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It was adopted by the French army as the Hotchkiss M1909 (or Mle 1909) in 1909, firing the 8 mm Lebel. A variant to use the .303 round was produced in Britain as the "Hotchkiss Mark I" and manufactured by Enfield. The British army employed three different types of machine gun: the Vickers medium machine gun, the Hotchkiss for cavalry use and the Lewis Gun with the infantry. It was adopted by the US in 1909 as the "Benet-Mercie Machine Rifle, Caliber .30 U. S. Model of 1909" firing the .30-06 cartridge. The name comes from three sources: Hotchkiss, the name of the American Benjamin B. Hotchkiss who started the company in France; the two main designers, Lawrence Benet and Henri Mercie; and the US designation system at time which label arms with "Model of Year". Lawrence Benet was related to the former head of US Army Ordnance at the time of adoption. It is also known as the Hotchkiss M1909 and M1909 Benet-Mercie, but should not be confused with the heavier Hotchkiss M1914 machine gun. It was also used by other countries, including Great Britain, Belgium, Spain, Brazil and Australia. |
