THE FRENCH CONNECTION II

THE FRENCH CONNECTION II

The Legend of Fifi Lebel

by Tom Power

Historical fact is always a more interesting subject than the conceptions that we derive from an inaccurate portrayal of events. American military history has frequently been distorted by such misconceptions. The purpose of this story is to help clarify a specific period of time for the reader.

The picture (right), taken from a World War I war bond poster shows a U.S. Doughboy at his position behind a Model 1914 Hotchkiss machine gun such is discussed in this article

Twice in our short history as a nation, American forces have utilized French arms to drastically effect the course of world events. The first occasion is very familiar to most arms collectors, it being the use of

French muskets by the American Continental Army during the Revolution against King George III in 1775. It has been estimated that some 80,000 of these French regulation military muskets were imported, embracing all models from that of 1717 to 1763. The supply on hand at the close of the Revolution was sufficient, with captured British weapons, to supply the needs of the small United States Army for a good many years. In the year 1795, production got underway at the Springfield Armory under the supervision of David Ames. In that year, 245 muskets, copied from the French Model 1763 musket were manufactured, thus making the Model 1763 the grandpa of all U.S. military arms.

The second occasion occurred more than 140 years later in 1918, when again the United States Army used a French regulation arm to change the course of history for a second time. This event is much less famous than the former and most folks' conception of what happened is contrary to the facts.

When the United States entered WWI, its Armed Forces were sent into the field with a great lack of preparation, and without the most modern equipment for warfare. The American Expeditionary Force (A.E.F.) had in its arsenal only about 300 Colt Vickers .30 cal machine guns, and a few obsolete Colt Model 1895 .30 cal "potato diggers". The German Army had over 12,000 Maxim 8mm Model 08 machine guns built by DWM in Berlin. Once again, the Americans turned to the French for arms. In this case, the weapon in question is the French Hotchkiss 8mm Model 1914 machine gun.

The picture at right above shows the complete gun, mount and carriage assembly with traces extended, ready to be hitched to the horse

The popular belief, gained mostly from the movies, is that Model 1915 Colt-Vickers and Model 1917 Browning machine guns were used by Americans throughout the war, but the facts are as follows:

The Colt Model 1915, "The Grand Old Lady of No-Man's Land", saw a lot of early action, but only in limited numbers, there being only about 1,000 guns shipped to Europe during the course of the war.
A total of only 1,168 Model 1917 Browning machine guns were delivered to Europe before hostilities ceased in November 1918, and the first recorded use of the BMG in combat did not occur until September 26, 1918, toward the end of the war. The Browning Automatic Rifle, BAR, did not arrive until October 1918.
On the other hand, the United States purchased from the French government arsenal a total of 5,255 Model 1914 Hotchkiss 8mm machine guns that were used to arm the A.E.F. as early as April 1918. It was the Hotchkiss 1914 in the hands of the American Doughboys, the 7th Machinegun Battalion U.S. 3rd Division, that literally stopped the German advance cold at the Battle of Chateau-Thierry on May 27th, 1918, and it was all downhill from then on for the Kaiser's legion.
The Hotchkiss remained the primary medium-heavy machine gun used by the A.E.F throughout the summer of 1918 when most of the decisive battles of WWI were fought, and only replaced by the late arrival Browning in the fall of 1918. Again, simple facts running contrary to popular conceptions. And again, history is repeated: 1775 - France armed Americans to expel British forces from the colonies, 1918 - France armed Americans to expel the Germans from France. Two significant French connections to United States military history and arms. The Model 1914 Hotchkiss was used by twelve U.S. divisions in France in 1918.

Here, it seems appropriate to inject a brief biography of Benjamin Hotchkiss, the 1914's namesake, and his many accomplishments in the field of 19th Century arms development. Benjamin B. Hotchkiss was born in Watertown, Connecticut in 1826. He worked as a gunmaker in Hartford during the 1850's and 1860's where he helped to design many of the famous Colt revolvers. He also had designs accepted by the U.S. Government for barrel rifling and a new percussion fuse. He also designed the Hotchkiss bolt action repeating rifle Model of 1879, and sold the rights to manufacture this weapon to Winchester in 1877.

The picture at left above shows the complete assembly with the traces folded back

Hotchkiss first went to France in 1867, because post Civil War America gave very little employment opportunity to firearms designers. This condition lasted well into the 20th Century with even geniuses the likes of Hiram Maxim and John Browning, going to Europe in order to find interest in their designs.

