and institutions, which is regarded as a duty of government. Originally conceived as protection against military attac ...
.
In Spain
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
bought the license of the Hotchkiss machine gun Model 1903, firing the
7×57mm Mauser
The 7×57mm Mauser (designated as the 7 mm Mauser or 7×57mm by the SAAMI and 7 × 57 by the C.I.P.) is a first-generation smokeless powder rimless bottlenecked rifle cartridge. It was developed by Paul Mauser of the Mauser company in ...
ammunition. Adopted as the standard heavy machine gun of the Spanish Army, it was built at
Oviedo.
2,000 were in service when the
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
broke
and they were widely used by the conflicting parties involved. This machine gun also saw action during the
Ifni War
The Ifni War, sometimes called the Forgotten War in Spain (''la Guerra Olvidada''), was a series of armed incursions into Spanish West Africa by Moroccan insurgents that began in October 1957 and culminated with the abortive siege of Sidi ...
in 1957-1958.
Other countries
Hotchkiss machine guns firing 7 mm Mauser ammunition equipped both sides (government and rebels) during the
Mexican Revolution (1911–1920). Furthermore, the Mle 1914 Hotchkiss in 8 mm Lebel was mounted in all French tanks and armored cars of World War I. Some examples of tanks that used the Mle 1914 Hotchkiss include the
Schneider CA1,
Saint-Chamond,
Renault FT
The Renault FT (frequently referred to in post-World War I literature as the FT-17, FT17, or similar) was a French light tank that was among the most revolutionary and influential tank designs in history. The FT was the first production tank to ...
and
Char 2C
The Char 2C, also known as the FCM 2C, was a French heavy tank, later also seen as a super-heavy tank. It was developed during World War I but not deployed until after the war. It was, in total volume or physical dimensions, the largest operat ...
. Conversely, British tanks and armored cars were fitted with the distinctly different
Mle 1909 light Hotchkiss (a.k.a. the "Benét–Mercié"). A recently published series of modern firing tests with vintage machine guns summarizes the Mle 1914 Hotchkiss as being: ''"A heavy and rock-steady combination of gun and tripod, the world's first efficient air cooled machine gun is admirably reliable and accurate"'' (Robert Bruce, 1997). These qualities provided the French military with an excuse to keep the Hotchkiss in active service far beyond its point of obsolescence and into
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. The last recorded uses of the Hotchkiss by the French Army were in Indochina and Algeria, after World War II, to defend outposts in static positions. It is said to have been used by Communist forces in
Korean
Korean may refer to:
People and culture
* Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula
* Korean cuisine
* Korean culture
* Korean language
**Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl
**Korean dialects and the Jeju language
** ...
and
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...
s.
Users
* : used by the
National Liberation Army
*: in
7.65×53mm Mauser
The 7.65×53mm Mauser (designated as the 7,65 × 53 Arg. by the C.I.P.) is a first-generation smokeless powder Rim (firearms), rimless bottlenecked rifle Cartridge (firearms), cartridge developed for use in the Mauser Model 1889 rifle by Paul Maus ...
*: Mle 1897
and
Type 3 machine guns
*
*
*
*
*
*; Mle 1908/1914
*: Mle 1897
and Mle 1914
* : Mle 1914
* : Used in
FT-17 tanks. Later replaced in 1937 by the Maxim M/09-31 derived from the
7,62 ITKK 31 VKT.
*
* : 8mm sMG 257(f)
*: Mle 1897 and later
Type 3 heavy machine gun
, also known as the Taishō 14 machine gun, was a Japanese air-cooled heavy machine gun.
Design
The Type 3 heavy machine gun was based on the design of the Hotchkiss M1914. Although the Hotchkiss used 8mm cartridges, from 1914 Japan produced the ...
*: ex-Chinese machine guns
*: Mle 1897
and Mle 1914
*: Hotchkiss machine guns chambered in
6.5×55mm Swedish,
adopted in 1911
*
*
*
*: several Red Army units used Hotchkiss Mle 1914 during
Russian Civil War
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Russian Civil War
, partof = the Russian Revolution and the aftermath of World War I
, image =
, caption = Clockwise from top left:
{{flatlist,
*Soldiers ...
*
*: ''Kulspruta m/1900'', in
6.5×55mm Swedish
*: in
7.92×57mm Mauser
*
* : Mle 1897, Mle 1900 and Mle 1914 in 7mm Máuser it was used between 1919 and 1960.
*: Used by
Viet Minh
The Việt Minh (; abbreviated from , chữ Nôm and Hán tự: ; french: Ligue pour l'indépendance du Viêt Nam, ) was a national independence coalition formed at Pác Bó by Hồ Chí Minh on 19 May 1941. Also known as the Việt Minh Fro ...
*: Mle 1897
*
References
Literature
* Bruce, Robert. ''Machine Guns of World War I''. 1997: Windrow and Greene Publishers,
* Canfield, Bruce. ''U.S. Infantry Weapons of the First World War''. 2000: Andrew Mowbray Publishers,
* ''Handbook of the Hotchkiss Machine Gun, Model of 1914''. US War Department, Office of the Chief of Ordnance, November 1917. Reprinted by: Normont Technical Publications, Wickenburg, Arizona, 1973.
* "Mitrailleuses francaises d'Infanterie", Guide de l'Eleve-Mitrailleur, Centre Regional de Mitrailleurs de Bourges, 1918.
* Huon, Jean; Barrellier, Alain. ''Les Mitrailleuses Francaises'' October 2014: Crepin-Leblond, . An exhaustive and highly detailed technical review of all French military machine guns, their ammunitions and accessories.
* Hergé. ''The Broken Ear'' (''Adventures of Tintin'' #6), 1935.
* Raach, George T. ''A Withering Fire: American Machine Gun Battalions in World War I'' , 2015:Booklocker.com, Incorporated. Extensive study of US Army machine gun crews in World War I.
*
External links
The Hotchkiss GunFrench 8 mm HOTCHKISS machine gun, Model 1914(in French)
Hotchiss Mle 1914 mechanism and breakdown, 3D model
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hotchkiss Mle 1914 Machine Gun
8 mm machine guns
Machine guns of France
World War I French infantry weapons
World War I machine guns
World War II machine guns
World War II infantry weapons of France
Medium machine guns
Mle 1914
Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1914