French Weapons of the Second World War: Comprehensive Articles

[Johannes]

Here's a series of casual, informal articles concerning France's WW2 arsenal that I have been writing originally for friends to read on Facebook. I decided I might as well just post them on the FH forums too, especially after the interest shown in the MAS 38 submachine gun a few weeks ago. I was originally going to post these in the off topic forum, but then decided that it was probably more relevant in suggestions; although they're not technically suggestions, I hope the information will be useful for the FH devs in the future and informative for anyone who wants to read them.

I will post future additions when they're ready. If you find any errors, please let me know. I hope you guys enjoy them!

Sources: Various, including armement reglementaire francais, which is probably the best website out there on this subject and from which many of the pictures are taken [© Frédéric Delvolte 2003], Osprey Men at Arms series, the official French government's military history of the Tunisia campaign [Les Forces Françaises dans la Lutte contre l'Axe en Afrique: la Campagne de Tunisie (1942-1943)], David Lehmann over at the Axis history forums, and others



Johannes de Nova presents:

WW2 French Weapons 1: MAS 36 (fusil de 7,5 mm modèle 1936)


The MAS 36 used single five-round stripper clips. It used a modified Mauser bolt-action system.



The MAS 36 (Manufacture d'Armes de St-Etienne 36) bolt-action rifle is the most famous (French) rifle used by the French Army in the Second World War. Like the MAS 38 submachine gun, it has become a popular icon representative of the French forces of 1940; like the MAS 38, this reputation as France’s primary firearm is undeserved.

Following the adoption of the Fusil Mitrailleur modèle 1924 M29 in 7.5 mm caliber, the French Army found itself in an ammunition crisis. All of its primary weaponry dating from the First World War used 8 mm rounds, incompatible with their new excellent light machine gun. It therefore became a top priority to design and adopt as the standard firearm a rifle using 7.5 mm ammunition to phase out and replace older 8 mm Berthier and Lebel rifles.

Two rifles resulted from this effort: the first, the Berthier 07-15 M34, a distinguished derivative of the Berthier series of rifles modified to the Mauser system, was a decent rifle which saw only limited numbers and was issued primarily to fortress infantry defending the Maginot Line. The other rifle was the MAS 36.

The MAS 36, adopted in 1936 as the official standard rifle of the French Army, was in a sense both behind the times and a symbol of a future that never was. Its history, like the French campaign of 1940, was short and tragic.

Only begun to be produced limitedly in 1938, by the time of the declaration of war with Germany, only 63,000 MAS 36 rifles were distributed to the troops. By the time of the German invasion of 10 May 1940, only about 250,000 MAS 36 rifles were in service; for an army of over 2,000,000 (6,000,000 counting the empire and forces in metropolitan France outside the northern group), this meant that the vast majority of French infantry were using older 8 mm rifles.



MAS 36 bayonet (original model)





MAS 36 with the bayonet mounted; when not in use, the bayonet was turned around and stored within the gun itself, in the same place where it is mounted when in use



The MAS 36 was behind the times; at a time when semi-automatic rifles were being considered by most of the major armies, the MAS 36 was designed to be merely a stopgap solution to the French ammunition troubles. Pioneers of the semi-automatic rifle (they were the first major army to mass produce and utilize a semi-auto rifle, the RSC M1917), the French ironically found themselves to be the last major army in the world to adopt a new bolt-action model. For the French high command, the solution was only supposed to be temporary; the MAS 36 was to serve as the basis for a never mass-produced MAS 40 semi-automatic rifle (one finds the year 1941 to have held special significance for the French High Command in 1939; it was supposed to be the year of a giant counterattack into Germany had the Germans not destroyed the Allies in 1940).

Nevertheless, the MAS 36 had a good reputation equal to those of its contemporary peers. However, like most French rifles, it didn’t have a safety. It was expected to remain unloaded until entering combat. Still, it earned for itself a reputation for heavy durability: it was known to have survived explosions, to have been used heavily as a tool, and was basically not at all a fragile weapon. Compared to the length of the previous main French rifles, the MAS 36’s carbine length also allowed it to be handled more ably by the average soldier. For all intents and purposes, therefore, the MAS 36 was the rifle of choice for the French rifleman.



The 1935-37 leather equipment





The M35-37 pouches (here, one that was worn on the left) were designed to replace the older 1916 pouches alongside the MAS 36, but there ended up being no coordination between distribution of the pouches and the rifle. Most MAS 36 wielders ended up using the 1916 model.



Unfortunately, the French rifleman didn’t usually have the MAS 36 as a choice. As mentioned earlier, the vast majority of French troops in 1940 were still using the older 8 mm weapons; the 250,000 MAS 36 rifles that had been produced were issued only to the very best units of the French Army. Those units were primarily the divisions (in particular cavalry) of the French First and Seventh Armies that would make up the elite French troops to counterattack German Army Group B’s invasion of Belgium and the Netherlands, as well as the French expeditionary force sent to Norway in April, 1940.



The ideal French infantry equipped with the MAS 36 rifle and the most modern French uniform.



Of course, as the May 1940 campaign unrolled, German Army Group A, the main and best German force (Group B was a diversion) ended up facing the worse of the northern French Armies, the Second and Ninth French Armies. This ended up in the encirclement of the British, Belgian, and the best of the French Armies, leading to their ultimate destruction. Therefore, the MAS 36-wielders of the elite French forces were doomed to failure by default, and by the end of May 1940 were no longer a presence.

It can be said then that the MAS 36’s only true full-scale combat throughout the entirety of the Second World War was in the months of April and May, 1940. During the month of June, as the Germans swept into the rest of France (Fall Rot), they faced the remainder of the French Armies, most of which were undersupplied and using the older weaponry.

Although Resistance members in France managed to pilfer some examples from Vichy stocks and from the hands of Miliciens who had them, the MAS 36 would only have one true chance at a rematch against the Germans. After the metropolitan Vichy Army was disbanded in 1942, only one army unit was kept by the no longer legal government in the mainland: the 1er Régiment de France. This regiment, the last of the Vichy forces loyal to the government of Pierre Laval (minus arguably French Indochina’s forces), stayed out of the war until August 1944 when it defected and joined the French Forces of the Interior (the Maquis) in combat against the Germans, later to be integrated into the French First Army of General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny.



