By the beginning of the First World War, the armies of all the warring states arrived with the small arms that would later be used in both world wars practically unchanged. By 1914, the countries that would become participants in the war were armed with all types of weapons that are still in use today: drum revolvers, semi-automatic pistols, repeating rifles, and machine guns.
All these types of weapons had already been tested during the Boer War, as well as the Russo-Japanese War. The “oldest” of the small arms models were revolvers, which by that time had already been in service for more than half a century. The first revolver of a design close to the modern one is the Colt-Paterson mod. 1836. It had a capsule lock, and the chambers of the drum were charged one by one, first with a powder charge, and then separately with bullets. By 1913, revolvers were everywhere in service, using powerful and easy-to-handle unitary cartridges. The same goes for rifles. Repeating rifles with a rifled barrel, loaded with a pack of cartridges at once, were first used in the Boer War, and by 1914 they had become standard equipment for every infantryman.
Rifle "Mannlicher" (Austria-Hungary, Austria)
For the first time, Mannlicher repeating rifles of 11 mm caliber with bolts that opened and closed without turning the handle appeared in service with the Austrian-Hungarian army back in 1885.
Mannlicher rifle
In 1888, a new model of 8 mm caliber chambered for a cartridge with black powder appeared (since 1890, cartridges were filled with smokeless gunpowder - and the initial bullet speed increased from 500 m/s to 625 m/s). The cartridge had a protruding flange at the bottom of the cartridge case. To avoid the flanges getting caught, the cartridges had to be stacked skewed. In this case, the pack could only be inserted into the magazine on one side, which created certain inconveniences. The rifle bolt had only one, quickly wearing out, combat protrusion, which was located at the end of the bolt. However, in 1888, the Mannlicher was adopted into service in Austria-Hungary, then in Bulgaria.
In 1895, Mannlicher introduced a new type of rifle. It had a bolt with a straight stroke without turning the handle, but with a significantly improved locking mechanism, consisting of a rotating combat cylinder with two lugs. The direct action bolt and stack clip significantly increased the rate of fire compared to other weapons of those years. When testing the rate of fire from the Mannlicher rifle, up to 30 rounds per minute were fired (without aiming, up to 50 rounds per minute). War 1914-1918 confirmed the great survivability of Mannlicher rifles mod. 1895. At the same time, a shortened and lightweight fitting and carbine of the same system were adopted in Austria.
Austrian soldiers in the trenches. Gas masks and Mannlicher rifles - standard equipment of the Austrian infantryman of the First World War
In 1935, the 8-mm Mannlicher rifle was adopted in Hungary, but with a rotating bolt. The stock of the weapon was divided by a steel bolt into two separate parts: a fore-end and a butt with a pistol-shaped neck, like a Lee-Enfield rifle. This ensured the strength of the stock.
Despite its advantages and original design, the Mannlicher rifle was not as widespread as the Mauser rifle. However, Mannlicher rifles were used by European armies until the end of World War II. Hungarian, Austrian and Romanian "mannlichers" with minor modifications were also used in the German Wehrmacht.
Lee-Enfield rifle (Great Britain)
During the First and Second World Wars, Lee-Enfield rifles were the main weapon of the infantry of the British Army, as well as soldiers of the British colonies, dominions and some allied countries.
Lee-Enfield rifle
These rifles appeared as a result of the modernization of the Lee-Medford rifle in 1896, as a result of which the barrel rifling changed significantly. This reduced overheating of the bore, which occurred due to the very narrow rifling of the old style. At the same time, cutting the barrel using the new technology was cheaper.
The new rifle, designated "Lee-Enfield" after the Enfield arms factory, was tested in the Boer War. Although it turned out to be more effective than the Lee-Medford rifle, both were inferior in rate of fire to the Mauser rifles in service with the Boers.
In 1902, a rifle was adopted for service, designated Mk. I. Its appearance is quite unusual: the barrel is almost completely covered by the stock. The magazine holds two clips of 5 rounds each. The rotating bolt locks the barrel with two lugs. The stock consists of two separate parts: a butt with a pistol neck and a fore-end, fastened with a longitudinal bolt. The rifle has small dimensions and weight, the sight and front sight are well protected from mechanical damage. At the same time, Lee-Enfield was cheap and durable.
Subsequently, in the rifle mod. 1902 minor improvements were made, resulting in several modifications. At first, rifles were designated by the word “Mark” (abbreviated Mk.) and a Roman numeral. Then rifles began to be designated by numbers. So, the Mk. I received index number 1 Mk. I.
By 1916, the most widely used model was the Lee-Enfield No. 1 Mk. III with simplified sights and magazine. This rifle was used until the end of World War II. The rate of fire of the weapon was such that the German soldiers, who first met infantry armed with Lee-Enfield on the battlefield, were sure that they came under fire from British machine guns.
The 36th Ulster Division of the British Army rises to attack during the Battle of the Somme, July 1916. Lee-Enfield rifle bayonets in a fixed position
In the 1930s the second (after No. 1 Mk. III) most popular modification appeared—No. 4 Mk. I. Features of this rifle and the similar No. 4 Mk II (created at the end of World War II) are a short stock that leaves the muzzle open, a simplified diopter sight and a fixed magazine.