Among Hotchkiss' design accomplishments in France were a new metallic cartridge for the French government, and a 5-barrel revolving cannon that was manufactured in four variations; a 37mm and a 40mm version for fortifications, plus a 47mm and a 57mm version built for naval use. All very formidable weapons. The 37mm gun was nearly 6 feet long and weighed 1,200 pounds!

In 1885, Benjamin Hotchkiss died and Lawrence V. Benet, the son of General Benet, Chief of Ordnance U.S.A., became Chief Engineer of Hotchkiss et Cie, Paris. This forged a strong connection between U.S. and French arms development.

It was Hotchkiss and Company of Paris, through the efforts of Benet, that developed and produced the prototype of the Model 1914 in 1895, the first gun ever manufactured to incorporate a gas piston in a cylinder under the barrel. Overheating was an early problem for this air-cooled weapon, so Benet increased the mass of metal around the chamber and increased the cooling area tenfold by adding five donut shaped fins which formed a readily recognizable feature. The model 1900 was a success and evolved into the Model 1914 with very few changes.

The picture below right shows the gun and cart with the traces removed and ready for hand
operation)

One would also find the name Hotchkiss et Cie, Paris on the breech-loading 1-1/2" rifled gun used by the U.S. Seventh Cavalry at Wounded Knee, South Dakota in 1890. A black mark on the name of a Yankee gun designer, who had much more to his credit than just that one incident of massacre.

Now to describe the weapon itself. The Model 1914 Hotchkiss Machine Gun is gas-operated and air-cooled. The caliber used by the A.E.F. in Europe was 8mm Lebel, the Model 1886 French Service Cartridge. Some were built in 7mm x 57 cal. for the Mexican Government of Porfirio Diaz, and Villa's rebels managed to get their hands on some of these during the Mexican Revolution. At the end of WWI, some Model 1914's were converted to .30-06 government caliber, but quickly became obsolete. MGM movie studios ended up with some of these converted to fire blank. If you can stomach "Hanoi Jane" Fonda, and if you see the movie, "Old Gringo" with Gregory Peck, you will see one in action from the church tower.

The gun weighs in at a hefty 54 lb. 11 oz. unloaded, is 51-1/2" long, and has a barrel length of 30½". The tripod mount adds another 80 pounds. The weapon fires at a cyclical rate of 400 to 500 rounds per minute. The 8x50r Lebel Cartridge gave a muzzle velocity of 2,375 f.p.s. to a full jacket boat-tailed spitzen bullet that weighted 198 grs., as much wallop as a U.S. .30-40 Krag cartridge. The combination of a relatively light rifle cartridge in a relatively heavy, gas-operated machine gun had one great benefit - accurate long-range firepower. The weight also proved to be a handicap in advancing the gun, but wartime photos show that soldiers solved this problem by mounting the guns on assorted wheeled conveyances.

The picture above left shows the Model 1914 Hotchkiss ready for action. The massive gas/cylinder assembly is located below the barrel. The mount is also visible showing elevation contact and the 360° rotating base

Simplicity always translates into reliability in action, and the Model 1914 is indeed simple. The lateral motion of the piston-actuated operating rod (all one piece) works the sprocket feed mechanism to draw the strip clip of ammunition from left to right through the action, and functions the bolt mechanism which itself is very similar to that on the Winchester Lee Straight Pull Rifle, but here a lug was forced up out of the bolt to engage in the body. It fires from the open-bolt position. One large mainspring, a small trigger return spring, and a simple trigger assembly are all the rest of it. Field stripping takes less than a minute and does not require a lot of practice like the AK-47, a direct descendent.

In terms of reliability, the record speaks for itself and is not to be confused with that of the totally unreliable French Model 1918 Light Machine Gun C.S.R.G. or "Chauchat" that was also purchased at the same time by the U.S. That gun was quickly discarded by members of the A.E.F. as useless. On the contrary, the 1914 Hotchkiss had the well-deserved reputation for exceptional reliability. Lt. Col. G.M Chinn, U.S.M.C. records in the "Machine Guns" how two Hotchkiss guns dug in 140 yards behind the crest in a position near hill 304 fired for 10 days and nights in June 1916 during the defense of Verdun. Each gun fired over 75,000 rounds without failure.

