Lewis machine gun

In Russia, the first 10 Lewis machine guns were purchased in July 1913 and, after testing, were transferred to the Officers Rifle School ^[1] .

January 17, 1915 was ordered to equip airplanes with light machine guns (Lewis and Madsen ) ^[2] .

At the end of 1915, the British government agreed to cede to Russia its orders for Lewis machine guns stationed in the United States. Deliveries of machine guns (chambered for .303 British ) began in 1916 ^[3]

In total, by June 1, 1917, 9,600 American-made Lewis machine guns and 1,860 English-made machine guns were delivered to Russia ^[4] .

Later, Lewis machine guns were used during the civil war . In particular, the Lewis machine guns were armed with the personal protection of Makhno - “Lucy” ^[5] . Machine guns of American origin were made under the Mosin cartridge 7.62 mm (stamp on the butt plate - 0.3). The English fired a .303 British cartridge.

Lewis machine guns remained in military depots until the Great Patriotic War and were used at its initial stage. The photograph of machine gunners with hand-held Lewis marching at the parade on November 7, 1941 on Red Square before leaving for the front is widely known. Lewis machine guns were supplied with the formation of the people's militia, for example, the Tula workers regiment ^[6] .

Also, such machine guns were on British-made Estonian Kalev-type submarines , which became part of the Soviet Baltic Fleet in 1940 .

By the beginning of World War II, the Lewis machine guns in the British army were mainly replaced with more sophisticated Bren machine guns, however, after evacuation from France (in conditions of shortage of small arms), stockpiles of machine guns in the amount of 58 963 were hastily transferred to units second tier ^[7] .

In Germany, captured machine guns were used under the name MG 137 (e) . After the creation of Volkssturm battalions in the autumn of 1944, on November 29, 1944, 2891 pieces of 6.5 mm Lewis M1920 machine guns from the arsenals of occupied Holland were transferred for their armament ^[8] .

Automation of the machine gun works on the principle of removal of powder gases. A machine gun consists of the following main parts and mechanisms: a barrel with a radiator and a casing, a receiver with a lid and a feeding mechanism, a butt plate with a butt , a fire control handle with a trigger, a bolt, a bolt frame, a return-fighting spring in its box, a magazine and a bipod . The “calling card” of the system is the casing, the edges extending far beyond the muzzle section and forming a kind of ejector there by its profile - when fired, a wave of powder gases passing through it, by its inertia created a rarefaction in the back of the casing and, as a result, drawing out portions of cold air under a casing along the longitudinally ribbed trunk. Considering that the British aviation Lewis transferred from warehouses during the Battle of Britain for ground use and did not have this casing did not experience obvious problems with overheating, it should be recognized as not particularly necessary ^{[9]. The} principle of ejector suction for active air cooling except Lewis, it is used in the construction of the modern Russian machine gun "Pecheneg" ^[10] .

The barrel is locked by turning the bolt, the combat stops of which are included in the transverse grooves of the receiver. The rotation of the shutter when locking is carried out by a curved groove on the shutter and the base of the rack of the shutter frame. The percussion mechanism of the drummer type is mounted on the rack of the bolt frame. The trigger mechanism allows only automatic fire. Shooting only with the "open shutter", which negatively affects the accuracy of the fire. When firing a machine gun, cartridges are fired from the original disk magazine with a multi-layer (in 2 or 4 rows, capacity 47 and 97 rounds, respectively) arrangement, which is rotationally driven by a feed mechanism. The store does not contain a supply spring, which fundamentally distinguishes it from all modern systems of this type. The lever-type feed mechanism is driven by the protrusion of the tail of the shutter , which enters the curved groove of the feed lever . Rate of fire (the pace of automation) is regulated by a crane on the gas chamber. The same valve compensates for the thickening of the lubricant at low temperatures. The return-fighting spring is not twisted cylindrical, as in modern systems, but a plate “gramophone” located inside the gear drum — the mating part of the bolt frame is made in the form of a gear rack. The spring allows pull-ups to compensate for shrinkage during operation, for which there is a key in the machine gun accessory. Accessory - a leather bag in which a tool is assembled for minor repairs and eliminating delays in weapons. There are also spare return-fighting spring and drummer, as well as a tool for assembling and disassembling weapons. The machine gun is considered manual, however, a machine tool is known for turning it into an easel .

