In a smoky coffee shop you will involuntarily become sad
Above a letter to a distant one.
Your heart will beat and you will remember Paris, And the hum of his country:
On the way, on the way, the day of fun is over, it's time to hike.
Aim for the chest, little zouave, shout hurray!
For many days, believing in miracles - Suzanne is waiting.
She has blue eyes and a scarlet mouth.
Song from the movie "Red Square")
Probably, many of us remember this film, shot in the USSR in 1979, and, in my opinion, this is the best among all films on this topic. Both in the first and in the second series, this song sounds there, and it emphasizes that the Zouaves, that is, the French colonial troops, were staffed with short soldiers. And in France, the second colonial power after England at the beginning of the twentieth century, this circumstance was taken into account in the system of small arms, although not on purpose, but by the will of circumstances.
French soldier with a 1907 Berthier rifle.
It just so happened that soon after the Lebel rifle entered service with the French army, it became clear that this sample had a number of shortcomings, and the most important of them was its tubular magazine. Yes, it could hold as many as eight rounds, while all other rifles had 5-6 rounds in their magazines, but … In them, they were loaded either by a pack or by a clip, but they had to be loaded into the Lebel one at a time! But since at that time the in-line production of this rifle was already established, it was only possible to make a helpless gesture, since it was difficult to make any serious changes in their design on the fly. Therefore, the French military showed "wisdom". Relying on the mass production of Lebel's rifles, start gradually introducing another model of the rifle into service, hoping that over time, gradually, the second rifle, as a more advanced one, will painlessly oust the first in the army.
Berthier cavalry carbine and clips for it.
In this regard, the process of the gradual introduction of the Berthier rifle began, the history of which began with a cavalry carbine, developed back in 1890. Work on the new rifle dragged on … 17 years and was completed only with the appearance of the sample in 1907, and then this model, which was called the rifle arr. 1907, was sent to the French troops in the colonies, and above all in Indochina.
The bolt handle of the Berthier carbine arr. 1916 g.
Berthier's new rifle was a development of his previous designs and, above all, his 1890 carbine. Then it turned out that if it was still possible to load Lebel's rifle in the infantry, then in the cavalry it was just very inconvenient and difficult, and then Emile Berthier, an engineer of the Algerian railway, offered his own sample. The carbine had a Gra rifle bolt and a Mannlicher rifle pack store. The only difference was that Mannlicher's pack had “top” and “bottom” and you had to look at which “end” you shove it into the store so that it would not get jammed. And Berthier made the pack symmetrical, but only for three rounds. However, his cavalrymen liked the carbine. And above all by the fact that it had a solid wood stock, which very elegantly "flowed" around his store. In addition, it had an extended reloading handle, which was comfortable to work in the saddle!
Rifle model 1907 with a bayonet.
Berthier rifle with a five-round magazine.
Mle M16 sniper rifle of the 1917 model.
In 1902, on its basis, a "colonial rifle" was adopted for the small natives of Asia and Africa, for whom the standard "lebel" was too long and heavy. "Berthier" was shorter and lighter, and therefore more convenient for all sorts of Annamites and Malays, of whom the French, following the pattern of the British, also recruited their colonial troops. In 1907, a longer "Senegalese version" appeared for much taller Senegalese Negroes, but also with a magazine for three rounds, so that, having rebelled, they would not have a fire advantage over the troops of the mother country!
French 8mm welted cartridges.
The situation changed dramatically in 1915, when the size of the French army increased so much that it ran out of stocks of weapons. The production of Berthier rifles was then sharply increased, an order was placed on it in the USA at the Remington plant, and it gradually began to displace outdated samples. The new sample was named rifle arr. 1907/15. Soon it began to enter the front in such quantities that it became the main weapon of the French infantry in mass, and was used not only in the First World War, but also remained in service until 1940.
A pack of three rounds (left) and five (right).