In 1945, production of the shortened and lightweight “Lee-Enfield” No. 5 “jungle carbine” began. It featured a simplified sight, a barrel flash hider and a thick rubber cushion at the end of the butt. Neither the flash suppressor nor the airbag could reduce the recoil force to an acceptable level. In total, until August 1946, about 100,000 units of these weapons were produced. After this, the carbine was withdrawn from the weapons stock due to its unsuitability for use.
In general, the Lee-Enfield rifle was considered one of the most successful types of infantry weapons. Only rifles No. 1 Mk. III in England, India and Australia, about 3 million were produced. These rifles have been in use in the British Army since the mid-1950s. replaced by L1 A1 automatic rifles. But even after this, the Lee-Enfield sniper modifications were in reserve until the 1970s. And in armies and armed forces of various types around the world, Lee-Enfield rifles were used until the mid-1980s.
Rifle "Mauser" mod. 1898 (Germany)
In 1885, the German gunsmith P. Mauser, who, with the assistance of his older brother Wilhelm, organized an armory, developed a 9.5-mm magazine rifle with a sliding bolt with a rotation when locked. In 1887, P. Mauser received an order from the German army to produce rifles adapted for the 7.92 mm cartridge. Subsequently, the design of the rifle underwent several minor upgrades, and in 1898 its most famous model appeared.
Rifle "Mauser" mod. 1898
The rifle is designed for a standard German 7.92 mm cartridge and is distinguished by a simplified bolt design, the absence of a barrel protective casing, and an accelerated method for filling the magazine. The pack clip is inserted into the magazine at any end. The barrel bore is locked by symmetrically located three bolt lugs. Disassembly and assembly of the shutter is carried out without the help of any tools. The safety lever has three positions: “fire”, locking one trigger (for disassembling the bolt) and locking the trigger together with the bolt.
Since 1923, the reorganized Reichswehr was equipped with the 98b carbine, completely identical in length and weight to the rifle mod. 1898 The weapon was equipped with a simplified sight. After expending the last cartridge from the magazine, the bolt did not close, which signaled the need to fill the magazine.
German infantry company armed with Mauser rifles mod. 1898, in a captured Belgian city, 1914
Design of the Mauser rifle mod. 1898 turned out to be very successful. The rifle was used in two world wars and was in service for a long time in more than 20 countries in Europe, Asia and South America. Mauser rifles were produced in many European countries; the total production volume is not known exactly, but it probably exceeds 20 million units.
Anti-tank rifle "Mauser Tankgewehr" M 1918
The Armenian army was the first to experience the power of the newest type of weapon - the tank, so German engineers were the first in the world to begin designing an infantry anti-tank weapon, lighter and more maneuverable than a standard field gun, and effective for hitting targets moving quickly across the field. German engineers began the development of this weapon with ammunition.
Anti-tank rifle "Mauser Tankgewebr" M 1918
The invention of the German T-Patrone cartridge of 13 x 92 mm caliber was a turning point in the development of small arms. Weapons experts agree that it was on the basis of the German cartridge that the most common large-caliber cartridges .50 “Browning” and 12.7 mm DShK were later created.
At the end of 1917, engineers began designing weapons for their 13-mm cartridge. Already in January 1918, the first prototype of the T-Gewehr (unofficial name: “elephant gun”) was tested under the supervision of the army command. In March 1918, a rifle under the designation “Mauser Tankgewehr” M 1918 was already used at the front.
The Mauser Tankgewehr M 1918 rifle is a single-shot weapon with a longitudinally sliding rotary bolt, similar to the bolt of the Mauser rifle mod. 1898. The reinforced PTR bolt has four locking lugs: two in the front of the bolt and two in the rear (the Model 1898 rifle has only two lugs). The weapon is equipped with a wooden pistol grip and folding bipod from the MG 08/15 machine gun.
By the end of 1918, it was planned to produce 30,000 of these rifles. There is information that the order was half completed, and of the 15,000 rifles produced, only about 4,500 reached the front. Since March 1918, each infantry battalion of the German army received one rifle; from September of the same year, it was planned to equip each infantry company with weapons of this type (one rifle per company).
The use of Mauser Tankgewehr M 1918 rifles in combat revealed their insufficient effectiveness. Thus, according to some reports, the losses of the French army in tanks during the attack at Conto in 1918 from German anti-tank rifles amounted to only 1%. Despite their good armor penetration, the Mauser rifles had insufficient armor-plating lethality. The wear resistance of the barrel also turned out to be low.
Crew of a Mauser anti-tank rifle at a firing position
The Mauser PTR was not equipped with a muzzle brake or shock absorber on the butt. The high recoil of a shot threatened to seriously injure the shooter, so he was asked to place a folded overcoat between his shoulder and butt to fire. Purely psychological discomfort—the shooter’s fear of sharp recoil—seriously reduced shooting accuracy.
After the war, most of the Mauser Tankgewehr M 1918 rifles ended up in Great Britain.
By 1933, the newly organized Wehrmacht was armed with about 1000 M 1918 rifles. Until the end of World War II, these weapons were used as training weapons in the rear units of the army, and in 1945, according to some information, they entered service with the Volkssturm.
