06 French Light Machine Gun FM 1915 Model Calibre 8 mm Lebel

Fotogalerie

The air-cooled light machine gun, designated for the standard French 8 mm Lebel rifle cartridge, was designed in 1911 by Jaques L. H. Chauchat and Charles Sutter. Due to an acute shortage of automatic weapons, the French army put it into service under the designation Fusil Mitrailleur Mle. 1915, and the Chief of the General Staff of the French Army, Joffre, signed an order for 50,000 machine guns, which was awarded to the Paris-based company Gladiator. Up to that time, they had only made bicycles and automobiles. Weapons made by Gladiator during the war bore the mark of C.S.R.G., formed by the initials of the two designers, the third letter denoting the surname of Paul Ryberioll, the company’s manager, and the last letter denoting the manufacturer.

The machine guns debuted in combat during the Somme offensive and in July 1916, the order was increased to 110,000 pieces. An order for production was also placed with the Naval Steelworks of Saint-Chamond. However, by the end of the war, they had produced only 20,000 machine guns, while Gladiator had supplied more than 227,000 to the army.