Description
Book SynopsisFeaturing contemporary photographs and full-color artwork, this title explores the action-packed history of the Hotchkiss machine gun and its derivatives, which were used around the globe for nearly fifty years.
Created by a long-forgotten Austrian nobleman, Adolf Odkolek von Augezd, the air-cooled Hotchkiss machine gun was the first to function effectively by tapping propellant gas from the bore as the gun fired. Although the Hotchkiss would be overshadowed by the water-cooled Maxim and Vickers Guns, it proved its effectiveness during the Russo-Japanese War. The gun, quirky though it was, was successful enough to persuade Laurence Benét and Henri Mercié to develop the Modèle Portative: a man-portable version which, it was hoped, could move with infantrymen as they advanced. Later mounted on tanks and aircraft, it became the first automatic weapon to obtain a kill in aerial combat.
Though it served the French and US armies during World War I (and also t
Table of Contents
Introduction /Development /Use /Impact /Conclusion /Bibliography /Index
