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Berthier Rifles and Carbines (France)
Berthier Rifles and Carbines (France)
Berthier rifle
Berthier rifle
Service history
Inservice Usedby Wars 19151940s France, Germany World War I, Rif War (1920), World War II.
Specifications
Cartridge Action 850R mm 7.554mm French Bolt-action
Muzzlevelocity 1,950 ft/s (594.5 m/s) Feedsystem 3- or 5-round magazine, clip fed
The Berthier rifles and carbines were a family of bolt-action small arms in 8mm Lebel, used in the French Army from the 1890s to the beginning of World War II (1940). After World War II, the Berthier carbine with a five round clip ( Mle 1890M16, 1892M16 and Mle 1916 "mousquetons" ) was again utilized by French Foreign Legion and some colonial infantry and cavalry units, including the French Spahis. Mle 1916 Berthier carbines were retained in some French law enforcement units (e.g. the "Compagnies Republicaines de Securite" or "CRS") until the 1960s. The Berthier weapons were invented by a French civilian engineer in the Algerian railways, named Emile Berthier, whose first short carbine designed to arm cavalry troops was adopted by the French Army on March 14,1890.
Berthier rifle introduction of the Mle 1886M93 Lebel. Prior experiments with several carbine versions of the Lebel action proved unacceptably heavy and slow to load while on horseback. While retaining most of the bolt action's strong points, the Berthier carbine improved on the earlier Mle 1886 rifle by using a one-piece stock and a Mannlicher-style, charger-loaded en bloc 3 shot clip. These Berthier carbines were progressively allocated to all cavalry,artillery and gendarmerie troops during the 1890s.
Berthier rifle Once of the most successful and long-lived variants of the Berthier system was the short and handy carbine version of the five-shot Mle 1916 Berthier, designated "'Mousqueton Berthier Mle 1892/M16". This carbine proved very popular with mounted cavalry, artillery, and reconnaissance troops. It was still in service with some French law enforcement units as late as the 1960s. After World War I, the French military sought to replace the 8mm Lebel cartridge, which was poorly suited to large-capacity rifle magazines and to automatic or semi-automatic weapons. After considerable delay, a modern 7.5mm mle 1929 rimless cartridge was finally introduced for the FM 24/29 light machine gun. Berthier rifles were converted (Fusil Mle 1907/15-M34) or newly manufactured (Fusil Mle 1934) to make use of the new round. However, this was merely an interim measure, as the French Army adopted the MAS-36 as its new standard bolt-action rifle. In the end, the production of converted Mle 1907/15-M34 Berthier rifles was limited to approximately 40,000 units.
World War II
Despite the advent of the MAS-36, the French Army did not have enough of the new rifles for all of its forces. Berthier rifles and carbines remained in service and saw action in both France and Norway in 1940. Selected Berthier Mle 1907/15-M16 (Fusil Mle 1916) rifles were fitted with telescopic sights and used, along with scoped Mle 1886/R93 rifles, by marksmen detailed to serve with some French units. In September 1938, the French Army also introduced the corps franc, special formations of infiltration and deep reconnaissance soldiers formed into l'equipe or assault teams. These elite reconnaissance and infiltration troops were equipped with a variety of small arms, including a combat knife, a handgun, grenades, and Berthier Mle 1892/M16 carbines. During World War II, the Third Reich issued plenty of captured Berthiers to German occupation forces in France, mainly to Atlantic Wall units. Some were used by police units fighting partisans in various eastern European countries including security units operating at the rear of German front lines in Soviet Union.
Postwar Usage
After World War II, most Berthier rifles were retired, except for some rifles held by indigenous units and reserve forces. However, the Berthier carbine with a five round clip ( Mle 1890 M16, 1892 M16 and Mle 1916 "mousquetons" ) was again utilized by French Foreign Legion and some overseas colonial infantry and cavalry units, including the French Spahis, French motorized cavalry units, and frontier border guards. Berthier carbines were retained in some French law enforcement units (e.g. the "Compagnies Republicaines de Securite" or "CRS") as late as the 1980s. In the late 1940s, Turkish Forest Service began issuing three-shot Berthier carbines, altered to utilize a full-length Mannlicher-style stock. These rifles, known to collectors as "Turkish Forestry Carbines", were used to protect the Caucasian walnut forests from illegal logging.
References
[1] Canfield, Bruce N. American Rifleman (April 2009) p.40
External links
http://armesfrancaises.free.fr/FR%20Mle%2007-15.html (French)
License
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported //creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/