Front view of Reffye model mitrailleuse.

Rear view of Reffye mitrailleuse

The mitrailleuse was a manually-fired volley gun originally developed in Belgium in the 1850s. A number of improved designs were used in battle by the French Army during the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871). The French Reffye mitrailleuse was the first rapid-firing weapon to be deployed as standard equipment by any army in a major conflict. Although innovative, it failed as a tactical weapon because its operational usage and design were flawed. The word mitrailleuse nonetheless became the generic term for a machine gun in the French language, although the mitrailleuse itself was entirely manually-operated. Front view of mitrailleuse at Les Invalides, Paris Image by ChrisO File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Front view of mitrailleuse at Les Invalides, Paris Image by ChrisO File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Rear view of mitrailleuse at Les Invalides, Paris Image by ChrisO File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Rear view of mitrailleuse at Les Invalides, Paris Image by ChrisO File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... The mitrailleuse - a 19th century volley gun A volley gun or ribaldequin is a gun with several barrels for firing a number of shots simultaneously. ... // Events and Trends Technology Production of steel revolutionised by invention of the Bessemer process Benjamin Silliman fractionates petroleum by distillation for the first time First transatlantic telegraph cable laid First safety elevator installed by Elisha Otis Science Charles Darwin publishes The Origin of Species, putting forward the theory of evolution... The French Army (French: Armée de Terre) is the land-based component of the French Armed Forces. ... Combatants Second French Empire North German Confederation allied with south German states (later German Empire) Commanders Napoleon III # Otto Von Bismarck Helmuth von Moltke the Elder Strength 400,000[] 1,200,000[] Casualties 150,000 dead or wounded 284,000 captured 350,000 civilian [] 70,000 dead or wounded 200... 1870 (MDCCCLXX) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Monday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ... 1871 (MDCCCLXXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... A machine gun is a fully-automatic firearm that is capable of firing bullets in rapid succession. ...

Technical characteristics

Design

Side plan view of Reffye mitrailleuse

Several variants of the mitrailleuse concept were developed, with common elements to all of their designs. They were characterised by a number of rifled barrels clustered together and mounted on a conventional artillery chassis or (in the case of one model) a tripod. The ammunition was secured in a single pre-loaded plate or block and placed into the breech, behind the open ends of the barrels. All of the barrels were loaded simultaneously by a manual closing lever or large horizontal screw. A second lever could be worked rapidly (or in some models, a crank could be turned) to fire each barrel in succession. This earned the weapon its French nickname of moulin à café (coffee grinder). (A very similar name was earned by the "coffee mill gun" in America during the American Civil War). Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2868x1479, 271 KB) Summary Side plan diagram of Reffye mitrailleuse From The French Mitrailleuse - Full and Complete Description of its Construction, Service etc, United States Government Printing Office, 1873 Licensing This image is in the public domain in the United States. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2868x1479, 271 KB) Summary Side plan diagram of Reffye mitrailleuse From The French Mitrailleuse - Full and Complete Description of its Construction, Service etc, United States Government Printing Office, 1873 Licensing This image is in the public domain in the United States. ... Rifling of a Canon de 75 modèle 1897 A 35 caliber Remington, with a microgrove rifled barrel with a right hand twist. ... Artillery with Gabion fortification Cannons on display at Fort Point Continental Artillery crew from the American Revolution Firing of an 18-pound gun, Louis-Philippe Crepin, (1772 – 1851) A forge-welded Iron Cannon in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu. ... Combatants United States of America (Union) Confederate States of America (Confederacy) Commanders Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee Strength 2,200,000 1,064,000 Casualties 110,000 killed in action, 360,000 total dead, 275,200 wounded 93,000 killed in action, 258,000 total...

The ammunition plate had to be removed by hand before another loaded plate could be inserted. Unlike in later rapid-firing automatic weapons, the entire loading and firing process was manual. The mitrailleuse's major innovation was simply that it speeded up these processes over the regular infantry rifles. ^[1]

The different variants of the mitrailleuse concept were distinguished by their number of barrels and their different calibers, as the following table summarises:

Most variants of the mitrailleuse were mounted on an artillery-style carriage. This made it heavy and cumbersome to handle on the battlefield, with gun and carriage weighing up to 900 kg (2000 lb). Approximately one third of the Reffye mitrailleuses were fitted with a protective steel armour plate to shield the operator from hostile gunfire. This appeared rather late (1871), presumably in response to conditions on the battlefield in the Franco-Prussian War.