In 1940, the Finnish army purchased 100 Mauser M1918 anti-tank guns from Great Britain. Finnish engineers tried to remake the rifle to chamber the 13.9 mm caliber from the British Boys rifle, which was also in service in Finland. However, the conversion experiment was unsuccessful. In the Finnish army, the M 1918 rifles remained in service until 1944, although there is no information about the combat use of these weapons. In addition, according to some reports, a batch of Mauser M 1918 rifles ended up in units of General Franco’s army and were used in the civil war of 1936-1939. in Spain.
Monstrous war - monstrous guns
Industry gradually adjusted to the needs of the front and began to supply the necessary weapons. The guns, which were so heavy that they were mounted directly on the rails along which they moved, stood out especially for their monstrousness.
One such cannon with a caliber of four hundred millimeters in 1917 buried a seemingly impenetrable German dugout alive with shells weighing up to a ton in a few shots. The soldiers were unearthed only twenty years later.
Of course, Germany and its allies were defeated not by new tanks and guns, but primarily by production and economic advantages - for example, before the end of the war, for every 3,177 British tanks, there were only 21 German tanks. But there were also French cars.
The First World War was a terrible event, in which millions died, several empires collapsed and horrific weapons were used. Of course, all this faded when World War II came, but that's a completely different story.
Mosin rifles mod. 1891 and 1891/1930 (Russia, USSR)
After the unsuccessful war of 1877-1878. In Russia, the question of re-equipping the army with the latest small arms was raised. Captain S.I. took up this problem. Mosin - since 1882, head of the tool workshop of the Tula Arms Plant named after. Peter I. The rifle of the Belgian designer L. Nagan, which had a number of original technical solutions, was chosen as a prototype. In 1885, during tests, the Nagant rifle showed a good rate of fire - up to 25 rounds per minute.
Mosin rifle
In 1889, Mosin created a rifle chambered for a “three-line” caliber (7.62 mm) with a sliding bolt. The combat cylinder was a separate part of the bolt. The rifle was loaded with a single-row clip of 5 rounds.
The rifle underwent comparative tests together with the original Nagant rifles. In April 1891, Emperor Alexander III approved the decision to adopt Mosin rifles. Mosin rifles cost the Russian treasury almost two times less than Nagant rifles.
In 1891, Russian arms factories launched the production of three models of Mosin rifles: infantry, Cossack and dragoon, which had the same design and differed only in weight and size. An infantry rifle was sighted together with a bayonet; in battle, shooting was carried out only with a bayonet attached. The Dragoon rifle had a detachable bayonet, but the Cossack rifle did not include a bayonet.
The first “baptism of fire” of Mosin rifles took place during the Russian-Japanese War (1904-1905). They demonstrated great survivability and reliability, were easy to use, and their disassembly and assembly were carried out without the use of special tools. However, the inconvenience of a permanent bayonet was noted. Over time, its fastening weakened - the wobbly bayonet interfered with aiming and reduced the accuracy of the battle.
Serious modernization of the rifle mod. 1889 were subjected to in 1910 after the adoption of a new cartridge with a pointed bullet, which had an initial speed of 850 m/s. A sight was developed for the new ammunition for firing at a distance of more than 2000 m. The stock began to be strengthened to prevent splitting due to increased recoil. Mosin rifles mod. 1910 were the main infantry weapon of the Russian Imperial Army during the First World War, and then the Red Army during the Civil War.
Russian infantry goes on the attack with fixed bayonets. Only one type of bayonet was produced for this weapon - needle
The Mosin rifle underwent another major modernization in 1930. Designers E.K. Kabakov and I.A. Komaritsky created a new bayonet for it with an improved latch. The fastening of the barrel and stock was also improved, the sighting bar was regraded from steps to meters, and the front sight began to be protected by a cylindrical muzzle guard.
For firing from a Mosin rifle mod. 1891/1930 7.62 mm rifle cartridges with light, heavy, armor-piercing (B-30), armor-piercing incendiary (B-32), sighting and incendiary (PZ) and tracer (T-46) bullets were used.
Rifle mod. 1930 became more technologically advanced and consisted of only 42 parts instead of the initial 70. At the same time, the Mosin rifle retained its main drawback - a permanent bayonet. Nevertheless, it was produced in the Soviet Union until 1944 and was used on the battlefields of the Soviet-Finnish and World War II. The Mosin rifle was produced in huge quantities, according to some sources, it exceeded 12 million units.
Colt M1911 - legendary quality
The legendary pistol, which still has a “crowd” of fans, is used as a personal weapon among the military and police. This pistol is especially popular in the USA. The disadvantages of the “American” include its large weight and size and small magazine capacity (7 rounds). However, reliability, ease of shooting and, of course, appearance make it a worthy pistol.
After use in the First World War, the Colt acquired a new shape for the rear part of the handle, the mainspring stop was also changed, the trigger protruded less and the length of its stroke was reduced. In a word, we tried to make it better and more versatile.
The M1911 has 8 variants and 8 copies, this undoubtedly speaks of the authority of this “barrel” and its popularity among a significant number of operating countries.
Fedorov automatic rifle mod. 1916 (Russia, USSR)
Russian designer V.G. Fedorov is rightly called the “father of automatic weapons.” He created the world's first automatic weapon, which was put into service during the First World War, and his book “Automatic Weapons,” published in 1907, for a long time remained the only published work on this topic.
