Berthier rifle
Encyclopedia
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.
troops during the 1890s.
and Senegalese
Tirailleur
troops. Lighter and easier to handle and load than the Mle 1886/M93 Lebel rifle, the Berthier rifles proved more suitable for offhand shooting and easier to maintain in tropical environments. In comparison to the Mle 1886 Lebel, the Berthier's sights were also wider, higher and more substantial. Like their shorter carbine counterparts, these Berthier rifles also featured a Mannlicher-type 3-round en bloc clip-loaded magazine and used 8 mm Lebel
ammunition. The Mle 1902 and Mle 1907 were made on special order and in small numbers (altogether about 5,000 rifles) by the Manufacture d'Armes de Châtellerault.
, Greece
, American Expeditionary Force African-American regiments detached to the French Army). It was also issued to some French regular infantry regiments after 1916 in order to bring relief to an endemic shortage of the Lebel rifle. Both the Manufacture d'armes de Saint-Étienne and the MAC (Châtellerault) were the principal state contractors for the Mle 1907/15 rifle. French civilian contractors (Delaunay-Belleville
and Continsouza) also participated massively in the manufacture of the Mle 1907/15 rifle.
Remington UMC also contracted to produce a French Army order for 200,000 Mle 1907/15 rifles. Although very well finished, the Remington order was rejected by French Government acceptance inspectors, who alleged that the rifles did not meet French barrel rifling and chamber dimensional standards. The contract was canceled after approximately half of the rifles were manufactured; and those rifles were stored at the Remington factory until purchased by the United States government and issued to African-American soldiers assigned to fight under French command with French colonial troops. Many of these rifles subsequently appeared on the surplus market in the United States, often converted for hunting or sporting purposes. These rifles hold special significance to African-American historians.
In combat service, most infantrymen found the Berthier rifle and carbine, with their one-piece stocks and fast-loading en bloc magazine and one-piece stock, to be an improvement. However, the limited ammunition capacity of the Berthier Mle 1907/15's magazine (3 rounds) was viewed as a great disadvantage by troops in close contact with the enemy or participating in assaults or trench raids.
In response, French military authorities introduced a modified Berthier rifle in 1916, designated Fusil Mle 1907/15-M16 but generally called the 1916 rifle (Fusil Mle 1916). The new rifle had a five-round charger-loaded magazine. The Mle 1916 Berthier rifle appeared rather late and only in small numbers on the front lines during the summer of 1918. With its greater cartridge capacity, it was immediately better received than the Mle 1907/15 rifle. Nevertheless, some commanders continued to lobby for reissuance of the older Mle 1886/93 Lebel for their infantry troops. After World War I, the French Foreign Legion
, which carried the 3-shot Mle 1907-15 during most of its post-1916 combat operations, was re-equipped with the older Mle 1886 M93 Lebel 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 8 mm Lebel cartridge, which was poorly suited to large-capacity rifle magazines and to automatic or semi-automatic weapons. After considerable delay, a modern 7.5 mm 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.
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.
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.
Berthier carbine
The Berthier carbine was a French service rifle adopted in 1892, which was widely used during the First and Second World War....
with a five round clip ( Mle 1890M16, 1892M16 and Mle 1916 "mousquetons" ) was again utilized by French Foreign Legion
French Foreign Legion
The French Foreign Legion is a unique military service wing of the French Army established in 1831. The foreign legion was exclusively created for foreign nationals willing to serve in the French Armed Forces...
and some colonial infantry and cavalry units, including the French Spahis
1er Régiment de Spahis Marocains
The First Regiment of Moroccan Spahis is an cavalry regiment of the French Army which was founded in 1914. It saw service in both the First World War and the Second World War as part of the Forces Françaises Libres as well as post-war service in the French-Indochina War and elsewhere...
. Mle 1916 Berthier carbines were retained in some French law enforcement units (e.g. the "Compagnies Republicaines de Securite
Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité
The Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité are the riot control forces and general reserve of the French National Police. The CRS were created on 8 December 1944 and the first units were organised by 31 January 1945. The CRS were reorganized in 1948...