Ammunition and firing rates

The mitrailleuse's dependence on manual loading meant that its firing rate depended greatly on the skill of its operators. A skilfully-manned Reffye mitrailleuse could sustain 3 volleys (75 rounds) per minute in ordinary operation and reach 5 volleys (125 rounds) per minute during emergencies. The rate of fire of each discharge was controlled by the gunner's action on a small manual crank on the right side of the breech. Each regular battery of Reffye mitrailleuses lined up 6 guns firing together, more or less side by side.

The Reffye mitrailleuse used a 13 mm cartridge,designed by Gaupillat, which represented the state of the art in ammunition design at the time (Huon,1986). It was rather like an elongated modern shotgun shell; it was center fire with a rimmed brass head and a dark blue hardened cardboard body. ^[3] The 770 grains, 13 mm (0.512 inch) bullet was propelled by a compressed black powder charge at a muzzle velocity of 1560 ft/s, three and a half times more powerful than Chassepot or Dreyse rifle ammunition. This was, by far, the most potent rifle caliber ammunition in existence at the time.

The cartridges were pre-loaded in interchangeable steel breech blocks. When firing the mitrailleuse, three breech blocks were kept in continuous use: one being fired, one being pressed down on the extractor and one being loaded from a single pre-packaged 25 rounds box.

The weapon's barrel could be moved sideways, back and forth, with a rotating handle for sweeping fire. The angle was narrow, however, and the barrel could not swing far enough from side to side to produce effective sweeping fire at short distances. The weapon's field of fire was so narrow that Prussian soldiers were often hit by several bullets at once. ^[4] French artillery attempted to rectify this problem by developing special ammunition capable of firing three bullets from the same cartridge for short-range point defence. Point-defence is the defence of a single object or a limited area, e. ...

Development

The mitrailleuse is best known for its service with the French Army but it was in fact first designed and deployed in Belgium in the 1850s. It was designed by a Captain T.H.J. Fafschamps in 1851 and manufactured by Joseph Montigny of Fontaine-l'Evêque near Brussels. The weapon was used apparently only on a limited basis as a defensive weapon to protect Belgian fortresses. ^[1] // Events and Trends Technology Production of steel revolutionised by invention of the Bessemer process Benjamin Silliman fractionates petroleum by distillation for the first time First transatlantic telegraph cable laid First safety elevator installed by Elisha Otis Science Charles Darwin publishes The Origin of Species, putting forward the theory of evolution... 1851 (MDCCCLI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Fontaine-lEvêque is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Hainaut. ... Nickname: The Capital Of Europe, Comic City City of a 100 Museums[] Map showing the location of Brussels in Belgium Coordinates: Country Belgium Region Brussels-Capital Region Founded 979 Founded (Region) June 18, 1989  - Mayor (Municipality) Freddy Thielemans Area    - City 162 (Region) km²  (62. ...

The French military became interested in the mitrailleuse at the start of the 1860s and the French Army's Artillery Committee undertook an investigation into the possible adoption of the weapon. In May 1864, General Edmond Leboeuf submitted a preliminary report entitled Note sur le Canon á Balles to the Emperor Napoleon III. Full-scale manufacture began in September 1865, in great secrecy, under the leadership of lieutenant-colonel Verchere de Reffye (1821-1880). Assembly and some manufacturing took place at the workshops in Meudon but many parts came from the private industrial sector. Production was slow due to limited funding (the army had already spent much of its five-year budget on the Mle 1866 Chassepot rifle ), forcing Napoleon III to pay for development and manufacture out of secret funds. ^[5] // The First Transcontinental Railroad in the USA is built in the six year period between 1863 and 1869. ... 1864 (MDCCCLXIV) was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a leap year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ... Edmond Leboeuf (5 November 1809 - 7 June 1888) was a marshal of France. ... Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte (April 20, 1808 - January 9, 1873) was the son of King Louis Bonaparte and Queen Hortense de Beauharnais; both monarchs of the French puppet state, the Kingdom of Holland. ... 1865 (MDCCCLXV) is a common year starting on Sunday. ... Meudon is a suburb of Paris in the Hauts-de-Seine département in northern France. ... The Chassepot, officially known as Fusil modèle 1866, was a military breechloading rifle, famous as the arm of the French forces in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 and 1871. ...