A rare sight: this MAS 36 is using the VB rifle grenade. French grenadiers almost universally used the Lebel 1886/M93 for the VB rifle grenade.



Every major book that summarizes the French Army in 1940 always dwells on the MAS 36; the popular media also has an overwhelming and undeserved fascination with the rifle. It is an unfortunate post-war popular assumption therefore that the MAS 36 was the primary rifle used by France in 1940. Far from it, its usage was only in limited numbers in the short-lived French units that fought in Belgium in the month of May, 1940. Although the metropolitan Vichy Army following the armistice was entirely equipped with the rifle, it was never distributed to anywhere else in the French Empire (minus 30,000 stored examples in Tunisia that were never issued and which as far as I’ve found so far only exist on official paper records). Vichy French troops that fought the Allies and Axis throughout the rest of the war continued to use the older French 8 mm rifles. Despite this, the MAS 36 is constantly referred to in books as though it were the only French rifle in service, and it has appeared as the main rifle of French forces in literally every video game featuring the French Army in the Second World War (except Battlefield 1942, which only featured the French Expeditionary Corps in Italy, 1944).

This leads us into the world of modern representation. The French Army during the Second World War has appeared in four first-person shooter video games: World War Two Online, Call of Duty 2: Big Red One, Forgotten Hope mod (for BF1942), and Battlefield 1942: The Road to Rome. The latter featured the late-war Anglo-American-supplied French Expeditionary Corps, and so did not include the MAS 36. The other three games, however, did.

World War Two Online: Battleground Europe cannot be judged from a historical perspective; for the most part, they usually nailed the French Army correctly, albeit putting them in a theoretical fictional scenario where the Germans did not plow through France so quickly.

Forgotten Hope, while focusing on real battles that did in fact see usage of the MAS 36, made the unfortunate mistake of using the post-1945 model of the rifle rather than the 1936; the primary visible difference between the two models is the forward sights. The post-1945 model has a rounded frontal sight.



Original model MAS 36 frontal sights





Post-1945 model MAS 36 frontal sights





The MAS 36 as it appeared in Forgotten Hope; another minor error was the ridges around the end of the barrel, as the end of the MAS 36 barrel was smooth. The post-war modified MAS 36-51 did have a ridged barrel end.



Call of Duty 2: Big Red One is the least forgivable. Their portrayal as a whole of the Vichy North African Army in 1942 is laughably insulting to history. Focusing solely on the MAS 36 rifle, however, it should be enough simply to say that the French North African Army did not use the MAS 36 as a standard issue rifle. The French North African Army, like the rest of the empire, was still using the 8 mm Berthier M1916 rifle; ignoring this historical fact, the developers of this game not only gave the Vichy French North African Army the MAS 36, but they didn’t even bother to give them the correct MAS 36, instead making the same error as Forgotten Hope and portraying the post-1945 version. What a sad error.

As such, the MAS 36 retains a false glory derived from post-war historical misperceptions and misconceptions; the true primary rifle of the French Armies using French equipment throughout the Second World War was the Berthier M1916, a rifle that unfortunately is barely remembered in the post-Second World War world, overshadowed by the grossly exaggerated claims of the MAS 36.








WW2 French Weapons 2: Fusil-Mitrailleur de 7,5 mm 1924/M29


The MAC FM 1924/M29 used 7.5 mm 25-round box magazines and fired at a rate of 450 to 600 rounds per minute.



The MAC FM 1924/29 (often simply but incorrectly called the “Châtellerault” by English sources; MAC stands for Manufacture d’Armes de Châtellerault) was by far one of France’s greatest Second World War weapons.



Like the Bren, the FM 24/29 was usually manned by two-man teams for faster reloading. The number two soldier was usually only armed with a sidearm.





It's unloaded and transport-ready; like the Italian Beretta M1938A SMG, the FM 24/29 had two triggers. The rear was for automatic fire, while the second trigger was for semi-automatic fire.



France’s light machine gun of the First World War, the M1915 Chauchat, was largely regarded as a disaster. Although the Chauchat succeeded as a cheaply mass-produced weapon that could be quickly supplied to French and American soldiers, it was considered an extremely poor quality weapon liable to many problems. One of the problems the French high command decided was unacceptable was the 8 mm caliber bullet, viewed as too large for convenient rapid fire. After the First World War, it was decided to replace the Chauchats with a 7.5 mm caliber-firing light machine gun.

Loosely based off the American BAR 1918, the first models of the FM 1924/29, the FM 1924, were subject to a few problems and instabilities. One problem was the similarity of the 7.5 x 58 mm cartridge to those used by captured MG15 LMGs from the First World War. The light machine gun was modified to become the FM 1924/29 by accepting 7.5 x 54 mm cartridges, which would henceforth be the standard French 7.5 mm cartridges.



The magazines could also be loaded with the five round stripper clips normally used in 7.5 mm rifles.





An FM 24/29 in the hands of a Moroccan Groupe Franc



The FM 1924/29 was the primary light machine gun of the French Army throughout the empire. It had a reputation as an excellent light machine gun that was reliable, durable, and overall a great companion. Even upon being re-supplied with American BAR 1918 automatic rifles in 1943, the French Expeditionary Corps in Italy and later the French First Army continued to use the FM 1924/29, which they regarded as the superior weapon, when available. As such, it was one of the only French hand weapons to continue to see large-scale standard usage in the French armies following their resupply by American Lend-Lease in 1943.



A special anti-air sight is attached to this FM 24/29.





It was also possible to fix the FM 24/29 on a rifle (here the Berthier M1916 is shown) for use as an anti-air gun.



The FM 1924/29 was also an inspiration for the Czech ZB vz. 26, the primary light machine gun used by Nationalist Chinese forces in the Second Sino-Japanese War. The Czech ZB vz. 26 would later become the Czech ZB vz. 30, better known as its variant: the Bren LMG, primary light machine gun of the United Kingdom and British Commonwealth throughout the Second World War.



To shoot while standing, it was recommended to use the carrying shoulder strap.








The switch to the FM 1924/29 7.5 x 54 mm caliber cartridges was also what led the French high command to estimate the formation and adoption of 7.5 mm rifles as being of utmost importance for the sake of ammunition standardization. This would lead to the creation and adoption of the MAS 36 and Berthier 07-15 M34 bolt-action rifles to replace the older 8 mm Berthier M1916 rifles, a process that was not completed by the start of the May 1940 campaign.

