Vintage photo
Vintage Saturday: A 1914 Hotchkiss
Not sure where these poilu are fighting, but the fellow in the back appears to have swapped his regulation Kepi for a bowler and shaved off his moustache.
France
Vintage photo
Vintage Saturday: French AA Gunners with a 1907 St Etienne
I don’t think that’s a standard-issue tripod – more like something built for an 8-foot-tall surveyor. Also, note the feed strip box on the ground below the gunner.
Book review
Book Review: Military Handguns of France 1858-1958
Since we looked at a couple French revolvers yesterday, it seems only appropriate to have a resource on them (and later French automatic pistols) today. Specifically, Military Handguns of France by Eugene Medlin and Jean […]
Handgun
Video: French Military Centerfire Revolvers
Today we’re look at the two main French military centerfire revolvers – the model 1873 and model 1892. These both served for many decades with French troop around the world, and they’re interesting designs. I […]
Vintage photo
Vintage Saturday: A View of No-Man’s-Land
I’m hard-pressed to think of anything humorous to say about this snapshot – World War I does not lend itself well to glorification or joviality. I suppose it’s simply worth considering that if you think […]
Artillery
Hotchkiss Revolving Cannon tests
Today we have a copy of an official US testing report on the Hotchkiss Revolving Cannon (a 37mm / 1.5″ model). The testing was carried out between September 1876 and February 1877 at Sandy Hook […]
Light MGs
French 1923 LMG Trials Report
In 1923, the French military held a light machine gun trial to choose a weapon to replace the CSRG Chauchat. The trials involved weapons evaluations both by an expert committee and by 9 regiments testing […]
Book review
Book Review: Proud Promise, by Jean Huon
We’ve all heard the jokes about French guns – never fired and only dropped once. It’s a shame that they developed that type of stereotypical reputation here in the US, because the French were actually […]
Vintage photo
Artillery
M1916 37mm gun
A machine gun trumps a rifle and, in theory, artillery trumps a machine gun. That was the plan when France introduced the model 1916 37mm gun for infantry support. It was designed for both direct […]