French
Guns
FM 24-29 History
Overview
The French Army was not entirely satisfied with the machine guns it used in World War I - the Chauchat and to a lesser extent the Hotchkiss - and was keen to acquire something a good deal better. Impressed with the Browning Automatic Rifle it had received from the US Army, the French decided to develop a machine gun based on that weapon’s action. This gun would be developed and produced by the Manufacture d'Armes de Châtellerault.
Châtellerault in 1921 began to design the modèle 1924 (Model 1924; abbreviated mle 1924) machine gun based on France’s newly adopted parallel-walled 7.5-mm (0.295-in) balle 1924C (Bullet 1924C) ammunition. A cartridge redesign - based on the shorter 7.5-mm (0.295-in) Swiss Service cartridge - led Châtellerault to develop the improved mle 1924/29 machine gun, which entered service in 1929.
The Châtellerault machine guns used the basic Browning Automatic Rifle action - a tilting bolt locked by engaging a shoulder in the roof of the receiver - modified for a top-mounted magazine. It was gas-operated and tapped the gas close to the muzzle. A shock absorber fitted into the butt meant a less violent action than that of the Browning. The weapon did not have a change lever and instead used two triggers, the front for single shots and the rear for automatic fire. Like the Browning, the Châtellerault did not have a changeable barrel.
The Châtellerault entered service as the Fusil-mitrailleur (machine gun) mle 1924/29 and slowly replaced all earlier machine guns, completing its takeover by 1938. French troops liked it and the weapon remained France’s standard light machine gun until the mid-1950s. A Châtellerault modified for use in the Maginot Line fortifications was issued in 1931 as the Mitrailleuse de (Machine Gun of) 7.5mm (0.295 in) mle 1931. This variant had a longer barrel and a 150-round drum magazine mounted vertically on the side of the gun. A water-injection device sprayed cold water into the chamber as each spent case was extracted to aid barrel cooling during sustained fire. The mle 1931 was also mounted as a tank machine gun.
Substantial numbers of both mle 1924/29s and mle 1931s were captured by the Germans in the occupation of France. The captured weapons were used to arm the German occupation forces and coastal defenses in France and the Channel Islands, with the mle 1931 frequently adapted for anti-aircraft work. These weapons were eventually added to the Volkssturm (People’s Militia) armory. Captured M1924/29 guns were taken into German service as 7.5mm leMG116(f) and M1931 guns as 7.5mm KpfwMG311(f).