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ARCHIVES >>> 8/2020
23.08.2020 18:00 GMT
Hello and welcome back to another Forgotten Hope 2 update. Today we have a render of the most common pistol in French service during both World Wars: the Modèle 1915, known perhaps a bit better as the Ruby.
The massive attrition of weapons during the First World War had been rather unexpected, and the French arsenals were running flat out just to replace losses of rifles and machineguns. However, as the front lines stagnated into trench warfare, the importance of pistols began to increase. With no spare capacity to produce more of their model 1892 revolvers, the French turned to the arms industry in the Eibar region of Spain. In 1903, Colt had introduced John Browning's 1903 Pocket Hammerless pistol. An instant hit, it was widely copied in Spain due to a quirk of patent law. Since Colt didn't produce the pistol in Spain they couldn't patent it there. One of the various versions of this pistol was the Ruby, made by the company Gabilondo y Urresti and aimed towards the military market. In 1915, The French were sent several examples to evaluate, and by May they returned with an order for 10000 per month. Such was the demand, this had risen to 50000 by August. Unable to keep up, Gabilondo sub-contracted out production to first 4 and finally 7 other manufacturers. Before long the French were purchasing copies of the Ruby from a multitude of other local manufacturers and this lead to a logistical nightmare, as interchangeability of parts between factories was variable. Most significantly, magazines could only be reliably counted upon to work with the gun they were supplied with, and the French insisted that each manufacturer mark their pistols and magazines to ease this issue. A robust blowback design with 9 rounds of .32 ACP, the Ruby would continue to see use until well after the Second World War. About half a million were in inventory in 1920, and they would be the most common pistol in 1940. Ours was made by Ashton and RedRogueXIII. That's all for this week, but be sure to come back next time for another update. Until then, feel free to visit our Discord, our public forums, and/or our Twitter and Facebook pages to discuss this update and other news.
10.08.2020 18:00 GMT
Hello and welcome back to another Forgotten Hope 2 update. Today we have a render of the main heavy machinegun used by the French in 1940, the Hotchkiss Mle 1914.
The operating principles of what would become the Mle 1914 were patented by Austrian Captain Baron Adolf Odkolek von Ujezda in 1889. Looking for a manufacturer for his design he approached the Hotchkiss company. Rather than build his design, the company bough out his patent and set American Laurence Benét and Frenchman Henri Mercié to work on improving the concept. What followed was the model of 1897, sold widely in South America and most notably to Japan. The addition of barrel cooling fins led to the model 1900. In the first half of the 1910s, the gun was tested by the French Army, but would ultimately be rejected in favour of the Puteaux Mle 1905 and St. Étienne Mle 1907. However, a handful were purchased for use in the French colonies. With the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, it soon became clear that St. Étienne was unable to manufacture sufficient number of their Mle 1907 and the Hotchkiss design was adopted as a second line replacement. This had a couple of changes from the commercial design and became the Mle 1914. By 1916 it was clear that the Hotchkiss was the superior weapon, and by late 1917 the St. Étienne design was completely replaced in production. Over 47000 guns were delivered to the French during the war, and they would remain in service all the way through World War 2. Our Hotchkiss Mle 1914 was made by Seth Soldier, with ammunition box statics made by Cpt Bocquier and Luacha 2000. That's all for this week, but be sure to come back next time for another update. Until then, feel free to visit our Discord, our public forums, and/or our Twitter and Facebook pages to discuss this update and other news.
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