In terms of media representation, perhaps the greatest fault of Forgotten Hope’s portrayal of the French Army was their inability to incorporate the FM 1924/29; considering how crucially fundamental this weapon was to the French Army in 1940, its mysterious exclusion is sorely noticeable. It did, however, appear in World War Two Online and Call of Duty 2: Big Red One.



A captured FM 24/29 in the hands of an American soldier during Operation Torch, 1942, as portrayed in Call of Duty 2: Big Red One.





FM 24/29 (D), a variant designed for usage in the Maginot Line.



The FM 1924/29’s illustrious career would continue as a standard weapon of the French Army in the Indochina and Algerian Wars. It remains in usage even today in certain elements of the gendarmerie and French police.




WW2 French Weapons 3: Revolver de 8 mm Modèle 1892


The M1892 revolver fired 8 mm rounds and held 6 bullets at a time.



The M1892 revolver was the primary French-made handgun of both the First and Second World Wars. A high quality weapon manufactured entirely by the Manufacture d’Armes de St-Etienne between 1892 and 1927, it used 8 mm cartridges and was loosely based on the 1874 model revolver. The M1892 was used all the way through the Algerian War.



The (magazine) cylinder is opened but unloaded.





Here the (magazine) cylinder is fully loaded but still opened (reloading is in progress).



Despite its designation as the primary French-made handgun of the French Armies during both World Wars, it in reality was a relatively rare weapon all things considered. During the First World War, handguns were not a priority for the French weapons manufacturers; as a result, a critical shortage of handguns forced the French in 1915 to purchase and import Spanish-made Ruby pistols, which would end up being the most common handgun in French Army service during both World Wars.



The pistol holster, belt and strap used by wielders of the M1892 revolver



Depending on the source, between 200,000 and 330,000 M1892 revolvers were manufactured. Although the revolver had a reputation for being an excellent, high quality weapon, the French would introduce much more modern pistols in 1935, but again would relegate their manufacture to nearly non-existent due to more pressing matters. As a result, most French officers and personnel using handguns in the Second World War would enter the war using the handguns of the First World War: the excellent M1892 revolver and the relatively low quality imported Ruby pistols.





WW2 French Weapons 4: Grenade à Main Offensive Modèle 1915


The grenade à main offensive modèle 1915 served as the primary hand grenade of French forces throughout the French Empire during the Second World War. This is a 1930-type with M1935 fuze.



The primary hand grenade used by the French Army in the Second World War was the model 1915 offensive hand grenade (appropriately abbreviated as “Gr Ma Of 15”). As an offensive hand grenade, it relied solely on concussive effect (like the German Stielhandgranate 1924), its thin sheet metal not at all designed for fragmentation (the less common French fragmentation grenade was the F1).

The M1915 offensive hand grenade’s fuze (and some internal components) underwent numerous modifications both during the First World War and the inter-war years. Each subsequent modification tends to have the grenade reclassified as the year of the fuze’s model or change in components (one using the 1916 Billant fuze would often be called an M1916 grenade, for example), but for all intents and purposes, the grenades remain known as the model 1915. The M1915’s true replacement hand grenade would not come until 1937.



This M1915 grenade is using the 1916 short percussion fuze





This Gr Ma Of 15 is using the M1916 Billant fuze. The Gr Ma Of 15 were usually painted blue.





This grenade à main offensive modèle 1915 is using the M1935 fuze.



Of the three first-person shooter titles that portray the French Army using French equipment in the Second World War, only World War Two Online utilizes the M1915 hand grenade. Forgotten Hope portrays the M1937, while Call of Duty 2: Big Red One ridiculously portrays the Vichy French as using German Stielhandgranate 24’s.



The M1915 offensive grenade as it appeared in World War 2 Online: Battleground Europe. It is using the M1916 fuze.





WW2 French Weapons 5: Berthier M1916 (fusil de 8 mm modèle 1916)


The Berthier M1916, the primary rifle of French forces in the Second World War, was a bolt-action rifle that fired 8 mm Lebel rounds and used a Mannlicher-type magazine.



The 8 mm Berthier M1916 bolt-action rifle was the main battle rifle of the French Army throughout the empire during the Second World War.

By the time the First World War came around, the legendary Lebel 1886/M93 rifle was already outdated. Although the smokeless Lebel 8 x 50 R mm rounds had created a revolution in firearm technology, by the eve of the First World War both the British Lee-Enfield SMLE and German Gewehr 98 had surpassed the French Lebel rifle in terms of rapid-fire capability. This was due to the Lebel 1886/M93’s primary fault: the rifle used an inconvenient tube magazine that required the rifleman to reload it round by round.



An example of the belt, straps and ammo pouches issued to an M1916 Berthier-wielding rifleman in the First World War. The rear ammo pouch was mostly phased out of service by the Second World War. The bayonet shown is the older M1886 "Rosalie" type usually used for the Lebel 1886/M93 rifle.





The model 1916 ammunition pouch



Enter the Berthier M07-15. The Berthier M07-15 was an updated version of a rifle being used by French forces in Senegal, the M1907. It featured what was common to all but the last of the rifles bearing the “Berthier” name: a Mannlicher-style magazine. Similar to the Lebel in its other aspects, the new Berthier M07-15 rifle allowed the rifleman to quickly reload it using three-round clips. It began production in February 1915, though neither it nor the M1916 would surpass the Lebel 1886/M93 as the primary rifle of the poilu in the First World War.



The first type of M07-15 Berthier rifles; it featured a bent bolt handle like Berthier carbines rather than the straight handle seen in the Lebel 1886/M93 and later Berthier rifles





The second type of M07-15, which began production in November 1915; it has the straight handle seen on the Lebel 1886/M93 and Berthier M1916 rifles



The Berthier M07-15 in its original form had one major problem, however: the fact that its magazine could only hold three rounds due to the large size of the Lebel 8 mm round left the Berthier M07-15 still outclassed by German Gewehr 98 rifles, whose magazines could hold five rounds. This small magazine size (as opposed to the Lebel 1886/M93, which could hold eight to ten rounds) was a serious drawback that the French sought to correct almost immediately. The result was the Berthier M1916.



