In the 1st World War, the British army was equipped with excellent small arms, which were fully consistent with the nature of the fighting. The British Lee-Enfield rifle was one of the best in the world and surpassed the rifles of all other countries in terms of magazine capacity. The British troops were highly saturated with automatic weapons (mounted and light machine guns), which were capable of creating an insurmountable lead barrier for enemy infantry. The officer's weapons were also well-developed, reliable and powerful; A feature of British revolvers was the presence of a turning frame - this scheme provides a fairly high reloading speed, comparable to that of revolvers with a cylinder that flips to the side. The British army, prone to tradition and conservatism, was characterized by an almost complete rejection of a new type of weapon - pistols, which were supplied (and even then in very limited quantities) only to those types of armed forces where their combat use was almost completely excluded.
7.71 mm Lee-Enfield rifle No. 1 Mk-3 mod. 1907
Caliber, mm.303 British (7.7x56 R)
Length, mm 1132
Barrel length, mm 640
Weight without cartridges, kg 3.96
Magazine capacity, 10 rounds
The main weapon of the British infantry during the 1st World War - the Lee-Enfield repeating rifle - in its original form was put into service in 1895 and was a modernized version of the 7.69 mm (.303) Lee repeating rifle -Metford" model 1888. The modernization consisted mainly of a barrel change (the Lee-Metford had a barrel with seven segmental rifling, while the Lee-Enfield had five deeper rectangular rifling). This became necessary due to the adoption of cartridges with smokeless powder (cordite): when firing, the gentle rifling of the Metford system wore out very quickly. Since both rifles were fired with cartridges of the same caliber, a different caliber was used for the Lee-Enfield rifle cartridges. symbol caliber - 7.71 mm. The new rifle was equipped with a device for filling the magazine with cartridges using two clips. New system was tested by combat in the hands of British troops during the Anglo-Boer Wars of 1899–1902 in South Africa, and showed a number of serious shortcomings, especially in comparison with Mausers (mainly of the 1888 model), which were used by drills with great success. But the British quickly learned from their mistakes, and already in 1903 they adopted a new rifle, which had a revolutionary concept for that time - “.303 caliber, Rifle, Short, Magazine, Lee-Enfield, Mark I” (abbreviated as SMLE Mark I), that is, a short magazine rifle, Enfield system. The revolutionary nature of the idea was to create a rifle intermediate in length between a short cavalry carbine and infantry rifle, equally suitable for cavalry, infantry, and other troops. Such a sound idea was met with hostility by a lot of military theorists, who argued that such weapons would be equally bad for both infantry and cavalry. Having suffered a fair amount from the Boer Mausers, which were significantly superior to the English Lee-Metfords and Lee-Enfields in practical rate of fire and firing range, these theorists demanded the adoption of the “English Mauser”, the development of which in 1910 was entrusted to the same arsenal in Enfield. At the same time, the development of Lee-Enfield rifles went on in parallel, and in 1907, with the introduction of clip-on loading, the SMLE Mk.III rifle was adopted for service; in addition, earlier samples of both “long” and short Lees were converted for clip-on loading -Enfieldov. By 1914, the British finally managed to perfect their Mauser, which they put into service under the designation P-14 (Enfield Rifle, Pattern 1914). However, the outbreak of the First World War did not allow the P-14 to be put into service mass weapons, which the British did not regret later. The experience of fighting in the 1st World War showed that well-trained British soldiers performed excellently with SMLE Mk.III rifles, which, in turn, did not confirm the worst expectations expressed; moreover, the rifles turned out to be undoubtedly successful and popular among the troops. The only significant drawback of the SMLE Mk.III was the high labor intensity of production, so in 1916 a simplified version of the rifle was adopted under the designation SMLE Mk.III *, in which such clearly redundant and outdated parts as the magazine cut-off and the sight for salvo fire were abandoned. The SMLE Mk.III rifle remained the main weapon of the British army, as well as the armies of member countries British Commonwealth(Australia, India, Canada) until the beginning of the Second World War.
Lee's Design Shop is one of them characteristic features of this rifle. This is a box-shaped detachable magazine that holds 10 rounds of staggered ammunition. The magazine latch is located inside the trigger guard. In this case, the magazine can only be loaded when attached to the weapon, and is detached only for cleaning, maintenance and repair. On early Lee-Enfields, the magazines were even attached to the stock with a short chain. The magazines are loaded through the top window in the receiver with the bolt open, one cartridge at a time or from 5-round clips. The guides for the clips are made in the form of a special “bridge” in the rear of the receiver. Until 1916, all Lee-Enfield rifles were equipped with a device called a magazine cut-off, located on the right above the magazine and, when turned on, blocked the flow of cartridges from the magazine into the chamber. Thus, the shooter could fire from his rifle as if from a single shot, saving the supply of cartridges in the magazine for the most hot moment battle. The absurdity of such a design is quite obvious, but the conservatism of some British officials is well known to this day, and therefore only the military need for mass production forced the British to remove such a “necessary” element of the weapon design. The bolt group is also a Lee design, but with improvements from the Enfield Arsenal. The bolt handle is located at the rear of the bolt and is curved down. The bolt is locked onto two lugs at the rear of the bolt, behind the cutouts in the receiver. This locking somewhat reduces the length and working stroke of the bolt, which, coupled with a conveniently located charging handle and a relatively large-capacity magazine, provides a high practical rate of fire - trained British soldiers could fire up to 30 aimed shots per minute! During the First World War, such a rate of fire more than once gave the advancing Germans the impression of machine-gun fire - and against them there was only infantry with rifles. Distinctive features of the Lee system bolt are a non-rotating combat cylinder, screwed into the body of the bolt and having a large protrusion on the right front part that hides the extractor tooth. Another feature (and some disadvantage) of the Lee bolt is the non-interchangeability of the bolts between different rifles of the same model, which required individual fitting of new bolts for each specific rifle. Trigger mechanism– striker-fired, mounted in the bolt. The firing pin is cocked when the bolt is closed. The safety is located on the left side of the receiver, at the rear, and is conveniently operated with your thumb right hand without changing the grip and grip of the weapon. All Lee-Enfields have a two-stage trigger, with a warning, which contributes to good shooting accuracy.