The weapon was thoroughly tested in 1868 at the Satory "Polygon" facility near Versailles in conditions of great secrecy. Due to a fear of spies, test guns were concealed in tents while being fired at distant targets. The mitrailleuse performed mechanically with remarkable efficiency and much was expected of it in a combat situation. Versailles (pronounced , in French), formerly the de facto capital of the kingdom of France, is now a wealthy suburb of Paris and is still an important administrative and judicial center. ...

A total of 215 mitrailleuses and five million rounds of ammunition had been manufactured by July 1870, but only 190 were operational and available for field service when war with Prussia broke out. Motto: Suum cuique Latin: To each his own Prussia at its peak, as leading state of the German Empire Capital Königsberg, later Berlin Political structure Duchy, Kingdom, Republic Duke1  - 1525–68 Albert I  - 1688–1701 Frederick III King1  - 1701–13 Frederick I  - 1888–1918 William II Prime Minister1,2...

Operational doctrine

Contemporary illustration of Bollée mitrailleuse and crew

The French Army saw the mitrailleuse as a form of artillery weapon, rather than an infantry support weapon – a role later to be filled by the machine gun. As a matter of fact,the official name of the Reffye mitrailleuse in the French Army was " Canon a Balles", a designation that translates litterally as : "an artillery piece that fires bullets". Having been developed by the artillery they were, naturally, manned by artillerymen and attached to artillery groups equipped with regular four-pounder field guns.^[6] Each mitrailleuse battery comprised six guns, each with a crew of six. One man on the front right fired the gun while another man on the front left swiveled the gun sideways for sweeping fire. The four other men attended to aiming, loading and unloading. Image File history File links Mitrailleuse_bollee. ... Image File history File links Mitrailleuse_bollee. ...

The battlefield use of the mitrailleuse as artillery was a fatally flawed concept. In order to avoid being hit by Dreyse rifle fire ,the mitrailleuse batteries were systematically deployed beyond about 1,400 m ( 1,500 yards) from the enemy lines. Although the maximum range of the mitrailleuses was 3,400 m (3,700 yards), the distances at which they were typically engaged in action rarely exceeded 2,000 m ( 2100 yards). This was much less than that of conventional French field artillery with which the mitrailleuses were deployed. However it was still too far, given the facts that range-finding and accurate targeting were extremely difficult at such long distances. For instance mitrailleuse bullet impacts on the ground, beyond a few hundred yards, were almost impossible to observe by the gunners, unless enemy ranks were disrupted by hits. It may be noted that modern machine guns are typically used at ranges far shorter than their maximum range – the M60 machine gun, for instance, is normally used at an effective range of 1,100 m (1,200 yards), compared to its maximum range of 3,725 m (4,074 yards). The mitrailleuse, by contrast, was often used at the outer edges of its range. These deficiencies in its operational usage proved disastrous in the Franco-Prussian War. The M60 (formally the United States Machine Gun, Caliber 7. ...

The mitrailleuse at war

Franco-Prussian War (1870-71)

