Hotchkiss M1914

Origins

The Hotchkiss company was founded in France by the American engineer Benjamin Hotchkiss, who died in 1885. Its factory at Saint-Denis, north of Paris, made cannon and ammunition. In 1893 an Austrian officer, Captain Adolf Odkolek von Augezd, sold the firm the design of a gas-operated machine gun. The American Laurence Benét and the Frenchman Henri Mercié improved it, and the company sold it as the Model 1897 and then the Model 1900. The Japanese used Hotchkiss guns in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05. The French army bought some, but it preferred guns designed in its own arsenals and adopted the Saint-Étienne Model 1907 as its main machine gun. A further improved Hotchkiss was adopted as the Model 1914.

Design & Construction

Unlike the recoil-operated Maxim Gun, the Hotchkiss used gas. Some of the gas from each shot was taken through a hole in the barrel to push a piston, which worked the bolt. The gun was air-cooled. There was no water jacket, but heavy metal fins around the rear of the barrel helped it shed heat, and a hot barrel could be changed. It fired the 8mm Lebel cartridge of the Lebel Model 1886 rifle. Instead of a cloth belt it was fed by rigid metal strips holding 24 rounds, pushed in from the side by a loader while the gunner fired. A jointed strip belt of 250 rounds was also made. The rate of fire was about 400 to 500 rounds a minute. The gun weighed about 52 pounds, and its tripod weighed about as much again, so it was carried by a team. Its great strength was reliability. It had few parts that could break, and it kept working in mud and dust that jammed the Saint-Étienne.

Combat Use

At the start of World War I each French infantry battalion had a section of two machine guns, a mix of Hotchkiss and Saint-Étienne guns. At the First Battle of the Marne in September 1914 these guns helped French infantry hold positions against German attacks, while the French 75 did most of the killing. Most sources describe the Hotchkiss guns of 1914 as the earlier Model 1900, with the M1914 changes coming into production during the war. Trench warfare showed that the Saint-Étienne was unreliable, and from 1916 the Hotchkiss replaced it as the main French heavy machine gun. Tens of thousands were made. When the United States entered the war its divisions in France were short of machine guns, and many were issued the Hotchkiss. Some Hotchkiss guns were also mounted in French tanks and aircraft.

Legacy

After 1918 the Hotchkiss was exported to many countries and made in several calibers. Japan built its own heavy machine guns on the same design. The French army still used the M1914 in large numbers in 1940, and Free French forces carried it later in World War II. It was heavy by later standards, but it was one of the most dependable machine guns of its time.