Sights on SMLE No.1 include a front sight, closed on the sides by the protrusions of the muzzle sleeve, and an adjustable rear sight with a “V”, and later a “U”-shaped slot, mounted on the barrel. In addition, until 1916, all rifles were equipped with a so-called “volley sight”, designed for units to conduct multiple salvo harassing fire at ranges from 2200 to 3500 yards (2000–3200 meters). This sight had the form of a folding diopter rear sight, made on the same axis with the safety lever, and a range-adjustable front sight located on the left of the forearm. With the advent of machine guns in armies at the beginning of the 20th century, the idea of such fire became outdated and the British happily abandoned unnecessary parts to simplify and reduce the cost of production. The SMLE stock has a very characteristic shape, with a straight neck of the butt, in the rear part turning into a weakly defined semi-pistol grip. The butt had a metal butt plate with a door that covered the accessory compartment. On the right side of the butt there was a bronze disk embedded in it, on which was stamped the designation of the unit (regiment) to which this rifle belonged. Unlike Mausers, there was no real benefit from such a disk. On the SMLE Mark I - Mark III and No.1 Mk.3 rifles, the fore-end with the barrel guard completely covered the barrel, giving the weapon a very characteristic snub-nosed appearance, disrupted by a stump protruding under the muzzle for attaching a bayonet.
Thanks to the use of a weighted barrel, the rifle was distinguished by increased accuracy of fire. The average deviation at a distance of 183 m for 5 shots did not exceed 102 mm. For bayonet fighting, the rifle was equipped with a bladed bayonet. Lee Enfield was considered one of the best rifles of its time throughout the world; It was readily purchased by different countries, and therefore Lee-Enfield spread widely throughout the world. These weapons were also used in Russia: during the Civil War, the British sent Lee-Enfields to arm the White Army, and the Red Army soldiers captured these rifles as trophies from both the White Guards and the British interventionists.
Rifle sample 14 (Ross-Enfield or Enfield-Mauser)
1915
(UK and US)
This weapon was developed in Great Britain on the eve of World War I; The bolt and magazine design of the rifle was based on the Mauser system. This sample contained all the technical achievements of that time, so it is not surprising that the tests were completed very successfully. Therefore, it was decided to re-equip the entire British army with the model 14 rifle, as well as the US army, which was interested in the new weapon. However, the 1st World War did not allow the English-speaking allies to unify weapons. As a result, the arms factories were not re-equipped to a new model - their production capacity was fully utilized for the production of already established and tested Lee-Enfield (England) and Springfield (USA) rifles. Nevertheless, the production of model 14 rifles was still launched at several factories in both the UK and the USA (where the weapon was called the “Model 1917”). Moreover, the British version had a caliber of .303 (7.71 mm), and the American version had a caliber of .30-06 (7.62 mm). The weapons were supplied to the troops of these countries; Quite a lot of them were produced during the war. However, during the course of hostilities, the existing basic models of Lee-Enfield and Springfield rifles were constantly improved based on combat experience, which gradually reduced the advantage of the mod. 14 above them; this was the reason for the military’s preference for the old proven models over the new rifle. And after the end of the war, especially no one wanted to spend large funds for the re-equipment of factories and the rearmament of armies. At the end of hostilities, model 14 was discontinued in both England and the USA; The rifles that had already been released after the war were withdrawn from the troops and were exported to various countries that did not produce weapons.
Ross rifle mod. 1902
(Canada is part of the British Empire)
Caliber, mm.303 British (7.7x56R)
Length, mm 1320
Barrel length, mm 711
Weight, kg 3.90
Magazine capacity, cartridges 5
Canadian Sir Charles Ross began developing rifles in the late 1890s, based on the Austrian Mannlicher M1890/1895 systems. Due to Britain's refusal to supply Lee-Enfield rifles to Canada due to the Boer Wars, the Canadian Army had to turn to Ross. In 1902, the .303 caliber Ross rifle was adopted by the Canadian Army and the Royal Mounted Police, and in 1905 mass deliveries of this rifle to the army began (under the designation Rifle, Ross, Mark I). The Ross Mark II rifle was adopted in 1907, and by 1912 this basic design had evolved whole line modifications. In the summer of 1910, the Canadian Army adopted the Mark III rifle, which became the main weapon of the Canadian Expeditionary Force on the fronts of the First World War. It was during the war that it became clear. that Ross rifles, despite their excellent rate of fire and high accuracy shooting, turned out to be completely unsuitable for the role of army weapons. The rifles were extremely sensitive to contamination, and the longitudinally sliding bolt was not only very difficult to disassemble and reassemble, but in some modifications of the rifle it allowed for incorrect assembly. In the latter case, it became possible to fire with the bolt unlocked, leading to the most disastrous results - both for the rifle and for the shooter. Therefore, as soon as such an opportunity arose, the Canadians removed the Ross rifles from service, replacing them with the much more successful English Lee-Enfield No.3 Mk.1 rifles. In the post-war period, Ross rifles were used as hunting and sporting rifles: both in the version chambered for the .303 cartridge, and in the rather powerful hunting cartridge .280 Ross of our own design.