View of a Reffye mitrailleuse prepared for action

The outbreak of war with Prussia on 15 July 1870 led to a somewhat chaotic mobilization of the French Army. The mitrailleuse batteries faced particularly acute problems. Although they had been organised, on paper, into proper batteries, on the outbreak of war the guns were still in storage at Meudon and in the forts of Montrouge, Issy and Mont-Valerien around Paris. The crews had been designated but had not yet been assembled. Many had little or no training in the use of the weapons and so were unaware of its sighting and ranging characteristics. Detailed instruction manuals had been printed in January 1870, but had only been distributed at the very beginning of the hostilities. Such was the secrecy surrounding the weapon that not only did few artillery commanders know how to deploy it effectively, many did not even know that it existed. Marshal MacMahon, commander of the Army of Châlons, claimed that he had never even seen a mitrailleuse until one was wheeled past him at the Battle of Sedan on 2 September 1870, nearly two months after war had been declared. ^{[citation needed]} Image File history File links Download high resolution version (759x638, 133 KB) Summary Isometric view of Reffye mitrailleuse From The French Mitrailleuse - Full and Complete Description of its Construction, Service etc, United States Government Printing Office, 1873 Licensing This image is in the public domain in the United States. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (759x638, 133 KB) Summary Isometric view of Reffye mitrailleuse From The French Mitrailleuse - Full and Complete Description of its Construction, Service etc, United States Government Printing Office, 1873 Licensing This image is in the public domain in the United States. ... July 15 is the 196th day (197th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 169 days remaining. ... 1870 (MDCCCLXX) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Monday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ... City flag City coat of arms Motto: Fluctuat nec mergitur (Latin: Tossed by the waves, she does not sink) Paris Eiffel tower as seen from the esplanade du Trocadéro. ... Patrice MacMahon, duc de Magenta President of France, 1873-1879 Marie Edmé Patrice Maurice MacMahon, duc de Magenta, Marshal of France (July 13, 1808 - October 16, 1893) was a Frenchman of Irish descent. ... Combatants Prussia Bavaria France Commanders Wilhelm I Helmuth von Moltke Napoleon III Patrice MacMahon Auguste-Alexandre Ducrot Strength 200,000 774 cannon 120,000 564 cannon Casualties 2,320 dead 5,980 wounded 700 missing (9,000 total) 3,000 dead 14,000 wounded 21,000 captured 82,000 surrendered... September 2 is the 245th day of the year (246th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1870 (MDCCCLXX) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Monday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ...

Mitrailleuses were used in many of the major engagements of the war, but their small numbers – only 190 of the Reffye variant in the entire French army – greatly restricted their effectiveness in the field. Their flawed operational usage was a serious problem on the battlefield, as they were often inaccurate and unable to acquire targets quickly enough. To make matters worse, the complex firing mechanism was vulnerable to damage at the hands of inexperienced crews. Fouling of the mechanism by black powder combustion residues could also become a problem after prolonged firings.

In a few instances where the Reffye mitrailleuses were put to good use, they showed that they could have a significant impact. Captain Barbe's mitrailleuse battery at the Battle of Gravelotte devastated massed Prussian infantry when they had quickly found the range on their targets, contributing to the exceptionally high Prussian death toll in that battle. For the most part, however, mitrailleuses proved ineffective. It was concluded after the war that Chassepot rifle fire had caused a far greater number of Prussian casualties than the Reffye mitrailleuses. However, about 100,000 Chassepot rifles were engaged in the conflict, in contrast with the less than 200 Reffye mitrailleuses used at any given time. Combatants Prussia France Commanders Helmuth von Moltke François Achille Bazaine Strength 188,332 732 guns 112,800 520 guns Casualties 20,163 dead, wounded, missing or captured 7,855 dead or wounded, 4,420 captured The Battle of Gravelotte (August 18, 1870) was a battle of the Franco-Prussian...

The Prussians and foreign observers were not impressed by the performance of the mitrailleuse. In the case of the Prussians, their views were undoubtedly coloured by propaganda. They had very few machine guns or volley guns of their own and, not least for reasons of maintaining morale in the face of a new weapon technology, they scorned the effectiveness of the mitrailleuse. They nonetheless saw the weapon as a threat and Prussian artillery always made it a priority to engage and destroy the mitrailleuse batteries. The weapon's characteristic "snarling rasp" does appear to have made some impression – the Prussian troops called the mitrailleuse the "Höllemaschine" ("Hell Machine") ^[7]

Its failure to have much effect in the field led to a belief that rapid-fire weapons were useless. ^[8] United States Army General William Babcock Hazen, who observed the war, commented that "The French mitrailleuse had failed to live up to expectations. The Germans hold it in great contempt, and it will hardly become a permanent military arm." ^[9] Strictly speaking, manually-operated volley guns such as the Reffye mitrailleuse were a technological dead-end – they would be soon be replaced by fully automatic machine guns. The United States Army is the largest branch of the United States armed forces and has primary responsibility for land-based military operations. ... William Babcock Hazen William Babcock Hazen (September 27, 1830 – January 16, 1887) was a career U.S. Army officer who served in the Indian Wars, as a Union general in the American Civil War, and as Chief Signal Officer of the U.S. Army. ...

