The Chauchat is a French light machine gun, formally the Fusil-Mitrailleur Modele 1915, designed for cheap and rapid mass production using stamped sheet metal parts rather than the more expensive machined components of earlier automatic weapons, adopted by the French army in 1915 and issued in vast numbers, over two hundred fifty thousand produced by the war's end, to give French, and later American, infantry squads a genuinely portable automatic weapon that a single soldier could carry and fire from the shoulder while advancing, unlike the much heavier tripod-mounted machine guns of the period. Its distinctive curved, half-moon-shaped magazine, needed to accommodate the tapered shape of the standard French rifle cartridge, was left with open slots that let dirt and mud from the trenches easily foul the mechanism, and combined with looser wartime production tolerances, the weapon earned a lasting reputation for poor reliability, particularly among the American troops who received a version rechambered for the American .30-06 cartridge that suffered further reliability problems from that conversion. Despite its poor reputation, the Chauchat's sheer numbers meant it remained the most numerous automatic rifle in French and American service through the end of the First World War, giving Allied infantry squads a genuine, if imperfect, source of portable automatic firepower years before more reliable designs became available in comparable numbers.
Facts
Classification
Service Status Weapon Class Introduced Year Weapon Class
Weapon Class (category) FAQs
Why did American soldiers dislike the Chauchat?
It was unreliable in trench mud: weak magazines open to dirt caused about 75 percent of stoppages.
The American Expeditionary Forces used the Chauchat in 1917 and 1918 and notoriously hated it for its unreliability, jokingly nicknaming it the Sho-Sho. The muddy trenches of northern France exposed weaknesses in the design. Construction had been simplified to allow mass production, which left many metal parts of low quality. The magazines caused about 75 percent of stoppages, because they were made of thin metal that deformed if gripped too tightly and were open on one side, letting in mud and dust. The weapon also stopped working when it overheated until it had cooled. By September 1918 the American force had begun replacing it with the M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle.
How many Chauchats were made?
About 262,000 were made between December 1915 and November 1918.
A total of 262,000 Chauchats were manufactured between December 1915 and November 1918. Of these, 244,000 were chambered for the 8mm Lebel service cartridge. That made it the most widely manufactured automatic weapon of the First World War, even though its reputation for reliability was poor.
Connections
Operated By
Source Military Factory: Fusil-Mitrailleur Modele 1915 CSRG (Chauchat) Light Machine Gun (LMG)
Source Wikipedia: Chauchat
Additional Source Military Factory: Fusil-Mitrailleur Modele 1915 CSRG (Chauchat) Light Machine Gun (LMG)Operators list
Source Military Factory: Fusil-Mitrailleur Modele 1915 CSRG (Chauchat) Light Machine Gun (LMG)
Source Military Factory: Fusil-Mitrailleur Modele 1915 CSRG (Chauchat) Light Machine Gun (LMG)
Used In
Source Wikipedia: Chauchat
Source Wikipedia: Chauchat
Source Wikipedia: Chauchat
Source Wikipedia: Chauchat
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Chauchat
WikipediaLead section
The Chauchat (French pronunciation: [ʃoʃa], shoh-sha) was the standard light machine gun or "machine rifle" of the French Army during World War I (1914-18).
Lead section, production total sentence
A total of 262,000 Chauchats were manufactured between December 1915 and November 1918
service status
, the Model 1918, proved to be fundamentally defective and had to be withdrawn from service
caliber
cartridge = * 8×50mmR Lebel .30-06 Springfield 7.92×57mm Mauser 7.65×53mm Mauser
Lead and body text
The German army tried to modify some of these guns to fire the 7.92×57mm Mauser cartridge.
- Infobox: cartridge
Lead and body text (8mm Lebel)
The Chauchat in 8mm Lebel was also used in 1917-18 by the American Expeditionary Forces (A.E.F.) (who notoriously hated it for its unreliability and jokingly nicknamed it the "Sho-Sho") where it was officially designated as the "Automatic Rifle, Model 1915 (Chauchat)".
Lead and body text (.30-06 Springfield)
.30-06 Springfield and in 7.65×53mm Argentine Mauser caliber to arm the American Expeditionary Forces (A.E.F.) and the Belgian Army, respectively.
Infobox: service
1915-1948
- Used In: World War I, infobox wars field: 'World War I'
- Used In: Russian Civil War, infobox wars field: 'Russian Civil War'
- Used In: Spanish Civil War, infobox wars field: 'Spanish Civil War'
- Used In: World War II, infobox wars field: 'World War II'
Operated By: French Armed Forces, Article text
Shortly after World War I, the French army replaced the Chauchat with the new gas-operated Mle 1924 light machine gun.
In Group: Light Machine Guns, Infobox: type
Light machine gun Automatic rifle
View the Source Military Factory: Fusil-Mitrailleur Modele 1915 CSRG (Chauchat) Light Machine Gun (LMG)
Military FactoryOperated By: Finnish Defence Forces, Operators list
Belgium; Bulgaria; Finland; France; Greece; Kingdom of Italy; Poland; Romania; Imperial Russia; Serbia; Soviet Union; United States
Operated By: French Armed Forces, Operators list
Belgium; Bulgaria; Finland; France; Greece; Kingdom of Italy; Poland; Romania; Imperial Russia; Serbia; Soviet Union; United States
Operated By: Soviet Armed Forces, Operators list
Belgium; Bulgaria; Finland; France; Greece; Kingdom of Italy; Poland; Romania; Imperial Russia; Serbia; Soviet Union; United States
Operated By: United States Armed Forces, Operators list
Belgium; Bulgaria; Finland; France; Greece; Kingdom of Italy; Poland; Romania; Imperial Russia; Serbia; Soviet Union; United States
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