" 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 Mousqueton (carbine), Mle 1890 and Mle 1892
The Berthier design began as the "Mousquetons Berthier" - a series of bolt action cavalry and artillery carbines with distinctly different actions from the Mle 1886M93 8mm Lebel rifle. For instance the Berthier carbine's bolt lugs do lock vertically into the receiver instead of horizontally as in the Lebel rifle. Berthier carbines were first issued in 1890 and 1892, and had been designed by Emile Berthier, an engineer at the French Algerian Railways,to be used with standard 8mm Lebel ammunition. The Berthier design was introduced as a replacement for the various aging Mle 1874 Gras single-shot carbines - still standard for French cavalry, artillery, and gendarme forces even after the 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 gendarmerieGendarmerie
A gendarmerie or gendarmery is a military force charged with police duties among civilian populations. Members of such a force are typically called "gendarmes". The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary describes a gendarme as "a soldier who is employed on police duties" and a "gendarmery, -erie" as...
troops during the 1890s.
Fusil Mle 1902 and Mle 1907
After the success of the Berthier carbines or mousquetons, two full-length Berthier rifles were introduced during the years preceding World War I. They were the fusil Mle 1902 ("rifle, model of 1902") and the fusil Mle 1907, which were issued respectively to IndochineseIndochina
The Indochinese peninsula, is a region in Southeast Asia. It lies roughly southwest of China, and east of India. The name has its origins in the French, Indochine, as a combination of the names of "China" and "India", and was adopted when French colonizers in Vietnam began expanding their territory...
and Senegalese
Senegalese Tirailleurs
The Senegalese Tirailleurs were a corps of colonial infantry in the French Army recruited from Senegal,French West Africa and throughout west, central and east Africa, the main province of the French colonial empire...
Tirailleur
Tirailleur
Tirailleur literally means a shooting skirmisher in French from tir—shot. The term dates back to the Napoleonic period where it was used to designate light infantry trained to skirmish ahead of the main columns...
troops. Lighter and easier to handle and load than the Mle 1886/M93 Lebel rifle, the Berthier rifles proved more suitable for offhand shooting and easier to maintain in tropical environments. In comparison to the Mle 1886 Lebel, the Berthier's sights were also wider, higher and more substantial. Like their shorter carbine counterparts, these Berthier rifles also featured a Mannlicher-type 3-round en bloc clip-loaded magazine and used 8 mm Lebel
8 mm Lebel
The 8×50mmR French rifle cartridge was the first smokeless gunpowder cartridge to be made and adopted by any country. It was introduced by France in 1886. Formed by necking down the 11 mm Gras black powder cartridge, the smokeless 8 mm Lebel cartridge started a revolution in military rifle...
ammunition. The Mle 1902 and Mle 1907 were made on special order and in small numbers (altogether about 5,000 rifles) by the Manufacture d'Armes de Châtellerault.
World War I and the Fusil Mle 1907/15
During World War I, a modified version of the 3-round clip Mle 1907 rifle called Fusil Mle 1907/15 was manufactured in large numbers ( altogether 435,000 rifles ) and issued to colonial troops, to the French Foreign Legion and to many minor allies (e.g. Russian Legion in France, SerbiaSerbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, American Expeditionary Force African-American regiments detached to the French Army). It was also issued to some French regular infantry regiments after 1916 in order to bring relief to an endemic shortage of the Lebel rifle. Both the Manufacture d'armes de Saint-Étienne and the MAC (Châtellerault) were the principal state contractors for the Mle 1907/15 rifle. French civilian contractors (Delaunay-Belleville
Delaunay-Belleville
Automobiles Delaunay-Belleville was a French luxury automobile manufacturer from Saint-Denis, France, north of Paris. At the beginning of the 20th century they were among the most prestigious cars produced in the world, and perhaps the most desirable French marque.Julien Belleville had been a maker...
and Continsouza) also participated massively in the manufacture of the Mle 1907/15 rifle.