Fedorov automatic rifle mod. 1916
Having experimented with powerful 7.62 mm cartridges from the Mosin rifle, in 1913 V. G. Fedorov created an automatic rifle chambered for an independently developed 6.5 mm cartridge (in the absence of domestic 6.5 mm ammunition, a Japanese cartridge could be used "Arisaka") The weapons department in 1913 decided to order 200,000 of these cartridges for testing. However, the rifle mod. 1913 was not accepted for service. The reason was significant - the First World War began.
In 1916, V. G. Fedorov made significant changes to the design of the rifle mod. 1913. He shortened the barrel, equipped the rifle with a pistol grip, and installed a detachable box magazine for 25 rounds. The resulting model was very close to modern assault rifles. In Russia, this new type of weapon was called an assault rifle.
The automatic rifle uses the recoil energy of the barrel during its short stroke. The shutter is locked by two symmetrical swinging cylinders. The USM allows for both single and automatic fire. The rifle barrel is covered with a protective casing.
During the First World War, only about 200 units of Fedorov assault rifles were manufactured. In the winter of 1916, they were armed with submachine gunners who took part in the fighting on the Romanian Front. Due to their small numbers, they did not play a significant role. Russian machine gunners spoke favorably of their weapons, noting their high reliability and good accuracy of fire at short distances.
After the revolution of 1917, Fedorov was appointed director of the Kovrov weapons factory. As the People's Commissar of Armaments BL states in his memoirs. Vannikov, Fedorov’s assault rifle was shown to Stalin several times, but this did not allow its mass production to begin. By mid-1925, its production was discontinued. According to some reports, the machine gun was officially in service until 1928.
Outlandish new items - tanks, airplanes, flamethrowers and combat gases
A war unknown to those times also unfolded in the air - the first wooden airplanes went into battle. They carried out reconnaissance and adjusted artillery fire, and also manually dropped bombs, leaflets and even metal arrows that pierced the heads of soldiers on the ground.
Aviation so amazed yesterday's peasants that they began to shoot at it with everything they had, not even paying attention to insignia - many pilots on all fronts died due to friendly fire. It got to the point that the soldiers were generally forbidden to shoot at any aircraft, and for protection they were offered to simply hide.
New armored vehicles - tanks - showed themselves in all their glory at the end of the war, frightening enemy soldiers and helping to destroy their machine-gun nests. We wrote about the first English and German tanks earlier, so we won’t dwell on this in detail.
first tanks
It is necessary to mention flamethrowers - monstrous weapons that literally burned out dugouts, trenches and other defensive structures. But it was not easy for the flamethrowers themselves - as soon as the soldiers noticed such an enemy, everyone started shooting at him. And the cylinders with the mixture could detonate, turning the already not very lucky soldier into a torch.
But, of course, the most famous weapon of the First World War was combat gases. There are several interesting points associated with them. Firstly, they were so feared that their combat use was banned even before the start of the war. The second point is that although the Germans are considered pioneers in this matter, combat gases were first used against them - by the French. True, then they sprayed tear gas, which proved to be completely ineffective.
But it was the Germans who first used chlorine to suffocate the enemy. At the same time, they circumvented the convention on the prohibition of poisonous gases, taking advantage of an inaccuracy in the wording - it was forbidden to use projectiles with poison, but they sprayed gas from cylinders.
After the first relative success, opponents quickly figured out how to protect themselves from poisonous gas, so in general, poisonous substances were more of a demoralizing weapon. The sight of the poisoned soldiers was so terrible that one American general, on pain of execution, forbade shouting about a gas attack - no matter whether it actually happened or not.
Rifle "Springfield" mod. 1903 (USA)
In 1903, the United States adopted a new cartridge .30-03 (cartridge caliber .30 model 1903), which was distinguished by a large powder chamber and the absence of a rim on the cartridge case. The bullet of the new cartridge had greater penetration and accuracy. Already in 1903, a repeating rifle was put into service, created by specialists from the Springfield Armory enterprise for the new ammunition.
Rifle "Springfield" mod. 1903
Structurally, it is similar to the Mauser rifle mod. 1898. The Springfield rifle has a rotating bolt of longitudinal movement, the barrel bore is locked by two front lugs and one rear one. There is a safety catch on the bolt. The weapon is equipped with a 5-round magazine loaded from a plate clip. The earliest rifles had a sector sight designed for use with blunt bullet cartridges.
In 1906, the Springfield .30-06 M 1903 rifle was adopted for service under the new .30-06 cartridges with a pointed bullet that had a higher initial velocity. The shape of the chamber, as well as the design of the sight, have been changed.
The experience of the First World War proved that an army of thousands received fairly cheap and effective mass-produced weapons.
In 1929, a modification of the M 1903 A 1 appeared with a pistol neck stock and a front sight protected by a cylindrical muzzle guard. During the Second World War, a modification of the M 1903 A 3 was created, characterized by the location of the diopter sight behind the receiver window and a stock with a straight neck. The sniper model M 1903 A 4, which appeared later, was equipped with a mount for an optical sight.
Serial production of Springfield rifles was also carried out by Rock Island Arsenal. Production ceased in 1919 (about 350,000 rifles were produced), until 1939 it produced more than 1.53 million rifles.