Ross system rifles have a longitudinally sliding bolt with a straight handle movement. The cartridges were fed from integral box magazines with a capacity of 5 cartridges, loaded from above with the bolt open. The Ross Mark I and Mark II rifles had Harris system magazines in which cartridges were staggered in two rows. The magazine was loaded with separate cartridges. To speed up loading, the shooter could first lower the magazine feeder by compressing its spring by pressing a button located on the right side of the fore-end, behind the sight. After this, with the second hand the shooter simply poured five rounds into the magazine box and released the feeder key. On Ross Mark III rifles, the design of the magazine has changed - it has become single-row, protruding from the bottom of the stock, loaded from ordinary plate clips from Lee-Enfield rifles or one cartridge at a time. All military versions of the Ross rifles also had a magazine cut-off, which, when engaged, turned the rifle into a single-shot rifle. The sights on the Mark I and Mark II rifles are open, with a range-adjustable U-notch rear sight located on the barrel; On Mark III rifles, the rear sight is diopter, located in the rear of the receiver. The front sight on all variants has a ring-shaped front sight.
Vickers heavy machine gun model 1892/1916
Caliber, mm.303
Length, mm 1079
Installation length, mm 1905
Barrel length, mm 673
Weight, kg 27.2
Installation weight, kg 80.7
Rate of fire, rds/min 550
Initial bullet speed, m/s 744
Firing range, m 2652
Vickers heavy machine guns were the main automatic weapons of the British infantry during the First World War. In fact, this weapon was a remake of the famous machine gun American inventor Hiram Maxim, adapted for the British cartridge .303 caliber (7.71 mm). Vickers made a number of changes to the design of the Maxim system machine gun. The most important was the rotation of the lock by 180° so that the lower slope turned upward; this made it possible to reduce the height of the box and make it lighter. The Vickers machine gun was mounted on a lightweight tripod machine, equipped with a fine and coarse aiming mechanism.
At first, Vickers machine guns fired black powder cartridges; During the shooting, a thick cloud of black smoke rose above them, covering the target from the machine gunners. Therefore, the choice of position became very important - they tried to place machine guns on high-rise buildings so that the wind would blow the smoke to the side. But then smokeless powder cartridges were introduced into the British Army; this required changing the barrel cutting system. These changes turned out to be beneficial for the Vickers machine guns, since, in addition to increasing the firing range and a flatter trajectory of the bullet, the powerful explosive of the smokeless cartridge increased the recoil of the bolt when fired, due to the energy of which these machine guns worked. This greatly reduced the likelihood of delay.
Soon, new machine guns chambered for smokeless powder performed well during the events in Sudan in 1898. In their futile attempts to reach the British line of fire across the open desert, the rebel army suffered huge losses. However, it was only during the trench warfare of 1914–1918 that it became clear that the Vickers machine gun was indispensable for modern warfare. This led to the expansion of production of the machine gun and work to improve its system.
After the end of the war, despite the saturation of the infantry units of the British army significant amount light machine guns, Vickers heavy machine guns were not withdrawn from service and were widely used during the Second World War. In addition to the British army, the 7.71-mm Vickers machine gun was in service with the Belgian and Greek armies.
7.71 mm Lewis light machine gun mod. 1915
caliber - 7.71 mm
Magazine capacity – 47 rounds
weight with loaded magazine - 17.8 kg
initial bullet speed – 775 m/s
sighting range – 1850 m
rate of fire – 500 rounds/min.
The experience of the battles of the First World War showed that infantry units lacked the flexibility of fire - heavy machine guns did not have the speed of movement necessary on the battlefield. To provide fire support for attacks by rifle units, a new light automatic weapon was required that could move forward in the front ranks of the advancing infantry. This is how the development of the first light machine guns began. The first such weapon in the British army was the Lewis machine gun, adopted for service in 1915. To use the machine gun as a hand gun, it was equipped with a bipod, a butt and a trigger guard handle. Despite the fact that the operation of the automatic mechanisms of the Lewis machine gun was based on the principle of removing powder gases through a hole in the barrel, which was progressive for that time, the design of the weapon turned out to be too complex and cumbersome, which determined the rather large weight for this type of weapon and the tendency of the machine gun to delay firing . In addition, the 47-round Lewis rotating disc magazine was expensive to manufacture and low in technology. The weight of the machine gun was also increased by an aluminum radiator with high longitudinal ribs and a casing with a pipe installed on the barrel for air cooling.
The Lewis machine gun was used in the First World War and as an aircraft gun. On aircraft it was installed in turrets and equipped with disk magazines with a capacity of 97 rounds. Despite a number of shortcomings of the first British light machine gun, the need for it turned out to be so high that Lewis became very widespread not only among the troops of the empire, but also in other Entente countries. Including in Russia, where it was used not only in the First World War and Civil War, but even in the Great Patriotic War.