Remington UMC also contracted to produce a French Army order for 200,000 Mle 1907/15 rifles. Although very well finished, the Remington order was rejected by French Government acceptance inspectors, who alleged that the rifles did not meet French barrel rifling and chamber dimensional standards. The contract was canceled after approximately half of the rifles were manufactured; and those rifles were stored at the Remington factory until purchased by the United States government and issued to African-American soldiers assigned to fight under French command with French colonial troops. Many of these rifles subsequently appeared on the surplus market in the United States, often converted for hunting or sporting purposes. These rifles hold special significance to African-American historians.
In combat service, most infantrymen found the Berthier rifle and carbine, with their one-piece stocks and fast-loading en bloc magazine and one-piece stock, to be an improvement. However, the limited ammunition capacity of the Berthier Mle 1907/15's magazine (3 rounds) was viewed as a great disadvantage by troops in close contact with the enemy or participating in assaults or trench raids.
In response, French military authorities introduced a modified Berthier rifle in 1916, designated Fusil Mle 1907/15-M16 but generally called the 1916 rifle (Fusil Mle 1916). The new rifle had a five-round charger-loaded magazine. The Mle 1916 Berthier rifle appeared rather late and only in small numbers on the front lines during the summer of 1918. With its greater cartridge capacity, it was immediately better received than the Mle 1907/15 rifle. Nevertheless, some commanders continued to lobby for reissuance of the older Mle 1886/93 Lebel for their infantry troops. After World War I, the French Foreign Legion
French Foreign Legion
The French Foreign Legion is a unique military service wing of the French Army established in 1831. The foreign legion was exclusively created for foreign nationals willing to serve in the French Armed Forces...
, which carried the 3-shot Mle 1907-15 during most of its post-1916 combat operations, was re-equipped with the older Mle 1886 M93 Lebel rifle.
Once of the most successful and long-lived variants of the Berthier system was the short and handy carbine version
Berthier carbine
The Berthier carbine was a French service rifle adopted in 1892, which was widely used during the First and Second World War....
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 8 mm Lebel cartridge, which was poorly suited to large-capacity rifle magazines and to automatic or semi-automatic weapons. After considerable delay, a modern 7.5 mm mle 1929
7.5x54mm French
The 7.5×54mm French MAS or 7.5 French cartridge was developed by France as an update to the 7.5×57mm MAS mod. 1924 cartridge. It replaced the obsolete 8 mm Lebel round used during World War I. In terms of power it is somewhat comparable to the 7.62×51mm NATO/.308 Winchester round...
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
MAS-36
The MAS Modèle 36 is a bolt-action rifle. It was adopted in 1936 by France, and was intended to replace the Berthier and Lebel series of service rifles. It was manufactured by MAS The MAS Modèle 36 is a bolt-action rifle. It was adopted in 1936 by France, and was intended to replace the Berthier...
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 carbineBerthier carbine
The Berthier carbine was a French service rifle adopted in 1892, which was widely used during the First and Second World War....
with a five round clip ( Mle 1890 M16, 1892 M16 and Mle 1916 "mousquetons" ) was again utilized by French Foreign Legion
French Foreign Legion
The French Foreign Legion is a unique military service wing of the French Army established in 1831. The foreign legion was exclusively created for foreign nationals willing to serve in the French Armed Forces...
and some overseas colonial infantry and cavalry units, including the French Spahis
1er Régiment de Spahis Marocains
The First Regiment of Moroccan Spahis is an cavalry regiment of the French Army which was founded in 1914. It saw service in both the First World War and the Second World War as part of the Forces Françaises Libres as well as post-war service in the French-Indochina War and elsewhere...
, 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
Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité
The Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité are the riot control forces and general reserve of the French National Police. The CRS were created on 8 December 1944 and the first units were organised by 31 January 1945. The CRS were reorganized in 1948...
" 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.
External links
- http://armesfrancaises.free.fr/FR%20Mle%2007-15.html