One of the first US combat units sent to Europe in 1917 to participate in the war was the Rainbow Division. The armament of American soldiers consisted mainly of Springfield rifles mod. 1903
The adoption by the US Army in 1936 of the M 1 Garand self-loading rifle (produced at Springfield Armory) had little effect on the rate of production of Springfield rifles, and with the entry of the United States into World War II, their production increased. In 1940, she began assembling rifles using components from Springfield Armory. In February 1942, the Smith-Corona enterprise, which previously produced typewriters, was connected to production. Until 1944, more than 1 million Springfield rifles were produced, 238,000 more. The total production volume was about 3.2 million rifles.
Springfield rifles were one of the main types of small arms of the US infantry until the end of World War II, and the M 1903 A 4 sniper modification was used during the Korean War.
Springfield M1903 - American fake
The Springfield M1903 is based on the Mauser 98 rifle. A number of experts consider the Springfield to be a parody of its predecessor - with a worse effective firing range (550 m) and a smaller caliber (7.62 mm), but the American model has less weight. Despite many similarities, the Springfield was used in fewer countries than the Mauser 98.
“Springfield” M1903 has 6 modifications, including those that are used in sports disciplines; moreover, it is these rifles that are made with greater precision in the manufacture of parts. Since 1942, variants of the Springfield rifle began to be equipped with optical sights instead of the usual front sights.
The Springfield was used as a sniper rifle in the United States until 1969, after which it began to be used as a ceremonial weapon for honor guard companies. However, fans and gun collectors continue to buy examples of this rifle.
Rifle "Lebel" (France)
French army in the second half of the 19th century. was the first in the world to adopt a serial rifle of a reduced caliber (less than 11 mm), and later introduced a pointed bullet. However, by the beginning of the First World War, leadership in this area gave way to a lag, and by the beginning of the Second World War, the situation in the field of equipping infantry with small arms was characterized as unacceptable.
Rifle "Lebel"
In 1886, an infantry rifle designed by a special military commission chaired by Colonel Lebel was put into service with the French army. The ammunition used was the latest 8-mm cartridges with smokeless powder, which had good accuracy and strong penetration. Lebel rifles were lighter than most foreign counterparts. The most significant disadvantage of the weapon was the inconvenient, slow-loading (one cartridge at a time) tubular magazine of the under-barrel type.
Rifles "Lebel" mod. 1886 are a hand-loaded bolt action weapon. The bolt lugs lock the barrel directly behind the cartridge head.
The bolt handle sticking out to the side created inconvenience: it increased the size of the rifle and caught on clothes. And although the more successful Lebel-Berthier rifle with a familiar magazine design was later adopted in France, by the beginning of the First World War, about 50% of the rifles with which the French infantry were equipped still had inconvenient tubular magazines. And, despite the fact that they held more cartridges than, for example, German Mauser rifles, the French shooters did not have an advantage in rate of fire.
A column of French army soldiers in full gear on the march. The Lebel rifles were long and heavy, which further complicated the position of the infantrymen, already overloaded beyond measure, during foot marches.
After the war, Lebel rifles mod. 1886, as they were withdrawn from the line infantry units, they were mothballed in warehouses as reserve stocks. Some of them were converted to the new 7.5 mm cartridge. After the outbreak of World War II and the announcement of general mobilization in France, supplies were removed from warehouses and distributed to recruits.
Rifle "Lebel-Berthier" (France)
In 1890, the French army adopted the Berthier cavalry carbine chambered for an 8-mm cartridge from the Lebel rifle mod. 1886. The design of the carbine was radically different from the rifle. It had a convenient middle 3-round burst-loading magazine, and the bolt handle in the locked position was lowered down, rather than sticking out to the side, like a rifle. The Berthier carbine was one of the lightest, most compact and easy to use of all carbines of that time.
Rifle "Lebel-Berthier"
In 1907, the standard Lebel rifle mod. 1886 was radically reconfigured. She received the middle magazine and receiver from the Berthier carbine. The stock began to be made from a single piece of wood. The cartridge also changed - in 1905 a new 8-mm pointed bullet with a high initial velocity appeared. The new model used a bolt group, trigger mechanism and barrel from “Lebel” mod. 1886, so the new rifle received the designation “Lebel-Berthier” M 1907.
The rifle turned out to be very long and massive. The abandonment of the under-barrel magazine made it possible to speed up the reloading of the weapon, but the magazine capacity was too small. A solid, uncoated bullet, varnished with copper, often broke off the rifling when passing through the bore and lost balance in flight. The bullet material was also not the cheapest: an alloy of copper and zinc.
The French army approached the First World War with a serious lag in the field of infantry armament. The modernization of the Lebel-Berthier M 1907 rifle in 1915, which consisted only of improving the design of sighting devices, did not save the situation.
The next modification of the “Lebel-Berthier” M 1907/15 M 16 was a rifle mod. 1907/15 The serial production of this modification was mastered, as well as the conversion of all three-shot rifles that were in service to its standard.
A French soldier has breakfast at Royal Platz. A bicycle stands nearby, with a Lebel-Berthier carabiner leaning against it. Reims, April 1, 1917. In a few days, a grandiose Allied operation will begin in this area (going down in history as the “Nivelle massacre”), in which the Allied forces will lose up to 350,000 people killed and wounded in a month of fighting (180,000—French, 160 000—the British and 5,000 soldiers were lost by the Russian Expeditionary Force in France)
In 1931, a new 7.5 mm wafer cartridge became standard rifle ammunition. In 1934, the 7.5 mm Lebel-Berthier M1907/15 M 34 rifle appeared. It was a universal weapon similar to the German 98k carbine. The rifle was shorter and lighter than previous models and had a middle magazine for 5 rounds, which did not protrude beyond the dimensions of the stock.