The three-round clip used in the original Berthier M07-15 rifles





This is the five-round clip used in the Berthier M1916. As with all Mannlicher-type magazine rifles, the rifle required the clip in order to hold more than a single bullet at a time as it could not be fully reloaded round by round. Without the clip, the Berthier M1916 is simply a single shot rifle.



The Berthier M1916 was almost identical to the M07-15, its only difference being an extended magazine that protruded from the bottom of the rifle that permitted the magazine to hold five rounds rather than the original three, thus bringing it up to par with the Gewehr 98. Many of the original M07-15 Berthier rifles were soon afterward sent back to the factories to be converted to the new M1916 type, after which they were given the designation 07-15 M16. Many modern texts will, somewhat but not completely erroneously, refer to the Berthier M1916 rifles as Berthier 07-15 M16 rifles, either in general model designation or with individual examples, regardless of whether it is a true M1916 or the converted 07-15 M16 type (the best way to know is simply by reading the markings on the rifle; converted rifles were always given the “updated” designation).



The bottom of the M07-15 Berthier featured a window from which the spent clip would drop out, common to Mannlicher-type rifles. Unfortunately, the open window would allow dirt and other debris to gather, potentially causing jams.





The Berthier M1916 magazine featured a hatch that closed the clip ejection window in order to help prevent jams. When reloading the rifle, the rifleman could either manually open the port to let the clip fall out, or he could force the next clip in, which would force the old clip out the hatch.





Here the hatch is opened; it could be manually closed or left open if the rifleman was continuously firing in battle. If the bolt action were to be opened mid-clip, the clip with unused cartridges would eject upward rather than drop down the hatch.





A Berthier 07-15 M16 in the process of being loaded; you can tell that this was a first model Berthier M07-15 before being converted to the M1916 type because of the fact that its bolt handle is the bent shape



During the interwar years, the Berthier M1916 would become the primary battle rifle of the French armies throughout the empire, relegating the Lebel 1886/M93 to a reservist and rear-guard role, except when used by grenadiers and snipers. However, the adoption of the FM 1924/M29 in 1929 brought about the need to adopt rifles using the new 7.5 x 54 mm round primarily for ammunition standardization. Two rifles, the Berthier 07-15 M34 and the MAS 36, were created and adopted to meet this need. Neither, however, would surpass the Berthier M1916 at the start of the Second World War. Although the MAS 36 would equip the elite frontline units of the French Army in the Norwegian and the May 1940 campaigns, the vast majority of French riflemen in metropolitan France during the campaign of May-June 1940 were still using the Berthier M1916. Furthermore, the MAS 36 was almost non-existent outside of metropolitan France (where it would serve as the primary rifle of the Vichy metropolitan army); French troops everywhere throughout the empire continued to use the Berthier M1916. It served as the main rifle of Vichy French infantrymen in the Gabon, Syria-Lebanon, Madagascar, Operation Torch, and Tunisian Campaigns, as well as in Indochina in 1940-41 and 1945. It was not until 1943, when the combined French forces of the Comité français de la Libération nationale (the CFLN government) were rearmed by American Lend-Lease, did the French infantry (outside Indochina) stop using the Berthier M1916 as their primary rifle.



The bayonets used on the Lebel rifle were also used with the Berthier rifle. The most commonly issued type was the M1886-15, shown here.





The M1886-15 bayonet in its scabbard





M1886-15 bayonet mounted on the Berthier M1916 rifle



Despite its strong impact on history, the Berthier M1916 remains a relatively forgotten rifle in terms of media representation, a fact most likely caused by its status as neither the primary rifle of World War One nor the most modern rifle in World War Two; while the Lebel 1886/M93 is always remembered as the standard firearm of French infantry in the First World War, the MAS 36 took a vastly overblown position in post-war memories and texts on the Second World War. None of the four World War Two first-person shooter video games to portray the French Army during World War Two had this rifle, not even Call of Duty 2: The Big Red One, the one that, with no excuse whatsoever, needed to use the Berthier M1916 and not the MAS 36. The rifle was also not portrayed in Battlefield 1918, a mod for Battlefield 1942 depicting the First World War (the only first-person shooter to do so), where only the Lebel 1886/M93 was used (alongside the Mousqueton M1916).

The Berthier M1916’s last frontline service as the primary issue battle rifle was during the Japanese coup in French Indochina on 9 March 1945. Afterward, it would continue to see service in the hands of supplementary reservist troops in the Indochina and Algerian Wars.







WW2 French Weapons 6: Mousqueton d’Artillerie de 8 mm M1916


The Mousqueton d’Artillerie de 8 mm Modèle 1916 was the primary rifle used by French support troops.



A full-length rifle was determined to be too cumbersome for certain troops by the French high command. It was decided that troops not designated for active frontline combat as riflemen should receive a shortened, carbine rifle.

The Berthier series of rifles didn’t begin with the full-length rifles used by French riflemen, but rather by three carbines used by various personnel in 1890. In 1892, the French decided to adopt one of them as the basis of a new carbine to be issued as the standard arm of all personnel not serving as frontline riflemen: the Mousqueton M1892.

When in 1916 it was decided to upgrade the standard M07-15 Berthier rifle to a five-round capacity from its original three-round magazine, the same decision was made for the Mousqueton M1892. Thus was born the Mousqueton M1916.



The sword bayonet M1892-15, the most common bayonet issued to Mousqueton M1916 wielders, and its scabbard.





Mousqueton M1916 with bayonet mounted



Like the standard Berthier rifles, the meat grinder of the Battle of Verdun required a constant steady supply of weapons. Older carbines and Mousqueton M1892 rifles were converted to the M1916 type, bearing the designation of Mousqueton 1892 M16 for example, assuming the converted carbine was the M1892 and not one of the three types of 1890 carbines. Due to the violence of the Battle of Verdun during this time period, weapons were often in short supply and anything retrieved from the front in working order was fair game as replacement parts; while the pictures I show are all of standard rifles and carbines, it is possible to find the strangest combination of parts from the time period.



French arms manufacturers usually marked their rifles with the manufacturer name and the rifle model number. This M1916 Mousqueton was made by MAS, the Manufacture d'armes de St-Etienne.





