French guns & machineguns.

[Panzerknacker]

Post here all the info you got about France guns, artillery,machineguns of ww1 and ww2.

please help...I dont have much :)

http://www.corpsecandle.com/WWIIRolemaster/Hotchkiss%20Mod%C3%A8le1914.jpg

[Ardee]

Are you looking for photos, info, what? I know somethings about the 1940 arms - e.g., French used a large variety of rifles of rifles - the MAS mle 36 was the standard "on the books," but was probably not (I'm writing by memory here) the most numerous. They used the Lebel 1986/15 as the standard rifle for the VB rifle grenade launcher, etc.

I'd thought there was a thread here about French arms, but I'm not seeing it in the index. You can start on-line here: http://armesfrancaises.free.fr/les%20armes.html
and here: http://www.secondeguerre.net/articles/armes/index.html

[Panzerknacker]

Are you looking for photos, info, what? I know somethings about the 1940 arms - e.g., French used a large variety of rifles of rifles - the MAS mle 36 was the standard "on the books," but was probably not (I'm writing by memory here) the most numerous. They used the Lebel 1986/15 as the standard rifle for the VB rifle grenade launcher, etc.


Looking for All, photos, ammunition , bring it on.

[tankgeezer]

An oldie, and fairly obscure, Mitrailleuse. Later 1800's multi barreled weapon. Was never taken seriously. (probably designed by the same guy who came up with the ChauChat.)

[Panzerknacker]

Interesting, multibarrelled but nor rotary barrels right ?

[tankgeezer]

Interesting, multibarrelled but nor rotary barrels right ?
That is correct, stationary barrels, stacked pepper box style, a magazine of cartridges was placed in the breech area,basically loading all the barrels at once,the mechanism was cycled, and the weapon would fire all the shots in succession(I believe) until the ammo was expended. I'll see if there is a pic of the muzzle.

[Panzerknacker]

Interesting, actually i think it was more practical than the imfamous Cho-cho. Probably it jammed much less. :mrgreen:

[Ardee]

Hi Panzerknacker,

I'll try to remember to pull something together for you over the weekend, but admit I have a lousey memory for such things. If I don't produce at least a little bit early next week, pls nag me by PM. I'll try NOT to duplicate info from the two web sites I posted, and will try to find more sites (at least re WWII), to avoid needless ptyping and posting of images.

In the mean time, here's a little info on one interesting weapon: the Canon d'Infanterie de 37 modèle 1916 TRP. The image below is linked from the Wiki site, but that site really doesn't give much info.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Puteaux_37mm_gun2.jpg

What I find interesting about the gun is its reputation for accuracy: it was, in fact, France's weapon of choice for dealing with German snipers during WWI, as well as for their own "sniping." Once the French had located a German sniper, they would bring up one of these, and one shot generally solved the problem. In WWI, the weapon had no wheels, and was also known as a trench mortar. That probably made it more flexible for moving about the trenches, but its mobility was probably something of a draw back. The wheels were added either in 1918 or post war; the shield was not always used. The weapon was the basis of the US M1916 howitzer and the Japanese Type 11 infantry gun. The Poles bought some from the French, and deployed them mostly on its eastern borders with the USSR. France, Japan, Poland and the US all used these weapons in WWII as well.

Another comment about the sniping: the Germans respected Britian's snipers during WWI, but were contemptous of French skill -- at least so far as sniping with rifles goes. Was dismal French performance with due to lack of skill/training, or due to a preference to this gun? Dunno.

Speaking of sniping, this what the French used as their sniper rifle in both World Wars: the lebel mle 1886/93, with an APX 1916 scope.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/81/206724202_274aabb122_o.jpg

And with that, I'll toss another link at you: a thread I started at another forum...

http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?t=145961

[Panzerknacker]

Hi Panzerknacker,

I'll try to remember to pull something together for you over the weekend, but admit I have a lousey memory for such things. If I don't produce at least a little bit early next week, pls nag me by PM. I'll try NOT to duplicate info from the two web sites I posted, and will try to find more sites (at least re WWII), to avoid needless ptyping and posting of images.

In the mean time, here's a little info on one interesting weapon: the Canon d'Infanterie de 37 modèle 1916 TRP. The image below is linked from the Wiki site, but that site really doesn't give much info.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Puteaux_37mm_gun2.jpg


Thanks for your contribution , incidentally I was reading today that a Puteaux 37mm was emplaced between the "V" engine of Some Spads.


Speaking of sniping, this what the French used as their sniper rifle in both World Wars: the lebel mle 1886/93, with an APX 1916 scope.


Did that straight bolt handle colided with the scope in that type of mountings ?

[Panzerknacker]

Some details of the early Hotchkiss gas operated MG.

http://i29.tinypic.com/2qs3p1x.jpg

http://i32.tinypic.com/17stx0.jpg

http://i31.tinypic.com/10pqee1.jpg

http://i25.tinypic.com/23t38nl.jpg

http://i30.tinypic.com/21342r.jpg

http://i25.tinypic.com/xlc9ic.jpg

[Ardee]

Did that straight bolt handle colided with the scope in that type of mountings ?
The scope was mounted offset to the left. I've never fired a gun with a scope mounted this way, and never fired a bolt action rifle, period. But I would assume the offset mount was how the designers avoided potential collisions?

I forgot about looking for more photos....

[Panzerknacker]

The scope was mounted offset to the left.


Oh, I see, like some british sniper rifles of WW1.

[Panzerknacker]

Interesting video showing how the Hotchkiss heavy multibarrel machinegun worked, not quite like the Gatling.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkOP8Lwdmgg