In addition, a massive conversion of old rifles for new ammunition was organized. Until May 1940, the French, Manufacture Nationale d'Armes de Chatellerault (MAC) and Sodete Alsacienne de Constructions Mecanique (SACM) managed to supply several tens of thousands of such “alterations” to the army.
8-mm cartridges and rifles for them were used in large quantities by soldiers of the Vichy Army, Resistance fighters and soldiers of the Free French Army until the end of World War II.
World War I rifles
During the First World War, it was the hand-loading rifle that was the most important infantry weapon. The quality, reliability and manufacturability of these weapons, first of all, depended on the volume of production of this type of weapon by enterprises of the warring countries, as well as the losses that were inflicted on enemy infantry with its help.
Mannlicher rifle mod. 1895
Austria-Hungary
It was Germany's main ally against the Entente, and had in its army a rifle designed by Ferdinand von Mannlicher, model 1895, 8 mm caliber (cartridge 8x50 mm M93 (M95). Its main feature was a longitudinally sliding bolt, which closed and opened without turning the handle. Such a device increased its rate of fire, however, it also had the disadvantage that it was more sensitive to dirt. It was loaded with five cartridges in a pack, which was inserted along with them into a box-shaped magazine, and which fell out of it after they were fired. shooting. Thanks to these design features, it was ahead of all other rifles of the participants in the “Great War” in its rate of fire. In addition, its bullet also had a good stopping effect. Not very long and not too short, this rifle was also the lightest among all other rifles and therefore it was less tiring for the shooter.The same system was adopted by the Bulgarian army, and after it in Greece and Yugoslavia. Even the army of Qing China was armed with rifles of the Mannlicher design, albeit an earlier model from 1886, which fired cartridges filled with black powder! The Czechoslovak Corps in Russia, which consisted of prisoners of war who expressed a desire to fight as part of the Russian army against the Austro-German troops, also had them in their arsenal.
The main thing that military specialists of the Russian Imperial Army did not like about this rifle was the rather large window in the receiver in the bottom plate of the magazine, through which, as they believed, dust should have entered it. In fact, thanks to him, both garbage and dirt that got inside the store also easily fell out of it, which was not observed with our same “three-line”, in whose store so much dirt often accumulated that it stopped functioning. Of course, if the weapon was regularly cleaned, this would not happen, but in combat conditions it was not always possible to care for the weapon as prescribed by the regulations.
In 1916, with all the above-mentioned advantages, the troops of Austria-Hungary nevertheless abandoned the Mannlicher rifle in favor of the German Mauser rifle, which was more convenient for production in difficult wartime conditions. It is believed that such a circumstance as the possibility of unifying the weapons of these two warring countries played an important role in this decision.
Due to its high fighting qualities, the Mannlicher rifle was considered a valuable and very prestigious trophy. Ammunition for captured Mannlicher rifles was mass-produced by the cartridge plant in Petrograd, as well as ammunition for many other captured, as well as foreign systems, such as Mauser and Japanese Arisaka rifles supplied to Russia. During the Second World War, during the Battle of Moscow, this rifle was used by both sides: they were used by second-echelon Wehrmacht troops and units of the Moscow militia, which were armed with outdated weapons of various foreign brands.
Great Britain
In Great Britain, during the First World War, the army was armed with a repeating rifle by the Scot James Lee, produced by an arms factory in the city of Enfield, which is why it was called “Lee-Enfield”. Its full name is No. 1. Mk.I or SMLE is a “short repeating Lee-Enfield rifle” and it was indeed shorter than all other rifles of the countries participating in the First World War, so much so that it occupied an intermediate position between a rifle and a carbine. Therefore, it was also not heavy and easy to carry, which was helped by the following feature of its design: the fore-end and barrel lining made of wood covered its entire barrel right up to the muzzle. The bolt of Lee's design was opened by turning the handle, while it was located in the rear, which was the most convenient for the shooter. In addition, it had a smooth stroke, which is why trained soldiers could fire 30 rounds per minute from it, although 15 was still considered the standard rate of fire. A detachable magazine for 10 rounds, that is, twice as large, also played a certain role in this. capacity than other rifles and carbines of that time. It is interesting that the magazine of this rifle could only be equipped attached to the weapon, and it had to be disconnected only for cleaning, maintenance and repair. However, it was possible to carry not one, but several pre-loaded magazines at once and, if necessary, quickly change them!
On early Lee Enfields, the magazine was even attached to the stock with a short chain so that it would not be removed or lost. And they were loaded with the bolt open through the upper window in the receiver, one cartridge at a time or from two clips of 5 cartridges each. The only, one might say, noticeable drawback of the first modifications of SMLE was the too high labor intensity of manufacturing. In order to simplify production, in 1916 they adopted a simpler version of the SMLE Mk.III* rifle, which did away with such clearly unnecessary and outdated parts as a magazine cut-off (which allowed it to be fired as a single-shot rifle, loading cartridges one at a time) and a separate sight for shooting volley fire, they refused. The SMLE Mk.III rifle remained the main weapon of the British army and the armies of the member countries of the British Commonwealth (Australia, India, Canada) until the very beginning of the Second World War. The 7.71x56 mm cartridge adopted for it also had good fighting qualities, so it is hardly surprising that it successfully went through both world wars and was also produced in the post-war years, in particular, until 1955 in Australia! But in general, we can say about it that this rifle was successfully executed both in technical terms and in terms of ergonomic requirements. It is believed that it was released in the amount of 17 million copies and this is a very eloquent figure!