An ammunition clip being ejected from the bottom magazine hatch; the Mousqueton M1916 used the same 8 mm ammunition and five-round clips as the Berthier M1916 full-length rifle.



The Mousqueton M1916 would continue to be used as the standard firearm of support personnel throughout the Second World War. Where the MAS 36 and Berthier 1907-15 M34 weren't, the Mousqueton 1916 was the standard firearm of artillerymen, engineers, transport personnel, machine gunners, navy personnel, and ammunition carriers within squads up until the French were re-supplied by American lend-lease in 1943. More mobile units of light infantry also preferred it to the full-length rifles, including the mountain chasseurs, the infantry chasseurs, and the mounted cavalry chasseurs, though those fighting in Norway and northern France between April and June 1940 were already usually re-equipped with the MAS 36 rifle. The Mousqueton M1916 was also one of the primary rifles of Moroccan Goumiers in the Tunisian Campaign of 1942-1943, the Sicilian-Italian Campaign of 1943-1944, the liberation of Corsica in 1943, the conquest of Elba (Operation Brassard) in 1944, and the Western European campaign of 1944-1945.



This figurine of a French infantryman during the Second World War is using the Mousqueton M1916.





French chasseur alpin ski infantry using the Mousqueton M1916; he is dressed for the Norwegian campaign of April-June 1940.





These Free French marine artillerymen during the Battle of Bir Hakeim (1942) are carrying the Mousqueton M1916 as their primary firearm.



There is only one first-person video game that shows the Mousqueton M1916: the Battlefield 1918 World War One mod for Battlefield 1942, which has the weapon in the hands of pioneer/sapper troops.



World War One French engineer using the Mousqueton M1916 in Battlefield 1918





WW2 French Weapons 7: Fusil de 8 mm Modèle 1886/M93 "Lebel"


The Lebel 1886/M93 was the primary rifle of French riflemen during the First World War and continued to see service in the Second World War in the hands of grenadiers, snipers, and reservists.



The legendary Lebel rifle (Lebel 1886/M93) is arguably the most famous French firearm in history. Upon its adoption in 1886, the Lebel 1886 created a revolution in firearm technology that instantly put the French Army far ahead of other contemporary militaries.



The M1886 bayonet was the standard bayonet of the Lebel 1886/M93.





An updated bayonet, the M1886-15, is shown mounted on the Lebel.



The revolutionary aspect, however, was not the rifle itself. In 1886, French engineer Paul Vieille invented smokeless gunpowder; whereas previously guns when fired would create a lot of black smoke (thereby reducing visibility, accuracy, etc.), the new smokeless gunpowder eliminated all the problems of the previous black powder firearms. It became an immediate urgency to adopt a rifle capable of utilizing this groundbreaking technology. All in one historical shot, the smokeless powder, famous French Lebel 8 mm ammunition, and the Lebel rifle came into being. It’s little wonder that the Lebel 1886/M93 would overshadow its predecessor, the Berthier M1916, in historical memories of both the First and Second World Wars.

The Lebel 1886 received some minor modifications in 1893 that would give it the designation of 1886/M93, but by the start of the First World War the rifle was already almost thirty years old and far outdated. The other major nations, in particular the United Kingdom and Germany, had already adopted rifles using smokeless powder that outclassed the French Lebel 1886/M93, whose primary default consisted of its tube magazine. Whereas the Lee-Enfield and Gewehr 98 rifles could be reloaded five rounds at a time using handy stripper clips, the Lebel’s 8-round magazine capacity had to be reloaded round by round due to the awkward tube magazine. The French Army again tried to stay ahead of the times by developing and adopting the A6 Meunier semi-automatic rifle in 1910 as the Lebel’s replacement, but due to the start of World War One, only a handful of A6 Meunier rifles were produced and irregularly distributed during the war. Although the French would adopt and mass produce the RSC M1917 semi-automatic rifle, and although the Berthier M07-15 and M1916 rifles would be the official replacement of the Lebel during the war, it was with the Lebel 1886/M93 that the poilus of 1914 entered combat, and its service continued as the most well-known and most common of the French service rifles throughout the First World War.



The bolt is being opened; the placement of cartridges in the tube magazine is visible.



Already outdated in 1914, the Lebel 1886/M93 was ancient by the time 1939 arrived; nevertheless, it remained one of the primary rifles used by reserve units. By then, the French had already begun their process of updating their rifles to the new 7.5 mm ammunition; as a result of this rather hectic process, the French in 1940 found themselves with a confusing mix of primary-issue rifles. Whereas the British could universally count upon the Lee-Enfield SMLE and the Germans the K98k, depending on the French unit in question one would find the MAS 36 (7.5 mm), Berthier 07-15 M34 (7.5 mm), Berthier M1916 (8 mm), or Lebel 1886/M93 (8 mm) as the rifleman’s primary rifle. This of course doesn’t include the Mousqueton M1916 used by support infantry and units, or the various other irregularly-issued carbines and rifles for which there is little data, such as the MAS 36 CR39, RSC M1917, Lebel 1886/M93 R35, and even the 1874 Gras.



Detailed drawing of the APX M1921 scope, the scope used for sniper versions of the Lebel 1886/M93 in the Second World War



In addition to serving as a rifle used by reservist troops, the Lebel 1886/M93 also served in the frontlines in all units as the primary grenadier and sniper rifle of the French Army. This means that in every infantry section (squad), there was not only a primary rifleman’s rifle (MAS 36, Berthier 07-15 M34, Berthier M1916, or Lebel 1886/M93) and a primary supporting infantry carbine (Mousqueton M1916), but also a Lebel 1886/M93 in the hands of a grenadier. The grenadier fired the Vivien-Bessière rifle grenade (Tromblon VB); it was found during the Great War that the Lebel 1886/M93 was more resistant than the Berthier M1916 or future rifles to the strong recoil involved with firing the grenade, and so it remained in service for that role in the Second World War (although there are exceptional circumstances where the VB was fired by wielders of the other rifles; there’s a photo of a MAS 36-wielder using it in my WW2 French Weapons 1 article).



VB rifle grenade launcher, attached to the rifle, shown next to a VB rifle grenade and the grenade launcher's transport pouch





VB rifle grenade; the VB was a high explosive fragmentation grenade that utilized a timed fuse. After the fuse is ignited, the grenade would explode in 8 seconds. One or two of these could be loaded for a single shot.





