It is also one area where France was woefully behind.
Faulty Foundation?
One notable realization to come out of Frances defeat in 1871 was the need for an improved rifle.
These French soldiers are armed with the Berthier rifle. Displayed in front is the Chauchat machine gun.
More significantly the Gras had no magazine and thus could only fire one shot after reloading.
Moreover, reloading while mounted was virtually impossible.
This reduced the weight as well as the number of moving parts.
Two examples of the French Berthier – the full size infantry version (top) and a World War I artillery carbine (lower).
It also featured a smoother operating system that made it quicker to load the next round.
This also made it far easily to load than the Mannlicher system on which it was based.
The downside was that it resulted in a more expensive clip.
The rifle lacked a mechanical safety – but that was because French doctrine suggested the rifle not be loaded until soldiers were ready to engage in combat.
The bigger issue with this symmetric magazine was that it significantly limited the capacity to just three rounds.
Today the M1902 and M1907 are among the rarest of the Berthier rifle variations.
This wasnt actually an oversight, however.
A comparison of the French Artillery carbine and the Turkish Forestry carbine.
In addition, its turned-down bolt handle was also changed to straight bolt similar to the Lebels.
By contrast, the German Army was largely equipped with five-shot Mauser rifles.
Greater magazine capacity was a far more pressing issue for soldiers.
This French soldier poses to have his photo taken with the Berthier rifle in 1915.
Some French law enforcement units still had the Berthier in their arsenals as late as the 1980s.
This World War I period photo shows the mix of arms – Lebel rifles, Chauchat light machine gun and, of course, Berthier rifles in use.
The Berthier utilized its en-bloc clips, which made reloading easy.
The Berthier rifle – also known as the FusilMle 1907-15.