After Napoleon III's abdication following the disastrous French defeat in the Battle of Sedan, French war powers fell into the hand of a republican government led by Leon Gambetta. He vigorously organized national defense and the continued manufacture of war equipment. Most of the conventional weapon manufacturing was located in provincial France, but some mitrailleuse repair and even construction continued inside Paris during the city's four-month siege. Combatants Prussia Bavaria France Commanders Wilhelm I Helmuth von Moltke Napoleon III Patrice MacMahon Auguste-Alexandre Ducrot Strength 200,000 774 cannon 120,000 564 cannon Casualties 2,320 dead 5,980 wounded 700 missing (9,000 total) 3,000 dead 14,000 wounded 21,000 captured 82,000 surrendered... Painting of Léon Gambetta by Léon Bonnat Léon Gambetta (April 2, 1838 - December 31, 1882), French statesman, was born at Cahors. ... Combatants Prussia, Baden Bavaria, Württemberg (later German Empire) France Commanders Wilhelm I of Germany Helmuth von Moltke Louis Jules Trochu Joseph Vinoy Strength 240,000 regulars 200,000 regulars 200,000 militia and sailors Casualties 12,000 dead or wounded 24,000 dead or wounded 146,000 captured 47...

The manufacture of the mitrailleuse and its ammunition was resumed under the direction of De Reffye in the coastal city of Nantes in western France. An additional 122 mitrailleuses were manufactured in Nantes to replace the nearly 200 mitrailleuses that had already been destroyed and/or captured . Traditional city flag City coat of arms Motto: (Latin: Shall Neptune favour the traveller) Coordinates : , Time Zone : CET (GMT +1) Administration Département Loire-Atlantique (44) Région Pays-de-la-Loire Mayor Jean-Marc Ayrault (PS) (since 1989) Intercommunality Urban Community of Nantes City (commune) Characteristics Land Area 65. ...

After the war

After the armistice with Prussia in May 1871, one of the last recorded uses of Reffye mitrailleuses was by troops under the command of Adolphe Thiers when a battery executed captured Communards in the Bois de Boulogne following the suppression of the Paris Commune. Similar incidents involving the Reffye mitrailleuse are reported to have taken place at the Caserne Lobau, a barracks in the center of Paris. A caricature of Adolphe Thiers charging on the Paris Commune, published in Le Père Duchêne illustré Louis Adolphe Thiers (April 16, 1797–September 3, 1877) was a French statesman and historian. ... The Communards were also an 80s Britpop group Communard is an archaic term that is a synonym of communist. With respect to the history of France, the Communards were the supporters/members of the short-lived Paris Commune formed in the disturbed period immediately after the Franco-Prussian War. ... Edouard Manet: Racecourse in the Bois de Boulogne (1864) Inside the Jardin dAcclimatation The Bois de Boulogne is a park located along the western edge of the 16ème arrondissement of Paris, near the suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt. ... Le Père Duchesne looking at the statue of Napoleon I on top of the Vendome column: Eh ben ! bougre de canaille, on va donc te foutre en bas comme ta crapule de neveu !… (Here! savage rascal, we will put you down just like your crook of a nephew!…) The...

Only a few Reffye mitrailleuses remained in service at the end of the war. They were retired into static point-defence duties, for providing flanking fire in the moats of French fortresses. The last Reffye mitrailleuses were finally removed from forts in eastern France as late as 1908. The Reffye mitailleuses were never sold as surplus by the French government, after the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71), nor were they ever used outside of France. They are often confused with other types of manually operated volley guns such as the Belgian- made Montigny mitrailleuse or even with the Gatling gun. 1908 (MCMVIII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Impact of the mitrailleuse on military development