Hotchkiss Mk1 light machine gun mod. 1909
Caliber, mm.303 “British” (7.71x56) (8 Lebel)
Length, mm 1187
Barrel length, mm 596
Weight of loaded weapon, kg 12.68
Rate of fire, rds/min 500
Initial bullet speed, m/s 739
Sighting range, m 2000
Combat rate of fire, rds/min 250
Belt capacity, 30 cartridges (24 for French cartridges)
With the outbreak of World War I, the British command remembered the Hotchkiss light machine gun, which was put on the arms market in 1909, and decided to put it into service. This is how the Hotchkiss Mk I caliber .303 (7.71 mm) appeared in the British army. In 1915, the British set up machine gun production in Enfield and Coventry. These machine guns were equipped with folding bipods or a ring on the barrel with trunnions for a light tripod; a rear support could be installed. Hand-made Hotchkisses were also supplied to Greece, Spain, Norway, and Brazil.
The machine gun had an automatic gas exhaust engine with removal of powder gases through a transverse hole at the bottom of the barrel and a long stroke of the gas piston with a pipe. The weapon could fire both automatic and single fire. Power comes from a hard clip with 24 French or 30 English cartridges. Such power supply made the weapon not very reliable; loading the machine gun was especially difficult at night.
The weapon did not show any special advantages except for the comparative simplicity of the device. It was used mainly in aviation. In Great Britain, in June 1917, a modification of the Mk1* with a rigid or semi-rigid belt was adopted - this most successful modification of the manual Hotchkiss was used mainly as a tank machine gun. As a light machine gun, not a single army liked the Hotchkiss. Its service was more or less long only in the colonies - the Indian army used it until the early 1930s. In England, during the Second World War, local defense forces had to be armed with old Hotchkisses (by this time, in accordance with the new nomenclature, they were designated No. 2 Mk1 and Mk1 *).
Revolver Webley Mk.IV mod. 1899
caliber - .38 (9 mm)
weight – 0.9 kg,
rate of fire – 6 rounds/min.
The Webley revolver, which was in service with the British Army at the beginning of the 20th century, was a well-developed, almost perfect model of an officer's weapon. The modification presented here is the Mk.IV mod. 1899 were used during the Boer War of 1899–1902; it was also the main example of an army revolver at the beginning of the 1st World War.
This revolver had a “breaking” frame, that is, its barrel and cylinder were attached to the frame on a hinge. When the push-button latch was pressed, the barrel of the revolver dropped down, providing access to the chambers of the drum for reloading the revolver. The revolver's drum held six .38 caliber cartridges. Sights are designed for shooting at a range of up to 50 meters.
The design of the "Webley" did not cause any complaints among British military personnel, but many of them were dissatisfied with the caliber of this weapon; accustomed to previous British revolvers of larger caliber, the British considered the Webley Mk.IV not powerful enough. The dissatisfaction of the military forced the designers to develop a new modification of the Vebley - Mk.VI, the caliber of which was increased to .455 (11.5 mm). 
Revolver Webley Mk. VI arr. 1915
caliber - .455 (11.56 mm),
Drum capacity – 6 rounds,
weight – 1.1 kg,
rate of fire – 6 rounds/min.,
initial bullet speed – 189 m/s.
The Webley Mk.VI revolver, which was in service with the British Army, became a further development of the popular Webley Mk.IV revolver. The design of that “Webley” did not cause any complaints among British military personnel, but many of them were dissatisfied with the caliber of this weapon; accustomed to previous British revolvers of larger caliber, the British considered the Webley Mk.IV not powerful enough. Officers who served in the East especially insisted on increasing the caliber of the army revolver: they needed increased power to defeat the tenacious, fanatical Asian fighters and predators found in the jungle. The dissatisfaction of the military forced the designers to develop a new modification of the Vebley - Mk.VI, the caliber of which was increased to .455 (11.5 mm); this revolver entered service in 1915. The Mk.VI had a design identical to the Mk.IV model, it was also a double-action (self-cocking) revolver.
The revolver's drum held six rounds of .455 caliber. Sights are designed for shooting at a range of up to 50 meters. In 1918, for training in shooting, a version of the revolver chambered for rimfire cartridges was adopted.22. The need to create this option arose due to the fact that the standard revolver had very strong recoil, and long training was required to achieve good results when shooting.
As additional accessories, the Webley company offered a small bayonet for the revolver, which could be attached to the front sight and the lower lug of the barrel, as well as an attached butt for long-range shooting. British officers bought bayonets for revolvers quite willingly, but attached butts were not in demand.
Before the end of the First World War, more than 300,000 of these revolvers were produced. During the war, officers and sergeants of the British Army were armed with this revolver, who assessed it as a powerful, durable and absolutely reliable weapon that did not require labor-intensive maintenance. However, its weight and recoil force were too great that after finishing Great War led to the adoption of a different, lighter revolver by the British Army.
Pistol "Webley-Scott" mod. 1912
(limited use)
caliber - .455 (11.56 mm),
magazine capacity – 7 rounds,
weight – 1.1 kg.
A powerful military model of the .455 caliber (11.56 mm) Webley-Scott pistol was in service with the British Army and Navy, along with the less powerful 9-mm Webley-Scott pistol. The first model of a pistol from this company was developed in 1904, but more advanced modifications developed in 1912, 1913 and 1915 were adopted. These versions differed from each other mainly in the design of the fuses and sighting devices, but had the same automatic mechanisms, operating on the principle of recoil of the barrel with a short stroke. The mentioned 9-mm Webley-Scott differed from its more powerful counterparts only in size and weight, but otherwise it completely copied them.
However, despite its great power and high rate of fire, the Webley-Scott pistol was not popular, since its mechanism was very sensitive to contamination; In addition, conservative British people preferred reliable, long-proven products to these new products. the best side revolvers. Therefore, all officers and sergeants of the British army during the first and second world wars were armed exclusively with revolvers. Pistols (and even then in relatively small quantities) were only in service with army aviation and navy, where pollution problems were virtually non-existent.