(The picture at right is a close up of the U.S. Model 1917 Machine Gun Clinometer. This tool permitted the gunner to set elevation in degrees to fire upon targets that were not in sight)

The heavy machine gun is only as good as its mount. Even Sylvester Stallone playing Rambo would find it very difficult to fire a Model 1914 Hotchkiss from under his arm. Gun and mount are a perfectly matched team. The gun's 80 pound tripod mount has 360º of rotation and is extremely stable. This mount provides a platform for very accurate, long-range fire. If the range was known, enfilade fire could be poured onto a position at extreme distance. U.S. Marine Corps Machine Gun Company Commander, L.W.T. Waller related in a report, "...some 700 to 800 yards away from the edge of a small wood, several companies of German infantry launched an attack on an adjacent Marine unit. The Hotchkiss guns were on the German left flank. The target was long and narrow - less than half the German unit reached he shelter of the woods." Sixty percent casualties at 750 yards would qualify as accurate and effective by any standard.

The basic design patented by Hotchkiss and Company in 1895 is still in wide spread use today, more than 100 years later, in every gas-operated combat weapon, and its descendants include the German MP-44, the Russian AK-47, and even the venerable M-1 Garand, M-1 Carbine, and M-14 rifles. These all share with the Hotchkiss the same basic design principle, only the operating rod of the Model 1914 weights in at 8½ pounds, the weight of a whole Garand M-1 rifle.

To the left - Fifi from the "giving" end; to the right - Fifi from the "receiving" end.

"It is more blessed to give than to receive"

The accuracy and dependability of the Hotchkiss in the hands of the soldier of the A.E.F, America's best, proved much more than the Imperial German Army could handle, and the tide of war quickly turned in favor of the Allies. Along with the Model 1903 Springlfied Rifle, the Model 1897 Winchester Trench Shotgun (the use of which the Germans protested to as "barbaric"), and the colt Model 1911 .45 cal service pistol, the Model 1914 Hotchkiss Machine Gun cal. 8mm proved to be the final element of weaponry necessary to put the German Army "on the ropes" in seven months following four long years of tedious and debilitating warfare, and to force an Armistice in November of 1918.

The Model 1914 Hotchkiss gun that is pictured in this story was preserved as a war trophy for many years at an American Legion Post in Llano, Texas, probably by soldiers who used it in the Great War. About 30 years ago, after the old soldiers passed away, the gun was sold to an individual who "cleaned her up", and gave her the nickname of "Fifi Lebel". After thirty plus years of tender loving care and a few new parts, it is a fully functional weapon, not a "dewat" (Deactivated War Trophy), and is registered as a Class III weapon with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. It is fully transferable to any law abiding U.S. Citizen over 21 years of age upon application to B.A.T.F. and purchase of a $200 Transfer Tax Stamp.

In the accompanying photos, "Fifi" sits atop a U.S. Model 1917 Machine Gun Cart. These horse drawn conveyances were used to transport heavy guns, mounts, and ammo to the front, and could be easily converted into hand operated gun carriages. The gun is mounted on the cart in a manner that could be called "field expedient". With 130+ pounds of gun and mount, plus all the ammo that is required to feed a machine gun of this capacity, it would have been necessary for soldiers to devise such a method to easily move the gun from one position to another without disassembly. Off the mount, the Model 1914 was useless.

The Model 1917 Machine Gun Cart was the last horse-drawn conveyance used by the U.S. Military, and therefore, represents the end of the era of the horse as a practical instrument of war. These carts are indeed rare as most were broken up with the advent of motorized transport. The cart pictured here, Serial #102988, is in very good condition, and shows more than half of the original olive drab paint job.

(he picture at left shows the right hand side of the receiver with the serial number and (faintly the date of manufacture, 1918

So, now as the centennial of "The Great War" approaches, and we all become more aware of the equipment used in that conflict, the reader can add "The Legend of Fifi Lebel" to the mix of what he knows about the arms of the A.E.F. in Europe in 1918. And, as a result, gain an understanding of how Americans, in seven months, settled a fight that had been on-going in Europe for four long years. History repeatedly proves that when the United States Armed Forces become involved in a conflict, and are given the right equipment and total command, they will make short work of any foe that is foolish enough to get the U.S. into it. Even as I write this article, this fact is again being proved true in Afghanistan.

The picture at right shows the left side of the receiver with manufacturer's name, patent number, and calibre markings legible

On a more personal note, one of my fondest memories of everyone's friend, Charlie Schreiner, comes from the YO Ranch machine gun shoot in March of 2001 when Charlie sat back behind the line with a big smile while "Fifi" devoured every round of live 8mm Lebel ammo that we could feed her. All he had to say was his customary "Wonderful, that's just wonderful!" - a fitting tribute to the Legend of Fifi Lebel.