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This weapon was introduced into the US Army in 1917. Up until that point the US
forces had experimented with other makes of machine gun notably the
French MLE 1914 referred to as the day light gun - as seen in Mexico at Columbus 1916,
the Colt manufactured Vickers machine gun and early Browning prototypes.
The American designed Lewis gun had also been tested by the US Army but found to be unsuitable
for prolonged fire and was rejected.
When America entered the Great war they had no official machinegun in their arsenal. John Moses Browning had been tasked with designing an automatic weapon that could be issued to troops in much the same way as a squad support weapon is today. This became the BAR or Browning automatic rifle. The BAR fired a full bore 30.06 rilfe cartridge, but was not suited to sustained fire due to its inherant lightness and air cooling. What was needed was a weapon that mounted on a tripod and could be used for continous machine gun barrages (In much the same manner as an artillery piece is used). Browning had been working on various designs since 1900 and the patent for the weapon that was eventually adopted was filed on 3rd October 1916. The resultant design was authorised in 1917 and production was started to equip the AEF which was now in France as quickly as possible.
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Browning first demonstrated the FINISHED M1917 weapon in public at congress heights in
Washington DC on 27 Feb 1917. In May 1917 official tests were carried out at the
Springfield Armoury, and the board appointed by the secretary of war (Newton D Baker)
recommended immediate adoption. They were particularly impressed by the weapons ease of
disassembly compared to other contemporary designs, indeed Browning had demonstrated that
the weapon needed no special tools chest. In fact could be easily field stripped with
the assistance of the pointed end of a 30-06 round!
The weapon was a short recoil operated water cooled, fully automatic machine gun calibred in 30.06 ( Bore .30 inch, Designed for 1906 Spitzer pointed headed rounds), it used a cloth belt to hold the ammunition which was carried in oak ammo boxes holding 250 rounds per belt, and had a 20 inch barrel. The weapon was capable of cyclic rates of upto 600 rounds per minute as was capable of sustained Fire periods due to its water jacket cooling system. Initially no water condensation can was provided- but after taking advice from the British the Americnas soon developed a water chest that was identical in size to the standard Ammo boxes. The Water chest connected to the Front Hose outlet on the water jacket, when the cooling water boiled under continuous fire conditions The steam was directed down a hose to the condenser chest. The water in ths way could be saved and recycled. Obviously this was an important consideration in trench warefare where water was a scarce commodity, also the system eleviated the tell tale plumes of steam that could give away a gunners hidden position to the enemy. In normal use the weapon was crewed by 4 men as follows: Gunner Who carried the tripod - allowing the weapon to be correctly placed according to fire orders given by officers. Assistant Gunner Who carried the gun - then when in use loaded belts into the weapon and assisted feeding, cleared stoppages and called up additional ammo/ water when required. Second Assistant Who carried the water, spare tools and ammunition - then maintained a steady flow of ammo boxes from the reserve position to the gun placement during fire procedures. Ammo Carrier Who carried additional ammo together with a rifle- he protected the gun crew during setup, dismantle etc. All members of the gun crew would be trained to carry out the others roles. The M1917 gun had a total weight of 37 Pounds (water jacket filled) excluding Tripod. The tripod itself weighed 50 Pounds. Various styles of Tripod were available- but in the main little was changed on the weapon which continued in use through WW1 until the Korean war. The first recorded combat use of the M1917 watercooled was by the US 78th Division in France on 26 September 1918 Meuse Argonne offensive. The commanding officer of the machine gun detachment made the following report to General Pershing.
"During the five days that my four guns (M1917 watercooled Brownings) were in action,
they fired approximateley 13,000 rounds of ammunition, they had very rough handling due to the fact that
the infantry made constant halts, causing the guns to be placed in the mud. The condition of the ground
on these five days was very muddy, and considerable grit and other foreign material got into the working
parts of the gun. The guns became rusty on the outside due to the rain and wet weather, but in every
instance when the guns were called upon to fire, they fired perfectly. During all this time I had only
one stoppage, and this was due to a broken ejector."
The wepon was found to be far more reliable in combat than any of the French machineguns that had been
utilised by the AEF upto that time- Particularly the Cahuchat and the Hotchkis 1914.
WW1 Browning M1917 machineguns were manufactured by the following companies:
If the Great war had lasted a couple more moths then it is ceratin that most of the machineguns in use
by the AEF would have been replaced with this excellent weapon, however the weapon only saw limited used
for about 2 months before the war ended, during this time it proved itself the best machinegun of the war
and secured a firm place in the post WW1 Army.
In the 1930s many WW1 dated examples of the Browning M1917 were recalled and reworked to the M1917A1
configuration, this meant that strenghtening plates were fitted eiather side of the main body in responce to
some failures of the early weapons after prolonged use. The Tripod assemblies were also completely reworked
in this period. As a consequently, it is extermely rare to encounter an unmodified Browning M1917 water
cooled machinegun. Indeed to many collectors the tripod is the hardest item to procure mainly because
most WW1 dated tripods were reworked during the 1930s. In WW1 the most common tripod in use was the
Colt manufactured 1916 variant , but others were available and used such as the M1915 US Vickers (Mark IV)
tripod, and an experimental light weight M1918 tripod which was made in very limited numbers.
In 1919 Browning designed an air cooled variant of the M1917 machinegun which was adopted by the
U.S. Army as its standard infantry support machinegun. This weapon serverd alongside water cooled
variants throughout WW2 in all theatres. In many ways the water cooled variant was superior to the
newer M1919 air cooled, particularly when sustained fire was needed. The Water cooled M1917A1 saw
extensive use in WW2 in the Pacific theatre, and was particularly usefull in defense situations.
The Water cooled weapon was however in effect a weapon designed for static warefare, due to its extrem weight,
and was therefore often replaced with the lighter M1919 aircooled for infantry assaults.
Due to the reliability of the design the weapon has continued in service around the world albeit in its
M1919 air cooled configuration mainly as a vehicle mounted weapon.
Recommended Reading
"U.S. Infantry Weapons of the First World War" - Bruce N Canield, Andrew Mowbray Publishers |
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