It is difficult to overestimate the role of machine guns in the development of military affairs - having cut short millions of lives, they forever changed the face of war. But even experts did not immediately appreciate them, initially viewing them as special weapon with a very narrow range of combat missions - for example, at the turn of the 19th - 20th centuries, machine guns were considered just one of the types of fortress artillery. However, already during the Russo-Japanese War, automatic fire proved its effectiveness highest efficiency, and during the First World War machine guns became one of the most important means fire damage enemy in close combat, were installed on tanks, combat aircraft and ships. Automatic weapons made a real revolution in military affairs: heavy machine-gun fire literally swept away the advancing troops, becoming one of the main causes of the “positional crisis,” radically changing not only the tactical methods of combat, but also the entire military strategy.
This book is the most complete and detailed encyclopedia to date of machine gun weapons of the Russian, Soviet and Russian armies with late XIX and up to beginning of the XXI century, both domestic models and foreign ones - purchased and captured. Author, leading historian small arms, not only leads detailed descriptions device and operation of easel, manual, single, large-caliber, tank and aviation machine guns, but also talks about their combat use in all the wars that our country waged throughout the turbulent twentieth century.
The army's need for weapons was determined by the GUGS.
On September 24, 1910, the General Headquarters, in relation No. 4208, forwarded a plan for supplying the army with machine guns. Subsequently, the GUGSH gave a number of additional instructions on this issue. As a result, according to A.A. Manikovsky, the need for machine guns was calculated as follows:
In the infantry:
352 machine gun teams of the 1st stage, 8 machine guns in each - 2816 pieces;
152 machine gun teams of the 2nd stage, 8 machine guns in each - 1216 pcs.
In the cavalry:
32 machine gun teams of 8 machine guns each - 256 pcs.
Calculation of the Maxim machine gun mod. 1910 in position. Machine gun - on a Vickers tripod machine
In addition, according to the instructions of the Main Directorate of General Staff received in different time before the start of the World War, the following should have been released:
In the 4th Finnish Infantry Brigade, formed in April 1914, for 4 teams of 8 machine guns - 32 pieces;
Trans-Amur border guard district for 6 teams of 4-machine guns - 24 pieces;
In the 3rd and 9th Siberian Rifle Divisions, assigned to the Vladivostok garrison, to bring 2 machine guns per company up to standard - 192 pieces;
10% wartime stock - 454 pcs.
In total, it was planned to supply 4990 machine guns, of which 454 were in reserve.
By July there were machine guns in the Russian army.
352 machine gun teams of the 1st stage - 2816 pieces;
120 (instead of 152) machine gun teams of the 2nd stage - 960 units;
4 teams of the 4th Finnish Rifle Brigade - 32 pieces;
6 teams of the Zaamur border guard district - 24 pcs.;
32 cavalry teams - 256 pieces;
In stock - 69 pcs.
In total there are 4098 machine guns in the troops, 69 in reserve. The total shortage - 833 machine guns - fell on the second-line regiments and the reserve. But with one 8-machine gun team for each infantry and rifle regiment four battalions and for each two-brigade cavalry division (24 squadrons), on average there was one machine gun per 1000 people. As for the mentioned 3rd and 9th Siberian Rifle Divisions, by the beginning of the World War they had only one 8-machine gun team.
It was believed that with such supply standards “you can be calm about the machine gun business.” Indeed, Russian infantry division at the beginning of the war had 32 machine guns, the French, German and Austrian - 24 each, the Russian cavalry division - 8 machine guns, the French - 6, while the French first-line troops lacked 800 machine guns at the beginning of the war. The front-line troops, which, according to data on March 1, 1914, Germany could field against Russia, had 2,730 machine guns (an average of 1 machine gun per 495 people), Austria-Hungary - 1,486 machine guns (1 machine gun per 590 people). These figures show that on the eve of the war machine guns were equally appreciated - or rather, equally underestimated - in all countries that entered the war. They also erroneously assessed the nature and duration of the upcoming war, the effort it would require, and the role that “technique” would play in it.
Accordingly, the norms for stocks of weapons and ammunition turned out to be small, which was also determined financial situation. Back in 1908, with the adoption of a cartridge with a pointed bullet in the Russian army, focusing on the experience of several battles of the Russo-Japanese War, they established a stock norm: 1000 rounds per rifle in the army, 1500 in fortresses, 200 in the militia, 75 000 - for a military machine gun, 30–50 thousand - for a serf. In total - 3,346,000,000 units, about 3 billion were planned. But by the beginning of the war, there were only 2,446,000,050 rounds of ammunition in stocks of all categories.
In general, the Russian army entered the war, slightly inferior to its opponents and allies in terms of the army’s saturation with modern weapons and practically not inferior in terms of the characteristics of these weapons. But it was much inferior to them in its industrial capabilities. The mobilization reserves, accumulated over decades, far exceeded anything used in previous wars, but they were exhausted in the first months, if not in the first weeks of the war. And the need for weapons and ammunition exceeded all expectations and forecasts.
In April 1915, the GAU raised the question of introducing a second machine gun team into the regiments and increasing the number of machine guns to 16 for each infantry regiment and 8 (one team) for each cavalry and Cossack regiment. Taking into account the need to replenish forward supplies, the monthly requirement was calculated at 800 machine guns. Even after decreasing to 600, it turned out to be 15 times higher than planned in 1910 (40 machine guns per month). In May 1915, the GUGSH approved the corresponding regulation.
