Modified Hotchkiss machine gun

Last updated
EYP Hotchkiss (Modified Hotchkiss)
Greek soldiers EYP Hotchkiss (Modified Hotchkiss).jpg
Type Medium machine gun
Place of originFrance/Greece
Service history
Used byGreek Army
Italian Army(captured)
Wars World War II
Greco–Italian War
Production history
Manufacturer Hotchkiss et Cie
Specifications
Rate of fire 450RPM
SightsIron
Greek soldiers of the 8th Infantry Division in the Albanian front, 1940. They operate the EYP Hotchkiss medium machine gun Greek soldiers EYP Hotchkiss (Modified Hotchkiss).jpg
Greek soldiers of the 8th Infantry Division in the Albanian front, 1940. They operate the EYP Hotchkiss medium machine gun

The Modified Hotchkiss or known as EYP Hotchkiss machine gun was a Greek improvement of the French Hotchkiss M1926, in turn an evolution of the Hotchkiss M1914 machine gun.

Design

Existing stock of French-built weapons was modernized before World War II in the Greek State Military Material Facility (EYP) of Athens. The main improvement involved the gun's weakest spot, its firing rate which in practice was only 220 rounds/min, about half that of contemporary machine guns. Apart from accomplishing increase to 420 rounds/min and improved stability, the same facilities undertook the production of a large number of auxiliary parts, with minor improvements. The gun was extensively used by the Greek Army during World War II.

Some were captured by Royal Italian Army and used in various places, such as Sicily in 1943. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hotchkiss et Cie</span> French arms and automobile manufacturer

Société Anonyme des Anciens Etablissements Hotchkiss et Compagnie was a French arms and, in the 20th century, automobile manufacturer first established by United States gunsmith Benjamin B. Hotchkiss. He moved to France and set up a factory, first at Viviez near Rodez in 1867, manufacturing arms used by the French in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, then moving at Saint-Denis near Paris in 1875. It was merged into and succeeded by Thomson-CSF, now Thales Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">L6/40 tank</span> Light tank

The L6/40 was a light tank used by the Italian army from 1940 through World War II. It was designed by Ansaldo as an export product, and was adopted by the Italian Army when officials learned of the design and expressed interest. It was the main tank employed by the Italian forces fighting on the Eastern Front alongside the L6/40-based Semovente 47/32 self-propelled gun. L6/40s were also used in the North African campaign.

The M1917 Browning machine gun is a heavy machine gun used by the United States armed forces in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War; it has also been used by other nations. It was a crew-served, belt-fed, water-cooled machine gun that served alongside the much lighter air-cooled Browning M1919. It was used at the battalion level, and often mounted on vehicles. There were two main iterations: the M1917, which was used in World War I and the M1917A1, which was used thereafter. The M1917, which was used on some aircraft as well as in a ground role, had a cyclic rate of 450 rounds per minute. The M1917A1 had a cyclic rate of 450 to 600 rounds per minute.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hotchkiss gun</span> Guns from Hotchkiss arms company

The Hotchkiss gun can refer to different products of the Hotchkiss arms company starting in the late 19th century. It usually refers to the 1.65-inch (42 mm) light mountain gun; there were also a navy (47 mm) and a 3-inch (76 mm) Hotchkiss guns. The 42 mm gun was intended to be mounted on a light carriage or packed on two mules to accompany a troop of cavalry or an army travelling in rough country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Type 98 20 mm AA machine cannon</span> Autocannon

The Type 98 20 mm AA machine cannon was the most common light anti-aircraft gun of the Imperial Japanese Army. It entered service in 1938 and was used until the end of World War II. After World War II this gun was used by the Indonesian Army in the Indonesian National Revolution and North Vietnam in First Indochina War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Type 96 25 mm AT/AA gun</span> Anti-Aircraft/Anti-tank, Autocannon

The Type 96 25 mm gun was an automatic cannon used by the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. A locally-built variant of the French Hotchkiss 25 mm anti-aircraft gun, it was designed as a dual-purpose weapon for use against armored vehicles and aircraft, but was primarily used as an anti-aircraft gun in fixed mounts with one to three guns.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hotchkiss Mle 1914 machine gun</span> Heavy machine gun

The Mle 1914 Hotchkiss machine gun chambered for the 8mm Lebel cartridge became the standard machine gun of the French Army during the latter half of World War I. It was manufactured by the French arms company Hotchkiss et Cie, which had been established in the 1860s by American industrialist Benjamin B. Hotchkiss. The gas-actuated Hotchkiss system was first formulated in 1893 by Odkolek von Ujezda and improved into its final form by Hotchkiss armament engineers, American Laurence Benét and his French assistant Henri Mercié.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">M8 Greyhound</span> Armored car

The M8 light armored car is a 6×6 armored car produced by the Ford Motor Company during World War II. It was used from 1943 by United States and British forces in Europe and the Pacific until the end of the war. The vehicle was widely exported and as of 2006 still remained in service with some countries.