The long-term effects of the mitrailleuse's poor performance have been the subject of some dispute among historians. In Machine guns: An Illustrated History, J. Willbanks argues that the weapon's ineffectiveness in the Franco-Prussian War resulted in long-standing opposition among European armies to adopting machine gun weapons, particularly in Continental Europe. It is true that the French army did not adopt an automatic machine-gun until 1897, when they chose the Hotchkiss machine gun , later to be followed by the Hotchkiss M1914 machine gun. The French armed forces also adopted another automatic machine gun, the St. Etienne Mle 1907. It has been suggested that the relative slowness displayed by the French services to adopt machine guns was the result of weariness occasioned by the failure of the mitrailleuse. There is some justification to that, for the Maxim gun had repeatedly been tested by the French armed services ever since its inception.^[10] Continental Europe, also referred to as mainland Europe or simply the Continent, is the continent of Europe, explicitly excluding European islands and, at times, peninsulas. ... 1897 (MDCCCXCVII) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... The Hotchkiss machine gun was the standard machine gun of the French Army during World War I. It was made by the French arms company Hotchkiss et Cie, which was set up by American engineer Benjamin B. Hotchkiss after he moved to France in the 1860s. ... The Mle 1914 Hotchkiss machine gun became the standard machine gun of the French Army during World War I. It was manufactured by the French arms company of Hotchkiss et Cie, which had been established in the 1860s by American industrialist Benjamin B. Hotchkiss. ...

In the immediate aftermath of the war, the French put a much greater emphasis on improving their conventional artillery. The failure of French artillery during the 1870-71 campaign served as a strong motivation to develop the De Bange field artillery piece (1877) and eventually the well-known Canon de 75 modèle 1897 field gun. At a normal 15 shells per minute rate of fire, one single 75 mm gun could deliver 4,350 lethal shrapnel balls within one minute, up to 6 km away, versus the 75 bullets per minute that were delivered at up to 2 km distance by one Reffye mitrailleuse. 1877 (MDCCCLXXVII) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Canon de 75 modèle 1897 Riffling of a 75 modèle 1897 The French 75mm field gun is a quick-firing field artillery piece developed before World War I and serving into World War II. It was commonly known as the French 75... A sectioned Shrapnel shell displayed at the Canadian War Museum, Ottawa For other uses, see Shrapnel (disambiguation). ...

Despite such improvements in longer-range artillery, there still remained a need to develop better short- and medium-range infantry support weapons. During the period from 1871 to the 1890s, a variety of new European- and American-designed manual machine guns were adopted by many European armies. Large numbers of Gatling guns were purchased from the United States and were used by Western European powers in colonial wars in Africa, India, and Asia. Twenty-five Gatling guns also saw active service in French hands during the Franco-Prussian war, in early 1871. They performed particularly well at an engagement at Le Mans in western France. Furthermore the French armed services purchased, for their Navy and eastern fortifications, a large number of manual, rapid fire 37 mm multi-barrel guns (so-called "cannon-revolvers") made in France after 1879 by the firm of American expatriate Benjamin Hotchkiss. An 1865 Gatling gun. ... The Portuguese Colonial War (1961-1974) was the result of Portuguese military reaction to the nationalist movements and armed rebelions that emerged in Portugals African colonies. ... A world map showing the continent of Africa. ... World map showing the location of Asia. ... Le Mans is a city in France, located at the Sarthe River. ...

By the 1890s however, European armies begun to retire their Gatling guns and other manual machine-guns in favor of fully automatic machine guns, such as the Maxim gun,the Colt-Browning M1895 and the Hotchkiss machine gun. Such weapons became universal – and notorious – with the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. An early Maxim gun in operation with the Royal Navy A 1895 . ... Polish soldiers with the M1895/M1914 The Colt-Browning M1895 was one of the first successful gas operated machine guns designed by John Moses Browning. ... The Hotchkiss machine gun was the standard machine gun of the French Army during World War I. It was made by the French arms company Hotchkiss et Cie, which was set up by American engineer Benjamin B. Hotchkiss after he moved to France in the 1860s. ... 1914 (MCMXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ...

