Hotchkiss Mle 1914 8mm Heavy Machine Gun

At the outset of the War, the French Army was equipped with the Hotchkiss-S:t Etienne HMG Mle 1907, but this gun soon proved to be less than satisfactory, and was thus replaced with this model, the Puteaux-Hotchkiss Mle 1914. 

This new gun was produced quickly in large numbers, making it possible to re-equip the French Army. (The Mle 1907 were shipped to Italy, that suffered from lack of Heavy Machine Guns.) 

The Hotchkiss (as it is most often called) was the basic French heavy machine gun during the Great War. (It was also used by them during World War 2.) It was also the standard tank machine gun of the French armoured vehicles during WWI, at the same time it was also used in a number of British Tanks.

The Hotchkiss Mle 1914 functioned only on automatic, was gas operated and air-cooled. The barrel had four grooves, with a left-hand twist. The barrel was heavy and partially rimmed to improve cooling. The construction was simple: it consisted of only 78 parts. It was a very reliable weapon, with the only drawback being the feed method: the metallic feed trays with 24 or 30 8mm Lebel Rounds reduced the practical rate of fire. When belt-feed was introduced later, the guns practical rate of fire was not worse than any water-cooled MG. Although the practical range was some 600 meters, the maximum range was around 4.300 meters, making a long-ranged weapon as well. 

In 1914, each Infantry Regiment had 3 HMG Platoons, each equipped with 2 HMG:s. This was changed in 1915 into one HMG Company with 4 Platoons, making it a total of 8 HMG:s. Gradually more and more HMG Companies were added to the French Regimental and Brigade organizations, so that in 1916 each Infantry Batallion had it's own HMG Company. After this the number of HMG:s in each HMG Company was increased to three, making the number of HMG:s per Infantry Regiment to a total of 36, and for each Infantry Division 108.

In 1918 it was stipulated that each HMG Platoon should carry 3.918 Rounds per Gun, with a reserve at Company Level of of 3.048 Rounds. 

Technical Data