To fire the VB rifle grenade, one loads the rifle with a normal cartridge and fires it; the bullet passes through the central tube of the grenade, forcing the striker against the primer and igniting the fuse. The pressure of the muzzle flash propels the grenade.



The Lebel 1886/M93 has had a relatively healthy amount of media portrayal. It of course appears in anything showing the French in World War One, including the Battlefield 1918 mod, as well as the upcoming game entitled Verdun.



Senegalese World War One infantry with the Lebel 1886/M93, as portrayed in a future installment of BF1918





The Lebel 1886/M93 as it will appear in the upcoming game Verdun



It also has had a healthy career in World War Two memories. The 1980 film “The Big Red One” shows it as the primary firearm in the hands of Vichy French troops during the Operation Torch landings. World War II Online: Battleground Europe also issues it to French grenadiers and snipers in their portrayal of the 1940 campaign.



Sniper with a Lebel 1886/M93 with APX M21 scope, as portrayed in World War II Online










Grenadier with a Lebel 1886/M93 and attached VB rifle grenade, as portrayed in World War II Online








The Lebel 1886/M93 continued to be used as a last-ditch reservist weapon in the Indochinese and Algerian wars, and would last see service in the hands of sailors, aviators, and guardsmen in the 1960s.



WW2 French Weapons 8: Grenade Fumigène Modèle 1916


The grenade incendiaire et fumigène automatique modèle 1916 was the primary smoke grenade and incendiary grenade type used by the French Army of the Second World War.



I don’t actually have much to say about the primary smoke grenade used by the French Army. It looks essentially like a bloated Gr Ma Of 15, and functioned in the same manner.








Also, here was the smoke grenade fired by the Tromblon VB.



The grenade fumigène mle 16 appeared in World War II Online: Battleground Europe.



The grenade fumigène M1916 as it appeared in World War II Online: Battleground Europe; it is using the M1935 fuze



WW2 French Weapons 9: Mitrailleuse de 8 mm Hotchkiss Modèle 1914


The 8 mm Hotchkiss 1914 was the primary French medium machine gun of the First and Second World Wars. Here it is mounted on the 1916 tripod.



The Hotchkiss 1914, like its comrade the Lebel 1886 M93, is a carry-over of the First World War. The primary medium machine gun of the French Army in both the First and Second World Wars, the Hotchkiss 1914 fired 8 mm Lebel ammunition.



Hotchkiss 1914 without the 1916 Hotchkiss tripod





WWI-era tanks often used the Hotchkiss 1914 as a primary armament, which continued to be the case during the Second World War with many of the machine gun turret FT-17 tanks.





French machine gun team in 1940



The Hotchkiss 1914, first conceived in 1895, was the pioneering weapon of the gas-operating reload system as well as the first reliable air-cooled weapons; its contemporaries, like the British Vickers and German MG08, were water-cooled. For a Great War weapon, the Hotchkiss 1914 was top-notch.



These French troops have the 1914 Hotchkiss mounted for anti-air duty.



France, however, had manufactured nearly 50,000 of the weapons during that time period, and because of the Hotchkiss 1914’s reliability, did not seek to replace them in the inter-war years. By contrast, the problems 8 mm Lebel round size encountered when used in machine guns were already noted well, while the notorious French light machine gun, the CSRG Chauchat 1915, was speedily entirely replaced by the FM 24/29 light machine gun.



These French machine gunners also seem to be using the rare Berthier 1907-15 M34 rifle as their primary rifle.



Thus, in 1939 France entered the Second World War with the Hotckiss 1914 still as its primary machine gun. This is not to say that the gun was unsatisfactory; unlike the Lebel 1886 M93, which had a serious flaw in its tube magazine design, the Hotchkiss 1914 had no glaring issues, except perhaps one.



24-round rigid clip; both the clips and bands were loaded into the left side of the gun and ejected from the right. They went in one way and out the other while being fired.





Ammunition box for the 24-round rigid clips





Interior of the above; some clips remain in the box





Another ammunition box of 24-round clips; this one opens in an alternate fashion from the above



The Hotchkiss 1914 was primarily fed by 24-round stripper clips. While not as ridiculous as the Italian Breda M37 20-round strips, this meant that the only way a French machine gunner could provide constant cover fire was with a secondary gunner constantly feeding the gun 24-round clips. Because there were normally three men working the gun, this wasn’t usually a problem; in the instances when there was only a lone gunner, however, which at times of war often happened, this could be a drastic shortcoming, rendering the machine gun perhaps even less effective at covering fire than a light machine gun. (In fact, the FM 24/29 light machine gun used by French troops in the Second World War actually held 25 rounds per magazine.) This was in sharp contrast to the primary German machine gun of the early war, the MG34, which fired from 75-round drum magazines, articulated belts of 50 rounds that could be linked to create larger belts or fired from a box (like a magazine), as well as 250-round belts issued to machine guns in bunkers.



Figurine portraying a French soldier with the 1914 Hotchkiss



The French realized this was an issue in the middle of the First World War, and in 1916 articulated belts of 251-rounds were issued and guns converted to be able to utilize them. Nevertheless, the 24-round clips remained more common throughout both World Wars.



This is the 251-round articulated band of cartridges.





The 251-round ammo belt came in boxes like these, where the belt would then be fed through the gun while the interior wheel of bullets in the box rotates to continue the feed.













In the Second World War, the Hotchkiss 1914 was prevalent throughout the French Empire. It served as the primary medium machine gun of the French Army, as well as one of the machine guns used by the Free French of 1940-1943, until French and Free French were combined and provided with American Lend-Lease replacements in 1943. In particular, it saw action in the Norwegian and French campaigns of 1940, the Syria-Lebanon campaign in 1941 on both sides, Operation Ironclad (the invasion of Vichy-held Madagascar), Operation Torch, and, notably, the Tunisian campaign. The Tunisian campaign signaled the end of the Hotchkiss 1914 as the primary machine gun of the French Army in the west, as it, along with all other French weapons except the FM 24/29, was allocated to reservist and supplementary troops for the Italian campaign as frontline units were issued American Browning .30 cal M1919 machine guns.