Lee-Enfield SMLE Mk.III rifle
Germany
As the main enemy of the Entente, Germany not only prepared for war for a long time, but also tried to arm its army with first-class small arms, and it succeeded to the fullest.
Sliding bolt of a Mauser rifle.
Consistently improving the rifle designed by the Mauser brothers, which was adopted by the German army back in 1888, the designers eventually received the 1898 model “Gewehr 1898” chambered for a 7.92 mm wafer cartridge. It had a pistol neck stock, very convenient for marksmanship, a magazine for five rounds that did not protrude beyond the stock (which also made it easy to carry) and a bolt with a reloading handle in the rear, which made it possible for the shooter not to tear it off from the shoulder. It was characterized as a reliable and unpretentious weapon, with good accuracy. Therefore, it was preferred by many armies of the world, and was mass-produced in Spain. As a result, the production volume of rifles of this system turned out to be so large that it was distributed very widely, and ended up in China and even Costa Rica.
The German army also used in limited quantities automatic rifles of the Mexican General Manuel Mondragon, which were produced for the Mexican army in Switzerland, but eventually ended up in Germany, where they were mainly used by aviators.
Italy
The Italian infantry during the First World War was armed with Mannlicher-Carcano rifles, which were officially called Fucile modello 91. This rifle was created at the same time as the Russian three-line rifle from 1890 to 1891. Interestingly, it would be much more correct to call it the Paraviccini-Carcano rifle, since it was designed by the engineer Carcano from the state arsenal in the city of Terni, and it was adopted by a commission headed by General Paraviccini. Along with it, new cartridges came into service, having a caliber of 6.5 mm (6.5x52), with a sleeve without a rim and a rather long and relatively blunt-pointed bullet in a jacket. But the name of the famous Austrian weapons designer Ferdinand von Mannlicher is connected with this rifle only by the fact that it used a burst-loading magazine, similar to Mannlicher’s, but highly modified. In all other respects, the Carcano rifle has very little in common with the Mannlicher rifle. An integral box magazine for six rounds in a pack, which continues to be in the magazine until all the cartridges are completely used up. As soon as the last cartridge is fired, the pack falls down through a special window due to gravity.
It is interesting that the Carcano system pack, unlike the Mannlicher pack, has neither a “top” nor a “bottom” and therefore can be inserted into the magazine from any side. The Italians liked the rifle, and they went through both world wars with it, just like we did with our three-line rifle. The caliber of the rifle was smaller compared to other rifles, so the Italian soldier was able to carry more ammunition and fire more shots. Its magazine also contained not five, but six rounds, which again was an advantage for Italian shooters. True, its bolt, which had a straight stroke without turning the handle, had the same drawback as the Mannlicher bolt - that is, it was highly sensitive to contamination and therefore required constant maintenance. The bayonet for it was supposed to be a bladed one, but in the Italian army carbines with a folding, permanent needle bayonet attached to the muzzle of the barrel became widespread. Experts believe that the Italian 6.5 mm cartridge turned out to be too low-power, and the rifle was unnecessarily complex, but not very effective. In general, it is classified as a rather mediocre example, although the Italians themselves liked it.
Russia
Since a lot has been said here about the three-line rifle, it makes sense to talk about those models that were in service besides it. Since during the First World War the Russian industry could not cope with the production of three-line rifles in the required quantity, the army used numerous captured samples, as well as Berdan rifles No. 2 of the 1870 model, taken from warehouses and firing cartridges with black powder. The shortage of rifles was made up for by foreign orders. Thus, Arisaka rifles of 1897 and 1905 were purchased from Japan, and three-line rifles were purchased from American companies Westinghouse and Remington. But from the Winchester company they received rifles of their own design, model 1895, chambered for the Russian 7.62 mm cartridge, with a longitudinally sliding bolt, which opened and closed using a lever, which was one part with the trigger guard - that is, the famous “brace Henry". The main drawback was the large downward travel of the lever, which made reloading the rifle in a prone position very inconvenient. For example, having folded the lever down, it was necessary to insert a clip into the grooves of the bolt and load the magazine, but all this time the lever was in the down position!
Winchester arr. 1895 in the process of loading.
It should be noted here that in a weapon every little thing matters. So, for example, the mass of a pack of cartridges is 17.5 grams, but the mass of a plate clip for our rifle is only 6.5 grams. But this means that every hundred rounds of ammunition when loaded in batches during production has an extra weight of 220 grams. But a thousand packs will already be more than two kilograms of high-quality steel, which needs to be smelted, then processed and then delivered to the positions. That is, on an army scale, this is already whole tons of steel!
Winchester arr. 1895 in the process of loading while standing. As you can see, it took quite a lot of space to pull the lever down!
Romania
Romania was an ally of Russia, but its infantry was armed with Austro-Hungarian Mannlicher rifles of the 1892 and 1893 model. They had a bolt with a twist handle and two calibers: first 6.5 mm, and later 8 mm.