Initially, it retained a magazine for three rounds, but this amount of cartridges compared to the German "Mauser" was not enough. Then the store was lengthened so that a five-shot pack would fit into it. This modification of the rifle went into mass production as a rifle mod. 1916 of the year. Her store protruded from the box, which was very inconvenient, since this was where her center of gravity was.
This is how the bolt looked on the Berthier rifle. As you can see, the bolt handle of the infantry rifle was short and did not bend down.
The shutter is open. The feeder lever is clearly visible.
See the screw heads? Neither the rifle itself nor its bolt can be disassembled without a screwdriver, which, however, was a characteristic feature of the weapon of that time.
Rifles mod. 1907/15 and 1916 quickly gained popularity among the troops: however, they were too long for melee in the trenches, but with a long T-shaped bayonet they were indispensable in a bayonet attack, they were also convenient to shoot from, and the soldiers usually preferred them Lebel's old rifles. These rifles arr. 1907/15 were produced in huge quantities. Moreover, although they were produced by Remington in the USA, all these products were sent only to the French army. Not a single rifle "went to the side". At the end of the war, her service continued until 1934, when the French thought to remake the rifle for a new 7, 5-mm cartridge, designed specifically for light machine guns. The new rifle received not only a new barrel, but also a five-shot two-row Mauser magazine and received the designation 1907/15 M34 rifle. However, the process of changing barrels was very slow. So slowly that by May 1940, only a small part of the existing rifles were converted to a new caliber, which only complicated the supply of ammunition to the troops.
And this is how an empty pack fell out of the store.
There were many different protrusions inside the receiver, which required complex operations for their processing on milling machines.
After the surrender of France in June 1940, the Germans received an extremely large number of a wide variety of French rifles. They began to use some of them to arm their rear units, but sent most of them for storage in arsenals (but in 1945 they began to arm the Volkssturm and other similar formations). In addition, on the territory of the USSR, policemen were armed with them, giving each of them two clips. Somehow he turned out to be armed, but there was no point in running to the partisans with such a "weapon".
On the rifle that fell into my hands, this "spike and cap" was broken off. But he had to look like this.
It seems that this part was used for setting rifles in the box. However, it was possible to shoot from it without this detail.
Undoubtedly, the Germans, famous for their pedantry, were far from enthusiastic about the need to systematize all these trophies, but in the conditions of total war they had to arm not only their troops, but also their satellites. That is why captured French rifles came in handy and gradually spread almost throughout Europe. They were used to arm the Vichy troops and collaborationist units, in particular the Charlemagne battalion. Well, today these old French rifles can be seen both in museums and in private collections.
Rifle marking 1907
Rifle marking 1916
As for the design of this type of small arms, it is a typical representative of the French gun school of the late 19th century. Rifle length arr. 1916 1306 mm, barrel length - 803 mm. Weight - 4, 19 kg. Caliber: 8 mm, cartridge with welted sleeve and bullet from tombak alloy. The straight neck of the butt was convenient for holding it in a bayonet attack. But in the hands of the rifle it seems heavy and too long even for a modern person. For the sake of simplicity, the rifle did not have a fuse. Until 1915, there was no upper barrel lining on it either. The bayonet had a brass handle, that is, it was also not an easy weapon.
The ring is just like a horse harness!
As for personal impressions, then … it is very long and therefore uncomfortable. And this is without a bayonet. And to shoot her from the hands with a bayonet - this, probably, she just pulls her hands off! A very inconvenient store with a lid. It was not on the carbine. As on all Mannlicher rifles, there was a hole through which the pack fell out of the rifle. But then they decided to close it with an opening lid, which made it even more inconvenient than before. How will a spent pack fall out of the store if, say, it rests on the ground? That is, this had to be constantly remembered.
The magazine lid is open. It was through this hole that the spent pack fell out. On the side of the magazine case, you can see the recesses for the fingers, so that it is convenient to open the lid!