The Hotchkiss M1909 machine gun was a light machine gun of the early 20th century that was developed and built by Hotchkiss et Cie. It was also known as the Hotchkiss Mark I, Hotchkiss Portative and M1909 Benét–Mercié.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hotchkiss machine gun</span> Line of machineguns by Hotchkiss

The Hotchkiss machine gun was any of a line of products developed and sold by Hotchkiss et Cie,, established by United States gunsmith Benjamin B. Hotchkiss. Hotchkiss moved to France and set up a factory, first at Viviez near Rodez in 1867, then at Saint-Denis near Paris in 1875 manufacturing arms used by the French in the Franco-Prussian War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hotchkiss H35</span> French cavalry tank

The Hotchkiss H35 or Char léger modèle 1935 H was a French cavalry tank developed prior to World War II. Despite having been designed from 1933 as a rather slow but well-armoured light infantry support tank, the type was initially rejected by the French Infantry because it proved difficult to steer while driving cross-country, and was instead adopted in 1936 by the French Cavalry arm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">8×50mmR Lebel</span> Smokeless gunpowder cartridge

The 8×50mmR Lebel rifle cartridge was the first smokeless powder cartridge to be made and adopted by any country. It was introduced by France in 1886. Formed by necking down the 11×59mmR Gras black powder cartridge, the smokeless 8mm Lebel cartridge started a revolution in military rifle ammunition. Standard 8mm Lebel military ammunition was also the first rifle ammunition to feature a spitzer boat tail bullet, which was adopted in 1898. The long-range ballistic performance of the 8mm Lebel bullet itself was exceptional for its time. For use in the magazine tube-fed early Lebel rifle, the 8 mm case was designed to protect against accidental percussion inside the tube magazine by a circular groove around the primer cup which caught the tip of the following pointed bullet. However, the shape of its rimmed bottle-necked case, having been designed for the Lebel rifle's tube magazine, also precluded truly efficient vertical stacking inside a vertical magazine. The bolt thrust of the 8mm Lebel is relatively high compared to many other service rounds used in the early 20th century. Although it was once revolutionary, the 8mm Lebel was declared obsolete after World War I and was soon after replaced with the 7.5×54mm French round.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">M3 Gun Motor Carriage</span> American tank destroyer

The M3 Gun Motor Carriage (GMC) was a United States Army tank destroyer equipped with a 75 mm M1897A4 gun, which was built by the Autocar Company during World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hotchkiss 13.2 mm machine gun</span> Heavy machine gun

The Hotchkiss 13.2 mm machine gun, also known as the Hotchkiss M1929 machine gun, was a heavy machine gun, primarily intended for anti-aircraft use, designed and manufactured by French arms manufacturer Hotchkiss et Cie from the late 1920s until World War II, which saw service with various nations' forces, including Italy and Japan where the gun was built under license.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">QF 6-pounder Hotchkiss</span> Family of light 57mm naval guns

The Ordnance QF Hotchkiss 6 pounder gun Mk I and Mk II or QF 6 pounder 8 cwt were a family of long-lived light 57 mm naval guns introduced in 1885 to defend against new, small and fast vessels such as torpedo boats and later submarines. There were many variants produced, often under license which ranged in length from 40 to 58 calibers, but 40 caliber was the most common version.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Étienne Mle 1907</span> Heavy machine gun

The French St. Étienne Mle 1907 was a controversial gas operated air-cooled machine gun in 8mm Lebel which was widely used only in the early years of the First World War. For “political reasons”, the "St.Etienne Mle 1907" was developed not to derive from the patented Hotchkiss machine gun. Instead, to avoid patent infringement and royalties, it borrowed its gas operated, blow-forward design from the semi-automatic Bang rifle of 1903. The Bang system, first transposed by 1905 to the French Puteaux APX Machine Gun, had proved unsatisfactory enough to inspire its redesign by 1907 as the "St-Étienne" machine gun. However the Mle 1907 "St-Étienne" was only a partial redesign: the original blow-forward gas piston, rack-and-pinion system, and bolt mechanism of the Mle 1905 "Puteaux" machine gun had all been kept only slightly modified inside the newer weapon. Eventually a total of over 39,700 "St-Étienne" Mle 1907 machine guns were manufactured between 1908 and late 1917. They were widely used by French infantry only during the early part of World War I until their replacement by the more reliable Hotchkiss M1914 machine gun.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hotchkiss M1922 machine gun</span> Light machine gun

The Hotchkiss M1922 was a light machine gun manufactured by Hotchkiss.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Puteaux SA 18</span> Tank gun

The Puteaux SA 18 was a French single-shot, breech-loading cannon, used in World War I through World War II, primarily mounted on combat vehicles. It is closely related to the Canon d'Infanterie de 37 modèle 1916 TRP, also produced by Puteaux.

References

  1. Zaloga, Steven J. (2013). Sicily 1943: The debut of Allied joint operations. Campaign 251. Osprey Publishing. p. 17. ISBN   978-1-78096-127-9.