USA
Having converted the German Mauser to a 7.62 mm caliber, it was also produced in the USA under the designation “Springfield” M1903, and the blade bayonet was taken from the earlier American Krag-Jorgensen rifle M1896. It is noted that in the hands of a trained shooter this rifle distinguished by high rates of marksmanship. Its own model, which entered service in 1918, was the automatic rifle designed by John Moses Browning BAR, produced in quantities of more than 100 thousand copies. It was a heavy automatic rifle with a replaceable magazine capacity of 20 rounds, later converted into a light machine gun.
Türkiye
Turkey was a member of the Quadruple Alliance and it is not surprising that the German Mauser M1890 was in service, only the caliber of this rifle was different, namely 7.65 mm, and the cartridge itself was 6 mm shorter than the German one. The 1893 Mauser did not differ in anything except its caliber from the Spanish model. Finally, the model of the Mauser M1903 rifle differed from the base model only in certain details.
France
As for France, it is she who holds the championship in the field of armament with a rifle chambered for cartridges filled with smokeless powder - the Lebel rifle mod. 1886. A new 8-mm caliber cartridge for this fundamentally new gunpowder was created using the 11-mm old cartridge case for the Gra rifle as a basis, and the all-tombak bullet was developed by Colonel Nicolas Lebel, who was then the head of the French shooting school. Well, the rifle itself was developed by a commission led by General Tramont, and Colonels Bonnet, Gras and the gunsmith Verdin played a decisive role in its creation. But still, being a collective brainchild, the new rifle received its unofficial name “Fusil Lebel” after the same Colonel Lebel, who invented the bullet for it and supervised its testing among the troops.
The first "smokeless" rifle "Fusil Lebel".
The main feature of the new rifle was a tubular under-barrel magazine, activated by the movement of the bolt, but it had to be loaded one cartridge at a time, so its rate of fire was lower than that of rifles from other countries participating in the First World War. The rifle was also very long and therefore long-range, and it was also equipped with a very long bayonet with a T-shaped blade profile and a brass handle, which made it very inconvenient for soldiers in the trenches. In 1889 it was modernized, but overall it did not become better after that. True, in some cases, targets from it could be hit at a distance of 2000 m, so the Kurds - who in mountainous conditions were forced to shoot from afar (especially at mountain sheep!), gave several English ten-round rifles for one lebel! But the outdated magazine, inconvenient loading and the danger of puncturing the capsules with the tips of the bullets located in this magazine one after another were the reason why the French were simply forced to look for a replacement during the war. And they found it, although many such rifles remained in their army even during the Second World War!
The new rifle, known as the Berthier rifle mod. 1907, initially went to the colonies and, first of all, to Indochina, where it was tested in battle. Its main difference from the Lebel rifle, despite the fact that both their cartridges and caliber were the same, was the presence of a box magazine for only three cartridges. In 1915, when there was a shortage of old rifles in the army, the production of Berthier rifles was significantly increased, and the rifle itself was somewhat improved, although it retained the old three-round magazine. The new weapon was called the rifle mod. 1907/15, and it was used in the French army until 1940. But it only received a five-round magazine in 1916. Therefore, the French military can rightfully claim the title of “most conservative”, although it was the French army in the First World War that was again the first to adopt a self-loading automatic rifle designed by Ribeirol, Sutte and Chauch under the designation RSC Mle.1917, and they were supplied to the troops more than 80 thousand pieces. As for the Berthier rifle, it was also produced in the USA by Remington, but it was supplied only to France.
Japan
In Japan, the Colonel Arisaka Model 1905 rifle or “Type 38” was in service. By design, it was a kind of hybrid of a Mauser rifle with a Mannlicher rifle, which used a 6.5 mm caliber cartridge. Due to this, its recoil was insignificant, which made it easier for short Japanese soldiers to use the rifle. And, by the way, it was precisely for the Japanese cartridge that the first automatic rifle and the first machine gun were created in Russia, since the power of the 7.62 mm domestic cartridge turned out to be excessive for this weapon!
Arisaka rifle mod. 1905
But with an attached blade bayonet, the Arisaka rifle had approximately the same weight as our three-line rifle. But a blade bayonet was more useful than a needle bayonet, although it is also true that puncture wounds are more dangerous. But without a bayonet it weighed only three and a half kilograms, while the Russian one was somewhat heavier, which means it was more tiring for the shooter. You can also take more cartridges for a Japanese rifle, but, most importantly, what was found out immediately after the Russo-Japanese War is that bullets from Japanese 6.5 mm rifle cartridges, all other things being equal, caused more severe wounds than Russian 7.62 mm . Since the center of gravity of the Japanese bullet is shifted to the end, when it hits living tissue, it begins to tumble and inflicts severe lacerations.
Thus, all rifles of the First World War can be divided into two parts: those that were mainly intended for bayonet strikes - the French Lebel and the Russian “three-ruler” (which even had a straight butt neck for this purpose, more convenient in bayonet combat), and those for which fire combat was preferable - rifles of the Germans, Austrians, British and Japanese (with a semi-pistol neck shape of the butt and a charging handle in the rear). As a result, the latter had a certain advantage in rate of fire, and the soldiers armed with them fired more bullets per minute than their opponents, and, as a result, could inflict heavy losses on them, although, on the other hand, they were less convenient in bayonet combat, in features, short rifles of the British!
