France in the Second World War can be said to be the most incompetent country, and the French army is also the least capable. With so many advanced weapons and equipment, it defeated the war in a vague way and lost the country. . Because there were no achievements in the war, people had a bad impression of the French army in World War II. They felt that she had done nothing but surrendered, and knew very little about the firearms used by the French army.
MAS 36 is a manual rifle, officially equipped with French troops in 1936, and intends to replace the Bertier and Lebel rifles. Designed and manufactured by MAS company. MAS 36 is a kind of carbine, This gun uses 7.5x54mmM1929 bottomless bullet, a new bullet shortened from the 7.5x57mm version. The bomb had been launched in 1924, and then revised and finalized in 1929. The design of this rifle is based on the experience gained by France in the First World War, combined with the advantages of other rifles used in other countries, such as the British SMLE rifle, the best bolt action (the rear end is locked, and the ability to resist dirt is strong ), the American M1917 rifle (rotary bolt, target-hole sight), and the German Mauser (5 rounds, double-row fixed magazine), and designed such a classic rifle with extremely high cost performance.
MAS36 has a Mauser 5-round double-row magazine, but it can be easily removed from the gun. The trigger of the gun is unusual because the lock shoots are behind the gun, not in the front. A typical French rifle in this period, MAS36 has no insurance. This is usually because there is no bullet in the gun unless the soldier is involved in the battle. Although the purpose is to replace Lebel and Bethier rifles, and Bethier carbines, the budget restricts the production of MAS36. In World War II, MAS36 was often reserved for front-line infantry units. Other units and those old, weak, sick and disabled units often used Bertier and Lebel rifles. Germany took over the production of MAS36 and licensed Gweier 242 to produce MAS36 to equip its troops in France.
MAS-36 was widely used by French colonial and defense forces in counter-insurgency operations in France, the First Indochina War and Algerian War, and the Suez crisis. During the Suez Canal crisis, the French Foreign Legion equipped the MAS36 rifle with a scope, which was provided to the French paratrooper shooter to destroy the enemy's sniper. MAS36 served until the 1960s, but generally served in the colonial army. Later, France formally decided to use MAS49 semi-automatic rifle instead of MAS36 in 1949. French also improved a sniper rifle based on MAS36, which is FR-F1. The current version in service is 7.62mm NATO standard. The caliber FR-F2.
After the war, the civilian shotgun version was produced by MAS and Gunsmith-Jean Fornier. The calibers of these rifles are 7x54mm MAS Fournier (normal, 7.5x54mm reduced to 7mm), 7x57mm (very rare), 8x60mm job director (uncommon) and 10.75x68mm (rare). Some rifles imported into the United States have also been transferred from 7.5x54mm to 7.62mm NATO standard caliber. Some of these guns have been modified and equipped with safety devices similar to SKS. At the same time, the number of these rifles is small.
MAS-36 is a short, lightweight carbine-type rifle. It uses a two-stage buttstock. Compared with other rifles, its receiver is also smoother. This gun uses a modern 7.5 × 54 mm French rifle shell that was manufactured in 1929. This is a shortened version of the 7.5 × 57 mm MAS M1924 rifle shell used in the FM-24/29 light machine gun. This rifle was designed with the experience accumulated during the French participation in World War I and borrowed from the warThe characteristics of other rifles used, such as the British Lee-Enfield rifle, the American Enfield M1917 rifle and the German Mauser rifle, are used to create an "ugly, rough but extremely robust and reliable" military rifle. The handle of the MAS-36 rifle is specially bent forward, so that the soldier’s hand can be more easily manipulated, and it also has a relatively short barrel. The height of the large hole in the rear and the pointed front sight can be adjusted to suit different shooting ranges. In addition, just like the characteristics of the French rifles at the time, MAS-36 did not provide any manual safety devices.
Although can use the left-rotating bolt to prevent launching, but under normal circumstances, this gun will be filled with magazines in idle combat, but not loaded, only loaded when starting. MAS-36 has a 17-inch long needle bayonet hidden in a tube under the barrel. To use the bayonet, you need to press the spring-shaped post to release the bayonet. Then pull the bayonet out of the tube and reverse it, and then insert the tail of the bayonet into the original tube, and the bayonet can be locked to the gun.
Although this gun was originally intended to replace the Lebel M1886 rifle, Bethier rifle, and Bethier carbines, due to government funding problems, the production of MAS-36 was also restricted, and was used together with other early rifles. Served in the army of France and its colonies. During World War II, MAS-36 was often equipped with front-line infantry teams, and other troops and reserve troops used Lebel and Bethier rifles. After the Battle of France, Germany acquired a large number of MAS-36 rifles, renamed them Gewehr 242(f), and then issued them to the German garrison in the French occupation area, which was later equipped with the People’s Stormtrooper.
In the French counterinsurgency operations in various colonies after the war, MAS-36 was widely used in France and its colonies, such as in the Franco-Vietnam War, the Algerian War and They all appeared in the Second Middle East War. During the Second Middle East War, French airborne shooters used MAS-36 equipped with sniper scopes to counter enemy snipers, but MAS-36 became the rifle of the colonial army in the early 1960s. Since France adopted the semi-automatic rifle MAS-49 in 1949, the MAS-36 has officially retreated to the second line. However, its sniper rifle level bolt design is still retained on the FR-F1 sniper rifle (currently capable of loading 7.62 × 51 mm NATO standard ammunition) and its successor FR-F2.
At the end of 1944, France began to develop a new type of rifle, and soon developed the MAS44 type 7.5mm semi-automatic rifle sample gun. After many improvements, it was confirmed as a French military standard equipment in 1949, called the MAS49 type. In 1950, the army was equipped and replaced the domestically-made MAS36 7.5mm magazine-style rifle. So far, the MAS36 rifle has gradually withdrawn from active service.
The French MAS36 rifle. It's short, compact, and has a folding type. The French used it until the Vietnam War in the 1950s.