Lone French machine gunner (using the 24-round clip) during the Tunisian campaign of 1942-43, during which the re-Allied 1940-style Vichy French North African Army fought the more modern Italo-German enemy



However, the Hotchkiss 1914 remained the primary machine gun in isolated French Indochina, and as such its last battle as the primary machine gun of French forces was in the hands of the French Army in its final showdown with Imperial Japan in March 1945.



Dual-Hotchkiss 1914 guns on the M1926 mount using the 251-round bands





Same as above, except these Hotchkiss 1914 guns are loaded with the 24-round clips



In terms of media representation, the Hotchkiss 1914 has only been, as far as I know, in the Battlefield 1918 and Battlegroup 42 mods for Battlefield 1942 (the latter having borrowed it from BF1918). Strangely, the gun’s model was shown off and seems to exist for Call of Duty 2: Big Red One, but it failed to show up in the actual gameplay portion; instead, the Vichy North African Army ridiculously wields German MG42 machine guns in the single player Operation Torch map.






WW2 French Weapons 10: MAS 38 (pistolet mitrailleur modèle 1938)


Pistolet mitrailleur de 7,65 mm long modèle 1938



The MAS 38 submachine gun fired 7.65 mm Long-type pistol ammunition from 32-round magazines and was the primary French submachine gun of the Second World War. Contrary to the level of importance associated with that type of statement, this does not mean much at all.

Put lightly, the French high command in the run-up to the Second World War designated submachine guns as being of very low importance. Put less discreetly, the French Army of 1940 entered combat virtually submachine gun-less. The French infantry were riflemen and grenadiers, and, again thinking in First World War terms, the French high command relegated almost all small arms manufacturing to rifles at the expense of pistols and submachine guns.

If the list of French rifles used seems confusing (and I haven’t even gotten to the more obscure ones yet), the list of submachine guns used by the French is positively baffling. Even worse, every last one of these guns was used in such small numbers as to be completely unremarkable.



MAS 38 front sight



The vast majority of submachine guns in French stocks in 1940 were foreign-made, a testament to how little France’s war industry focused on submachine guns. The German and Austrian submachine guns were largely captured from Spanish Republican troops fleeing to the French border following the Spanish Civil War. These included 3,250 German Erma-Vollmer EMP guns, about 1,000 German Bergmann MP28 SMGs, about 200 German Bergmann MP34 SMGs, around 50 Austrian Steyr MP34 SMGs, and an unspecified number of MP18 SMGs from the First World War. All of these weapons were critically short of ammunition upon their capture, and so most remained in storage and didn’t see action in the French war effort. For example, of the 3,250 EMP guns, only about 1,000 were issued, and then each soldier only received about one spare magazine. This, however, was not too significant an issue, as the primary units to receive the EMP were corps francs troops, essentially small teams of raiding commandos used for quick lightning strikes in and behind enemy lines. Besides the captured German weaponry, the French also had about 300 Finnish Suomi M31 SMGs (150 issued to the northern group of armies) and 3,000 Thompson 1921 and 1928 models purchased from the United States. Of the latter, the vast majority remained in storage, a few in Morocco.



The MAS 38 had two rear sights that flip up depending on which you want to use.





Rear sight set for a distance of 100 meters





Rear sight set for a distance of 200 meters



By World War Two’s start, the French had designed four different submachine guns that would be used in the war. Two were test guns (the Petter M1939 and ETVS) of which only around 50 each were made. Another was the STA 1924 of which around 1,000 were manufactured and used in the Moroccan Rif War; the very few that remained in metropolitan France would be in the hands of certain troops defending the Maginot Line.

Now that the multitude of other submachine guns has been covered, it is now time to move onto the official arm: the MAS 38.



MAS 38 with strap attached



The MAS 38 was a tiny, eccentric firearm with an awkward bent d appearance, but it was also a very high quality weapon manufactured with only the highest quality materials. It was also a very accurate weapon. However, it was also known to have a slight tendency to jam. Its greatest weakness, however, was the new French 7.65 mm Long round it fired, common for it, the two prototype test SMGs mentioned previously, and the model 1935 pistols. This round was found to be grossly underpowered as a combat round compared to its contemporaries.



The 7.65 mm Long cartridge



The MAS 38 submachine gun was actually first created in 1935. It was adopted in 1938 (hence its designation), but due to industry’s focus on rifles and other weaponry, mass production of the gun didn’t begin until just before the German invasion of May 1940. As a result, only around 2,000 had been delivered and irregularly issued (very irregularly, and, unfortunately, because most documents were destroyed during the time period, it’s almost impossible to know exactly to which units they were issued; nevertheless, the number 2,000 still makes it the most common submachine gun issued to the French troops) to the French Army before the armistice in June.

For an army of 6 million, that number is nothing.

I cannot emphasize that fact enough. This gun was rare.

No, you don’t get it. It’s a game to find photographs of it being used in 1940. It is the Waldo of French weaponry. At the time of this writing, I only had one in my entire collection:



An Alpine group of corps francs troops. The soldier to the left has a German Erma-Vollmer EMP submachine gun, while the man kneeling has a captured German MG34 machine gun.



Did you see it? I didn’t think so. See the guy standing on the very right of the photograph? If you look closely, you’ll see the MAS 38’s small barrel in his right hand. I kid you not. It’s kind of cute peeking out like that, isn’t it?

What’s not cute is the extent to which video games have exaggerated its presence. I’m not even going to focus on this much, but to give an example, practically every other French soldier in Call of Duty 2: Big Red One uses this gun. You play through Operation Torch seeing this gun everywhere. I assume the reason for this is the same behind why the post-war MAS 36 was used: the developers of this game saw some cheap book list (as most books do) the MAS 38 as the primary French submachine gun of the war (which it technically was), assume it was common as dirt like submachine guns were in the other armies, and went out to make another silly video of themselves firing guns at a range (Call of Duty developers, in particular Treyarch, love showing off that way) to pretend they were doing actual research like they advertise.

This is all the more felonious because of the fact that submachine guns of any sort were extremely rare in the French North African Army at the time of its re-entry in the war in 1942. The French high command didn’t even bother to keep track of them, and as a result it is impossible to know how many submachine guns were actually in service. Of the small number in existence in North Africa, it can be assumed that a mix of the very few 1921 and 1928 Thompson guns that had been stored in Morocco, the very few left-over STA 1924 guns from the 1920’s, and whatever small number of MAS 38 submachine guns had been sent from metropolitan France were issued to and used by the troops during the Tunisia campaign. All of these guns would quickly be supplanted in number as the Americans gave the French more Thompson guns and the British sent the French Army in early 1943 Sten submachine guns.