On September 12, already Minister of War A.A. Polivanov doubled the standard of machine guns and ordered it to be increased to 2 per infantry company or 32 per regiment (4 times the pre-war figure). The demands of unit and formation commanders were even higher. But even with 32 machine guns for the infantry and 8 for the Cossack and cavalry regiments, the following was required:
To bring 616 infantry and 256 cavalry and Cossack regiments to the new state - 19,564 machine guns,
To supply 180 reserve battalions - 720 machine guns,
50% of the total reserve requirement - 10,886 machine guns.
Machine gun platoon with Maxim machine guns mod. 1910 on Sokolov's original model machines. Caucasian Front of World War I
In total, 31,170 machine guns were required to be supplied to the army and this must be completed by January 14, 1917. However, by the agreed date - early January 1917 - the need for machine guns turned out to be even greater. Already in 1916, there were demands to supplement the machine gun teams of the regiments with “portable machine guns on light machines” attached to the companies. In mid-1916, the GAU determined the annual need for 22,000 machine guns based on: 1) one-time requirement - 17,200, of which for new formations and “to bring to the highest approved standard” of 32 machine guns per regiment - 13,000, in reserve - 3,200 , for replenishment to the staff - 1000; 2) monthly deliveries of 400 pieces - 4800. The Main Military Technical Directorate (GVTU) of the War Ministry, by the way, for the same period included in its requirement 102 “motorcycles” with a machine-gun sidecar and 1042 with a sidecar for transporting cartridges.
From January 1915, troops began sending demands for cartridges for rifles and machine guns to huge quantities. If before 1914 the monthly wartime requirement was estimated at 50 million rounds of ammunition, then in January 1916 it was set at 200 million, and in 1917 - 325 million. The monthly requirement for one in 1917 was estimated at 10,000 rounds.
An original improvisation of trench warfare - a homemade wheeled machine for the Madsen submachine gun
In the first months of the war we had to remember light machine guns(machine guns) - at first due to the same acute shortage of machine guns in the cavalry. The Madsen submachine guns were returned to the unit. According to General A.A. Manikovsky, with the beginning of the war, “cavalry units, as they say, “with their hands” tore them from the GAU.” In 1915, the GAU assembled them in the fortresses and, through the Petrograd warehouse, handed over still usable Madsens to the fronts; some of them had to be corrected at the Sestroretsk and Tula factories before shipment. Soon the role of submachine guns became clearer, as did the problem of saturating the army with them. The troops began to send more and more requests for submachine guns, which could follow infantry lines everywhere, quickly take up a position and open fire. The submachine gun was not required to “flood” enemy positions with fire - it was enough to fire bursts at individual points where enemy machine gunners or riflemen were seen or could be located. Submachine guns made it possible to increase the force of fire, while simultaneously reducing the number of shooters in the chain during an offensive, and to “save” shooters in the forward trenches in defense.
In addition to cavalry and infantry, submachine guns were needed “for arming aeronautical vehicles and river armored detachments.” On January 17, 1915, the Aeronautical Department of the GVTU wrote to the GAU: “To arm airplanes, it is necessary to quickly obtain about 400 submachine guns. Of the machine guns tested, the Lewis submachine guns and the Madsen submachine guns were relatively suitable for this purpose.” But the supply of Madsens was exhausted in less than a year - in August 1915, the GAU reported that “there are now no Madsen submachine guns at all at its disposal.” “Madsens” have already “worked out” their purpose; it was not possible to organize the production of spare parts for them. The production of Madsen parts, entrusted at the beginning of 1917 to the workshop of the Rifle Range of the Officer Rifle School, was not completed “due to the suspension of all kinds of work at the school of gunsmiths with the onset of the revolution” (referring to the February events of 1917). The aviation stated that “Madsen’s submachine guns perform poorly” and asked for new machine guns.
At the inter-allied conference in Petrograd in January 1917, the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander announced the following requirement: Maxim machine guns - 13,000 at a time and 7,200 throughout the year (600 per month), in addition - 10,000 Colt heavy machine guns and 110,000 at a time submachine guns. The need for submachine guns was determined - 8 per company, i.e. 128 per infantry and 36 per cavalry regiment (note the attitude towards submachine guns as a weapon for a company and platoon), plus for arming airplanes.
The total monthly requirement of the Russian army was determined at 4430 machine guns - comparable to the number with which they planned to fight the entire war in 1914.
On May 17, 1718, James Puckle patented his gun, which became the prototype of the machine gun. Since that time, military engineering has come a long way, but machine guns still remain one of the most menacing species weapons.
"Pakla's Gun"
Attempts to increase the rate of fire firearms were attempted repeatedly, but before the advent of the unitary cartridge they failed due to the complexity and unreliability of the design, the extremely high cost of production and the need to have trained soldiers whose skills would go significantly beyond the automatic manipulation of a gun.
One of the many experimental designs was the so-called “Pakla gun”. The weapon was a gun mounted on a tripod with a cylinder with 11 charges acting as a magazine. The crew of the gun consisted of several people. With coordinated crew actions and no misfires, a rate of fire of up to 9-10 rounds per minute was theoretically achieved. This system was supposed to be used at short distances in naval combat, but due to unreliability this weapon was not widespread. This system illustrates the desire to increase the firepower of rifle fire by increasing the rate of fire.
