"Lewis gun query" Topic

Did the US Army use the Lewis gun in the Great War or just the crappy French Lt. MG? I know the BAR came out a few weeks before the war was over.

Apparently, some U.S. units under British command got them. The US Army finally bought them, but only issued them stateside.

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The crappy French ones (Chaucet?). I recall reading or hearing that US units originally equipped with Lewis guns had to turn them in.

Mark

The USMC adopted the Lewis Gun and the US Army did not. However they did sometimes make it in to US Army units. Particularly those who were near British units.

My US Army WWI units have a few, but not a lot.

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Mike Bunkermeister Creek
bunkermeister.blogspot.com

The USMC has a fine tradition of adopting British customs and kit (speaking as someone who helped build the Harrier).

Please be cautious about the interpretations of the Chauchat LMG/automatic rifle. It was the forerunner of the modern assault rifle and was highly prized by German stormtrooper specialists. So much so that any stormtrooper who captured one was given a financial reward.

All of the LMGs/automatic rifles were prone to jamming in WW1. I have live footage taken in 1918 of an MG08/15 being used in live firing exercises. It jammed multiple times during the film segment, which only lasts a few minutes.

Robert

+1 monk2002uk.

One of the reasons the US version of the Chauchat had so many problems was due to a USA requirement to convert the ammo from 8mm to .03-06. This conversion was badly done and made many of the US Army's Chauchat inoperable.

"While the performance of the M1915 Chauchat in 8 mm Lebel was combat-effective, judging by the numbers of decorated U.S. Chauchat gunners found in the U.S. Divisional Histories, the performance of the M1918 Chauchat in .30-06 was soon recognized as abysmal (and in large part the reason for the gun's bad reputation)."

For anyone interested and in the area, there is a Chauchat hanging from the ceiling of the Marine Specialties store in Provincetown, MA. I was there just last week and was somewhat surprised to find it, along with a similarly dusty Boys ATR.

22nd Foot – I have seen that and was a bit surprised to find it way out at the end of the Cape.

I have my grandfather's Chauchat field manual from WWI. His regiment was loaned to the French, who gave them all their weapons, since the US wasn't keen to arm black soldiers. As a close support artillery officer, his men were armed with a large number of Chauchats in their secondary role as an anti-air unit. He penciled in only one comment, "Clean magazines daily."

Yes, that comment applied to MG08/15s and Lewis guns as well ;-)

I don't understand the quote about numbers of decorated Chauchat gunners being related to 'abysmal' weapon status? I have read many divisional and other histories from US sources. There were many episodes where US Chauchat teams played a major role in suppressing MG nests, pillboxes and disrupting counter-attacks. The examples read like the detailed report that was submitted to Pétain by the French army in 1917.

Robert

I believe the above quote about decorated Chauchat gunners was a comment that they Must have been effective in the 8mm Label version.

The fact that the .30-06 version wasn't effective led to a an undeserved reputation that All Chauchats were bad.

Oh and brush and floss daily for best results.

The US 27th and 30th Divisions were issued Lewis Guns, as they were part of the British 4th Army for almost all of their service. They also had No.1 MkIIIs and Vickers MG. The 33rd Division used British weapons in the summer of 1918 until they moved to the American sector.