Troops of 1 King's Own Scottish Borderers (KOSB), 9th Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, firing a captured Hotchkiss machine gun during street fighting in Caen, 10 July 1944.

The Hotchkiss machine gun was any of a line of products developed and sold by Hotchkiss et Cie, (full name Société Anonyme des Anciens Etablissements Hotchkiss et Cie), established by United States gunsmith Benjamin B. Hotchkiss.^[1] 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.

Variants

At the turn of the twentieth century, the company introduced the gas-actuated Hotchkiss machine gun, a sturdy and reliable weapon which was widely used during World War I and thereafter by the French Army. Weapons manufactured in the Hotchkiss machine gun line include:

• Hotchkiss 1897 machine gun
• Hotchkiss M1909 Benét–Mercié machine gun, light machine gun also known as the "Hotchkiss Mark I" in British service and the "Benét–Mercié" in American service.
• Hotchkiss Mle 1914, medium machine gun
• Hotchkiss 37mm, autocannon based on the M1897-M1914 model^[2]
• Hotchkiss M1922, light machine gun
• Hotchkiss M1929, heavy machine gun
• 25 mm Hotchkiss anti-aircraft gun, autocannon but sometimes referred to as a machine gun
• Hotchkiss Type Universal submachine gun

The Hotchkiss design was also used on foreign productions:

• The Japanese Type 3 heavy machine gun^[3]
• The Type 11 light machine gun^[3]
• The Type 92 heavy machine gun^[3]
• The Italian Breda Model 1931 machine gun
• The Polish Ckm wz. 25 Hotchkiss
• The Modified Hotchkiss machine gun, a Greek modification used in World War II

References

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