Here’s another neat manual – A.B.C du Mitrailleu – the ABCs of Machine Guns. This was published in 1917 (the fifth edition, anyway) in French, and does a nice job showing all the most useful information on each of the major mounted machine guns being used at the time. It includes the MG08 Maxim, 1909 Vickers, 1914 Hotchkiss, 1907 St Etienne, and 1895 Colt.
M1914 Hotchkiss machine gun
In addition to basic stats and identifying information, this booklet includes instructions on loading the guns and spare ammo on pack horses or carts, machine gun tactics, cutaway and operational drawings, and mechanical descriptions of the guns.The only downside (for us Americans) is that it’s written in French. Still, definitely worth a look for the neat illustrations.
1909 Vickers machine gun cutaway view
You can download the booklet here:
ABC du Mitrailleur (French, 1917)
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May I add a small correction ? While “mitrailleuSE” means “machine gun”, “mitrailleuR” means “machine gunner”.