MAS 38 magazine pouches



The MAS 38, however, was not finished. After the fall of France, production of the weapon continued until it fully equipped the metropolitan French Army of the armistice. Thus, beginning in 1941, this weapon became common for the Vichy mainland army. Unfortunately, save for the 1er Régiment de France, the entire army was disbanded following the German occupation of the free zone in November 1942. Thus, ironically, this French weapon would be in the hands of mostly German occupation troops and the traitorous Milice, the anti-Resistance, above-the-law militia founded by Joseph Darnand of the Vichy government in 1943. During the liberation of France, the MAS 38, like most French weapons, was thus on both sides of the conflict, Resistance and French Army forces (plus the 1er Régiment de France, fully equipped with the most modern French weaponry and uniforms, which had re-entered the war on the side of the Resistance in August 1944) taking them from the hands of German occupation troops, the Milice, and Vichy stockpiles.

[Alakazou]

Great topic. I was thinking about making a topic like that for pacific battle and army.

[Captain Pyjama Shark]

Yeah, you really know what you're talking about. Interesting read, can't get through it all now, I just skimmed over.

[Anonymous_Gamer]

A very passionate, shall we say, exibition of WWII French weapons, with info/pictures like this, its hard for the devs not to incorporate the French army, and its weapons, on various fronts, which im sure was your plan all along

[torenico]

awesome post.. +1

We only need Vehicles info.. tanks, trucks, cars, airplanes, and even ships..


This would give the devs something to think.. but thinking seriusly.

I think, you dint posted the SMG.. the one on FH1...

[Johannes]

Originally Posted by Anonymous_Gamer

A very passionate, shall we say, exibition of WWII French weapons, with info/pictures like this, its hard for the devs not to incorporate the French army, and its weapons, on various fronts, which im sure was your plan all along

Nah, I figured the devs were planning to eventually anyway. I write this stuff mostly to occupy my mind. I wasn't even planning originally to post it here, but then thought maybe I should. As you can see, the goal of the articles was mostly to inform, and although the weapons up until now have all been the ones that, in theory, would really be important for FH2, I plan on continuing to write about ones that probably will never see the light of day in any game since they're rather unimportant (like the Berthier 1907-15 M34 or Lebel 1886 M93 R35).

I think I did go a little harsh on the MAS 36 (admittedly it's my favorite weapon of the bunch) and MAS 38, but I felt someone had to hammer in the lesson that the Berthier 1916 existed and that the MAS 38 wasn't more common than soldiers' helmets like it is in Call of Duty 2: Big Red One.

Originally Posted by torenico

awesome post.. +1

We only need Vehicles info.. tanks, trucks, cars, airplanes, and even ships..


This would give the devs something to think.. but thinking seriusly.

I think, you dint posted the SMG.. the one on FH1...

I did post the SMG in FH1. It's the MAS 38, albeit with a somewhat inaccurate model.

Yeah, I was planning on writing about the vehicles way later, after I had finished the infantry stuff. I've also almost finished #11, the F1 defensive grenade, but haven't felt like finally finishing it these past few days. After that, I still have a ton more weapons to write about, like the Berthier 1907-15 M34 that's so often mentioned, the M1935A and M1935S pistols, the RSC 1918 (and 1917), the Lebel 1886 M93 R35, etc.

[Sir Apple]

Nice, interesting read.

[[130.Pz]W.Fuchs]

Rep for you Johannes, this is just awesome

[[79th]Sgt-D]

Nice work

I only noticed two little things :

- the 7,5 X 58 mm ammo was reduced to 7,5 X 54 mm in 1929 also because of copyrights of the 7,92 X 58 mm Mauser.

- The MAC 1924/29 LMG had never been issued to the french police forces (they had a modified version of the MAT 49 SMG, the MAT 49/54 as collective weapon - in France policemen are civilians, and thus can only shoot for self defense, although gendarmes belong to the military and are allowed to fire).



And the MAC 1924/29 is no more in dotation in the gendarmerie since 2007. Its removal put a final period to the 7,5 mm era, although I guess MAS 49 and MAC 1924/29 are still reserve weapons alongside with the MAT 49 SMGs, old FAMAS and several foreign assault rifles purchased between the MAS 49 and the FAMAS.

Yeah it seems that the french army uses through ages to keep rifles for decades. Napoleon used the Mle 1777 Mousquet, the Napoleon III's famous chassepot also remained in service for years, etc...



Mle 1777 infantry rifle



1866 Chassepot

[Johannes]

Originally Posted by [79th]Sgt-D

Nice work

I only noticed two little things :

- the 7,5 X 58 mm ammo was reduced to 7,5 X 54 mm in 1929 also because of copyrights of the 7,92 X 58 mm Mauser.

- The MAC 1924/29 LMG had never been issued to the french police forces (they had a modified version of the MAT 49 SMG, the MAT 49/54 as collective weapon - in France policemen are civilians, and thus can only shoot for self defense, although gendarmes belong to the military and are allowed to fire).



And the MAC 1924/29 is no more in dotation in the gendarmerie since 2007. Its removal put a final period to the 7,5 mm era, although I guess MAS 49 and MAC 1924/29 are still reserve weapons alongside with the MAT 49 SMGs, old FAMAS and several foreign assault rifles purchased between the MAS 49 and the FAMAS.

Yeah it seems that the french army uses through ages to keep rifles for decades. Napoleon used the Mle 1777 Mousquet, the Napoleon III's famous chassepot also remained in service for years, etc...



Mle 1777 infantry rifle



1866 Chassepot

Thanks!

Were the French really worried about the 7.5 x 58 mm copyright? Was the 7.65 mm long round used in the MAS 38 licensed from the US .30 Pederson cartridge?

Also, you are right about the French police, although the FM 24/29 was used by certain elements of it, such as the CRS, in the past according to armement reglementaire francais

I guess I should edit the last sentence of the FM 24/29 article to say:

"It remained in usage until recently in certain elements of the gendarmerie."

Mod want to help me out?