Lewis machine gun
The Lewis light machine gun was developed in the United States by Samuel McClane, and was used as a light machine gun and aircraft gun during the First World War. Despite the impressive weight, the weapon turned out to be quite successful - the machine gun and its modifications were kept for quite a long time in Britain and its colonies, as well as the USSR.
In our country, Lewis machine guns were used until the Great Patriotic War and visible on the chronicle of the parade on November 7, 1941. In domestic feature films This weapon is relatively rare, but a frequent imitation of the Lewis machine gun in the form of a “camouflaged DP-27” is very common. An authentic Lewis machine gun is depicted, for example, in the film " White sun desert" (except for shots of shooting).
Hotchkiss machine gun
During the First World War heavy machine gun The Hotchkiss became the main machine gun of the French army. Only in 1917, with the spread of light machine guns, its production began to decline.
In total, the easel "Hotchkiss" was in service in 20 countries. In France and a number of other countries, these weapons were kept during the Second World War. Hotchkiss was supplied to a limited extent before the First World War and to Russia, where a significant part of these machine guns was lost during the East Prussian operation in the first months of the war. In domestic feature films, the Hotchkiss machine gun can be seen in the film adaptation of Quiet Don, which shows a Cossack attack on German positions, which from a historical point of view may not be typical, but is acceptable.
Maxim machine gun
The Maxim machine gun went down in history Russian Empire and the USSR, remaining officially in service much longer than in other countries. Along with the three-line rifle and revolver, it is strongly associated with the weapons of the first half of the 20th century.
He served from the Russo-Japanese War to the Great Patriotic War inclusive. Powerful and distinguished by a high rate of fire and accuracy of fire, the machine gun had a number of modifications in the USSR and was used as an easel, anti-aircraft and aviation one. The main disadvantages of the easel version of the Maxim were the excessively large mass and water cooling of the barrel. Only in 1943 was the Goryunov machine gun adopted for service, which by the end of the war began to gradually supplant the Maxim. In the initial period of the war, the production of Maxims not only did not decrease, but on the contrary, it increased and, in addition to Tula, was deployed in Izhevsk and Kovrov.
Since 1942, machine guns were produced only with a receiver under a canvas tape. Production legendary weapons was stopped in our country only in the victorious year of 1945.
MG-34
The German MG-34 machine gun has a very difficult history of adoption, but, nevertheless, this model can be called one of the first single machine guns. The MG-34 could be used as a light machine gun, or as an easel machine gun on a tripod, as well as as an anti-aircraft and tank gun.
Its low weight gave the weapon high maneuverability, which, combined with a high rate of fire, made it one of the best infantry machine guns of the early World War II. Later, even with the adoption of the MG-42, Germany did not abandon the production of the MG-34, until now this machine gun is in service with a number of countries.
DP-27
From the beginning of the 30s, the light machine gun of the Degtyarev system began to enter service with the Red Army, which became the main light machine gun of the Red Army until the mid-40s. The first combat use of the DP-27 is most likely associated with the conflict on the Chinese Eastern Railway in 1929.
The machine gun performed well during the fighting in Spain, Khasan and Khalkhin Gol. However, by the time the Great Patriotic War began, the Degtyarev machine gun was already inferior in a number of parameters such as weight and magazine capacity to a number of newer and more advanced models.
During operation, a number of shortcomings were identified - a small magazine capacity (47 rounds) and an unfortunate location under the barrel of the return spring, which was deformed from frequent shooting. During the war, some work was carried out to eliminate these shortcomings. In particular, the survivability of the weapon was increased by moving the return spring to back receiver though general principle The operation of this sample has not undergone any changes. The new machine gun (DPM) began to enter the army in 1945. On the basis of the machine gun, a very successful DT tank machine gun was created, which became the main Soviet tank machine gun of the Great Patriotic War.
Machine gun "Breda" 30
One of the first places in terms of the number of shortcomings among mass-produced samples can be given to the Italian Breda machine gun, which, perhaps, collected the maximum number of them.
Firstly, the magazine is unsuccessful and only holds 20 rounds, which is clearly not enough for a machine gun. Secondly, each cartridge must be lubricated with oil from a special oil can. Dirt, dust gets in and the weapon instantly fails. One can only guess how it was possible to fight with such a “miracle” in the sands of North Africa.
But even at sub-zero temperatures, the machine gun also does not work. The system was distinguished by its great complexity in production and low rate of fire for a light machine gun. To top it off, there is no handle for carrying the machine gun. Nevertheless, this system was the main machine gun of the Italian army in World War II.
Weapons...yes, many people believe that the history of weapons is simple and known as a clear day, but it’s not like that. I won’t even delve into the depths of centuries, the same century before last throws up surprises that are so out of the ordinary that many simply refuse to believe in reality... There will be no special research further, I’ll just show what is in common use, and no one doesn't pay any attention to it. Well, for example, everyone knows that in the so-called. “the civil war in the United States” was a Colt revolver and everyone thinks that it was exactly like in the movie about the wild west, put the bullets in the drum and na!-na!-na! By the way, but no, it was... capsule. And many people speaking or describing something don’t even bother to look at least in the official version, in the same pedia, here are links to the “Colts” of the civilian
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9A%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%82#Colt_Walker_.281847.29 and
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9A%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%82#Colt_Navy_.281851.29
and only once was it mentioned that these revolvers were extremely unreliable, that they were capsule-type and were loaded with paper cartridges, that is, a bag of black powder, a round lead bullet and a capsule. I won't say anything about the "Wild West" either. central part The USA, which is usually painted as all sorts of states, stupidly did not belong to anyone until the last couple of decades of the 19th century, the most ordinary Terra nullius, and you think why the USA climbed onto the world stage and acquired colonies only on the threshold of the 20th century, but they are “their” territory They haven’t completely captured it yet, what kind of external colonies are there...okay, I digress.
