Hotchkiss M1914 machine gun
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| Hotchkiss M1914 | |
|---|---|
 Hotchkiss Mle 14 |
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| Type | machine gun |
| Place of origin | France |
| Service history | |
| In service | 1914 - 45 |
| Used by | France, U.S., Belgium,Brazil,Japan,Spain,Mexico,Poland, Norway, |
| Wars | World War I, World War II, Polish-Soviet War,Spanish Civil War, |
| Production history | |
| Produced | 1897 (M1897), 1900 (M1900), 1914 - 1920 (M1914) |
| Number built | over 65,000 |
| Specifications | |
| Weight | 53lbs, |
| Length | 1390 mm |
| Barrel length | 800 mm |
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| Caliber | 8 mm |
| Action | gas actuation |
| Rate of fire | 450 round/min |
| Muzzle velocity | 2375ft/sec |
| Feed system | 24 round strip, 250 round articulated metal belt |
The Mle 1914 Hotchkiss machine gun became the standard machine gun of the French Army during World War I. It was manufactured by the French arms company of Hotchkiss et Cie, which had been established in the 1860's by American industrialist Benjamin B. Hotchkiss.
The Mle 1914 was the last version of nearly identical Hotckiss designs : the Mle 1897, Mle 1900 and the Mle1908. The heavy Mle 1914 Hotchkiss is not be confused with the lighter Hotchkiss M1909 (the U.S."Benet-Mercie" or the British Hotchkiss Mark I). At the beginning of World War I, the St. Etienne Mle 1907 was the standard machine gun of French infantry. However, due to inferior field performance by the St. Etienne, the Hotchkiss Mle 1914 became the French infantry standard after 1917. The American Expeditionary Forces (A.E.F.) in France also used the Mle 1914 Hotchkiss extensively in 1917 and 1918. Hotchkiss heavy machine guns, some being of earlier types, were also used in combat by Japan, Mexico, Spain, Belgium and Poland.
The Hotchkiss machine gun remained in active service with the French army until the early 1940's.
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[edit] History & Design
The Hotchkiss was based on a design by Captain Baron A. Odkolek von Augeza of Vienna. The patents had been purchased by the firm of Benjamin Hotchkiss, based in Saint-Denis, near Paris. Benjamin Hotchkiss was no longer alive at the time of the purchase, but the Odkolek design was developed and improved under the direction of American-born Lawrence Benet with the assistance of Henri Mercie. Development issues were resolved, leading to the first purchase of the Hotchkiss gun by the French Military in 1897. In 1898 an export model was also offered for international sales by Hotchkiss. With some useful changes, such as the addition of cooling radiator rings on the barrel, the same basic design led to the M1900, and later to the M1914 (with other minor improvements in 1908). In the meantime adoption of the St. Etienne M1907 machine gun (a French government arsenal product) to equip the infantry went through in 1908, because of internal political pressures. Nevertheless the Hotchkiss machine gun was also purchased in significant numbers after 1908 , but mainly for use in the French colonies and by mountain troops in the Alps. By the crucial year 1916 French line infantry, still being equipped with the unsatisfactory Saint-Etienne, convinced General Petain that it urgently needed the more reliable Hotchkiss. It got its wish and French infantry divisions became entirely outfitted with the Hotchkiss gun in 1917 and 1918.
The Hotchkiss was gas actuated and air cooled, in contrast to the Maxim gun and its derivatives (which were recoil operated and water cooled). The Hotchkiss had only 34 parts, very few springs and no screws, making it simple and easy to take apart and maintain. All parts of the gun are constructed in such a manner that it is impossible to assemble them inproperly. The Hotchkiss fires from an open bolt position,a common disposition existing today in all machine guns(in order to avoid "cook-offs" ), but a first in 1897. Although reliable and easy to feed continuously with a three man team, each individual feed strip could only hold 24 rounds of ammunition. Each empty feed strip was ejected automatically after its last round had been fired ,leaving the bolt open in the rearward position. The Hotchkiss strips performed well with a three-man crew, but the strip capacity was too small for use by a single man firing from the inside of a tank or within a confined position. This led to the adoption of a 250 rounds articulated metal belt which was introduced in 1917. It was widely used in French tanks of the period, as well as in infantry Hotchkiss teams.
Beginning in 1900, two basic tripod types were used prior to World War I, when the final and most effective third tripod model (the Mle 1916) became adopted and widely distributed. 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 meters (4,150 yards) with the "Balle D" bullet. The gun could sustain continuous firing of up to 200 rounds per minute almost indefinitely, except for occasional barrel changes ( approximately every 1,000 rounds ) which were quick and easy to perform with a special wrench. The barrel could attain a temperature of about 400o C which is dark red. At this point it dissipates heat as fast as it is generated. This only occurred after long continuous firing.
[edit] Service Use
The principal user of the Mle 1914 Hotchkiss machine gun was French infantry during World War I and in 1939-40. The Hotchkiss company delivered 47,000 Mle 1914 machine guns to the French Army between 1914 and the end of 1918. Several hundreds were in the 11 mm Gras caliber for colonial use but all the others were in 8 mm Lebel. The second largest user of the Hotchkiss gun was the American Expeditionary Forces in France between 1917 and 1918. The U.S. purchased and used in combat 7,000 Mle 1914 Hotchkis guns, also in 8 mm Lebel. Hotchkiss machine guns were extensively used by Japan in Manchuria, during the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905) as well as in the 1930's, during the Spanish Civil War. They also equipped both sides (Governmental forces and Pancho Villa's) during the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920). Furthermore, the M1914 Hotchkiss was also mounted in tanks and armored cars. Some examples of tanks that used the Hotchkiss 1914 machine gun include the Schneider CA1, St Chamond, Renault FT-17 and Char 2C). Many British tanks and armored cars were outfitted with the British version of the M1909 light Hotchkiss. A recently published series of modern firing tests with vintage machine guns summarizes the M1914 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 excellent qualities provided the French military with an excuse to keep the Hotchkiss in service beyond its point of obsolescence and into World War II. The last recorded uses of the Hotchkiss were in Indochina and Algeria, after World War II, to defend outposts in static positions.
[edit] References
- "Machine Guns of World war 1", Robert Bruce, 1997 ,Windrow and Greene Publishers, ISBN 1-85915-078-0
- "U.S. Infantry Weapons of the First World War", Bruce Canfield, 2000, Andrew Mowbray Publishers, ISBN 0-917218-90-6
- " Handbook of the Hotchkiss Machine Gun,Model of 1914",War Department,Office of the Chief of Ordnance,November 1917.Reprinted by : Normont Technical Publications,Wickenburg,Arizona,1973. ISBN: 0-87947-043-7