Modern uses of the term mitrailleuse

Machine guns are still called mitrailleuses in French, following the pattern set by the adoption of the Mitrailleuse Hotchkiss in 1897. An FN 5.56 mm NATO machine gun, the Minimi, derives its name from the term Mini-Mitrailleuse, or literally "little machine gun". Fabrique Nationale de Herstal, more often known as Fabrique Nationale and abbreviated simply as FN, is a well-known firearm manufacturer that originated in the Belgian city of Herstal, near Liège. ... U.S. Military 5. ... Caliber: 5. ...

The term is also used in Norwegian. Although spelled slightly differently as mitraljøse, the pronunciation is similar. In Norway the term nowadays is used to a machine gun (the MG3, labeled as mitr-3, to be specific) mounted on a tripod. This is similar to the German Schwere Maschinengewehr as a term for a regular machine gun mounted on a tripod. The German MG3 is one of the most popular universal machine guns in the World. ...

A related word, metralhadora, is used in Portuguese. Although it is derived from the French mitrailleuse, its pronunciation is different. It describes any automatic firearm.

The word also survived in Slovenian and Serbian, where the generic term for a machine gun is mitraljez. Serbian (српски језик; srpski jezik) is one of the standard versions of the Shtokavian dialect, used primarily in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia, and by Serbs everywhere. ...

Preserved mitrailleuses

An original Reffye mitrailleuse that could bear some mechanical rehabilitation can be seen in Paris at the Musée de l'Armée in the Hotel Des Invalides. It is located in the internal main courtyard, in one of the outside covered galleries. Another preserved mitrailleuse can be found in the Musée royal de l’Armée et d'Histoire Militaire in Brussels. The Musée de LArmée is a museum at Les Invalides in Paris, France. ... The church at the Invalides, with its dome Les Invalides in Paris, France consists of a complex of buildings in the 7th arrondissement, now containing museums and monuments, all relating to Frances military history, as well as a hospital and a retirement home for war veterans, the buildings... Nickname: The Capital Of Europe, Comic City City of a 100 Museums[] Map showing the location of Brussels in Belgium Coordinates: Country Belgium Region Brussels-Capital Region Founded 979 Founded (Region) June 18, 1989  - Mayor (Municipality) Freddy Thielemans Area    - City 162 (Region) km²  (62. ...

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Terry Gander, Machine Guns, p. 13 (Crowood Press, 2003)
2. ^ S Shann, The French Army 1870-71 Franco-Prussian War, p. 39 (Osprey Publishing, 1991)
3. ^ Huon, Jean. Military rifle and machine gun cartridges (Arms & Armor Press, 1988)
4. ^ McCormick, Dr William, On the Surgical Practice of the War (Pall Mall Gazette, 1870)
5. ^ S Shann, L Delperier, French Army of Franco-Prussian War: Imperial Troops, p. 35-36 (Osprey Publishing, 1991)
6. ^ David Nicolle, Gravelotte-St. Privat 1870, p. 25 (Osprey Publishing, 1993)
7. ^ Geoffrey Wawro, The Franco-Prussian War: The German Conquest of France in 1870-1871 (Cambridge University Press, 2003)
8. ^ Julian S. Hatcher, Hatcher's Notebook, p. 74 (1962)
9. ^ Stig Forster, On the Road to Total War: The American Civil War and the German Wars of Unification, 1861–1871, p. 602 (Cambridge University Press, 1997)
10. ^ John Walter, Allied Small Arms of World War One, p.47 (Crowood Press, 2000)

• Richard Holmes, "The Road to Sedan", London, 1984. ISBN 0-391-03163-5. pp.206-208
• Thomas Adriance, "The Last Gaiter Button", New York, 1987. ISBN 0313254699
• Cmdt Frederic Reboul,'"Le Canon a Balles en 1870{The Reffye mitrailleuse in 1870}",163 pages,1910,Librairie Militaire Chapelot,Paris.
• Jean Huon,"Military Rifle and Machine Gun Cartridges"Ironside International Publications,1986,ISBN 0-935554-05.Contains a detailed description ,with photos, of the Reffye mitrailleuse ammunition.

See also

• Vandenburgh gun

External links

• The Mitrailleuse - key characteristic, combat experience by Dr. Patrick Marder
• The Mitrailleuse - development, combat experience