In general, “Colts” and “Winchesters” were rare and extremely unreliable weapons, the bulk of the weapons were single-shot and capsule, but... the main losses were still inflicted by melee weapons and NOBODY practically mentions this ANYWHERE
but actually this article is not about that, the article is about a war that is much closer to us, about which, against the backdrop of the Second World War, it is somehow not even customary to mention, but this was the FIRST MODERN WAR in the first months of which almost the entire personnel of the armed forces who fought were knocked out " in the old way" i.e. mostly with cold steel...
The stereotype of the First World War is a rifle, a revolver, a saber and a Maxim machine gun... but not at all, especially for myself I keep several links to clips about weapons of the First World War, and I think it’s time to share. Just as it is customary to overestimate weapons of the 1950s-60s, it is also customary to underestimate fairly advanced and modern weapons 1913-1918...No, this article is not a reference guide and does not pretend to be a complete coverage of all types of weapons; it is intended to dispel myths about the limitations of the arsenal and give a general idea of the diversity of weapons at the beginning of modern times.
I'll probably start with machine guns. What is an automatic machine? Its more correct name is a submachine gun; it is a multi-shot automatic weapon designed to destroy, mainly in bursts, unarmored enemy personnel from a distance of up to 100 steps (80-90 meters or 260-300 feet) from two hands and using pistol cartridges for firing. Patriots of our Motherland probably know about the notorious “Fedorov assault rifle,” but purely technically it is not an assault rifle, but light machine gun without a bipod, like the much-hyped Pindostan BAR, which, like the latter, practically did not take part in the war, and was mainly produced only from the 20s. Purely technically, a machine gun could also be fired from hand, and machine guns in the First World War were very advanced, “Schwarzlose”, “Maxims”, “Colts”, “Vickers”, “Hotchkiss” or “Madsen”, I think everyone knows, not to mention let’s talk about British consumer goods with the same name as the famous jeans. True, the weight of the “hand-held” samples was serious, and meant mainly not shooting from the hands, but the possibility of being carried by 1-2 machine gunners, although in short it was possible to shoot from the hands...
The most untamed was the naturally Austro-Czech 24-kilogram handsome Schwarzlose 1907/12/16
German models of light machine guns, despite the highest quality and reliability, also did not suffer from lightness, so the “Maxim” MG08/15 weighed 18 kg, and Remba would hardly have been able to shoot it with his hands... only Schwarznegra: D
a later version of this “Maxim” MG08/18 weighed “only” 14 kg, progress of course, but still...
The American Colt-Browning M1895/14 weighed 16 kilograms and was quite comfortable... but on a bipod
The English 24-kilogram Vickers could not be even close to tame in any form, so the Lewis appeared
The Italians were ahead of the Britons; their 17-kilogram Fiat-Revelli Modello 1914 with a lightweight machine was more convenient, but it also had a very specific features in the form of an exotic feeding system with cartridges from a multi-row accordion magazine open type, as well as automatics with a semi-free shutter.
The ten-kilogram Hotchkiss machine gun is well known to everyone because of its specific radiator, and could already be used for hand-held shooting, but the very advanced machine gun was distinguished by an atypical ammunition supply circuit. The cartridges (French 8x50R) were in hard metal “belts” that were inserted from the left and pulled out as the fire was fired...
but few people know that on its basis a machine gun was developed that stood in service for more than 40 years... in Japan, this is the Type 3 of 1914.
Well, it’s probably worth mentioning the Chauchat C.S.R.G light machine gun. Model 1915 or “Shosh”, yes, it was difficult to operate, was afraid of contamination, often jammed, had a low rate of fire and poor accuracy, had a small magazine (only 20 rounds), was of little use for repairs in field conditions, but... it was the world's first technologically advanced mass machine gun, it turned out to be extremely easy to manufacture, suffice it to say that during the war it was assembled at a bicycle factory, and its production during 3 years of the war exceeded 250,000 pieces
in addition, its use did not require any special skill and any recruit could operate it
In principle, here is a small but wonderful film where, in my opinion, it is clearly and clearly told about machine guns of the First World War
Despite all its perfection and variety, the extremely strong cartridge and recoil make hand-held shooting ineffective... what is the solution? And there is only one way out, to use a pistol cartridge, which is easier, and that’s how a machine gun appeared, or rather a submachine gun. But here’s the catch, even if you clarify that the machine gun is precisely a submachine gun, few will even call it “Schmeisser” (MP-18), although by this name the vast majority mean the Volmer MP 38/40 submachine gun. This is partly true, but he was not the first at all, the first machine gun was weakened on the basis of... the Danish Madsen machine gun
and I’m afraid that no one even had an idea about such diverse types of manual automatic weapons used in the First World War by various parties, below is a fairly complete selection of this type of weapon for the years 1913-1918
The arsenal of pistols and rifles was also much more diverse than in the Second World War, and at the same time much better quality, more lethal and... more expensive. And one of the first countries to arm its armed forces with manual automatic weapons was... no, not Germany, Italy.
In general, I think that now, at least among those who read me, such a cliche about the First World War as “Maximka, saber and Nagant” will gradually dissipate and people will not be so dismissive of that turning point, key(!) time .
Loading...