•   Russia - the supply of machine guns (chambered for .303 British ) began in 1916 ^[3] . In total, before June 1, 1917, 9600 American-made Lewis machine guns and 1860 English-made machine guns were delivered to Russia. Machine guns of American origin were made under the Mosin cartridge 7.62 mm (stamp on the butt plate - 0.3). The English fired a .303 British cartridge ^[4] .
•   White movement - used by parts of the white during the civil war ^[11] .
• RSFSR : Lewis light and machine guns were used by the Red Guard during the revolution and the establishment of Soviet power and the Red Army during the civil war and the fight against basmachi in Central Asia ^[12] .
•   RSFSR   USSR : were in service with the Red Army until 1926, after which they were transferred to storage depots. Later, machine guns from the stockpiles of tsarist time were in service with the divisions of the national militia , were used during the battle for Moscow ^[13] .
•   Republic of Spain - 7.7 mm machine guns, .303 British cartridge. Republicans delivered 800 machine guns ^[14] .
•   The German Empire - captured models that were much lighter than MG08 / 15.
•   Germany

• In the classic film "The Great Dictator " (1940), the hero of Charlie Chaplin shoots himself from the enemy soldiers precisely from the Lewis machine gun, which in reality was then in service not only with the Red Army , but also with the American, British and several other armies of the world.
• In the American historical and adventure film The Sand Pebbles (1966), the Lewis machine guns armed the San Paolo riverboat gunboat cruising along the Chinese Yangtze River in 1926 .
• In the film dir. Yevgeny Karelov “Two Comrades Served” (1968) from the Lewis machine gun fighter Nekrasov ( Oleg Yankovsky ) shoots during the Red Army attack on Perekop (1920).
• In Valery Meladze ’s video “Wedding”, the protagonist - writer - shoots all the participants of the celebration from the Lewis machine gun.
• The film “The White Sun of the Desert ” (1970) implies that the Red Army Sukhov uses Lewis. However, in fact, in some episodes of the film, another well-known machine gun “ DP ” “starred” in its role - see a shot from the film “made up” under “Lewis” with the help of a characteristic barrel casing and ribbed disc linings. In other episodes, the real “Lewis” is filmed - for example, in this frame ). Most likely, the DP "replaced" the Lewis machine gun in those episodes where the fire was fired from, while the real Lewis was either faulty or there were no suitable empty cartridges for it.
• The film “ Among Among Strangers, A Stranger Amongst Own” (1974) also implies that Yesaul Brylov, performed by Nikita Mikhalkov, uses the Lewis machine gun exactly, although most likely the same DP is used there.
• In the film “ Peasant Son ” (1975), a real machine gun “Lewis” was shot. A compensator screwed onto the barrel for firing blank cartridges is clearly visible.
• The film “ The End of the Taiga Emperor ” (1978) also shot a real machine gun. When shooting, he rotates the store, the compensator screwed onto the barrel is visible.
• A machine gun of the Lewis type was often used in Soviet and Russian feature films about the Civil War, which gave rise to one of the film critics to call it “on duty, concert Lewis” - by analogy with the piano. An example is adventure films such as The Seventh Bullet (1972), A Wheelbarrow from the South (1977), Let's Talk Brother (1978), Who Will Pay for Good Luck (1980), Bread, gold, Nagan ” (1980), “ Do not set traps for Lesha ... ” (1981), “ Sixth ” (1981), “ Look into both! ” (1981), etc.
• In the adventure film Mines of King Solomon (King Solomon's mines, 1985) dir. Jay Lee Thompson uses the Lewis light machine gun from the Dogati slave trader ( John Rhys-Davis ).
• In the Russian adventure film “ Price of Treasures ” (1992), a Lewis machine gun appears in the scene of a shootout of British soldiers with bandits.
• In the films Legionnaires (1977) and Legionnaire (1998), soldiers of the French Foreign Legion use Lewis against the Berbers .
• In the film The Mummy (1999), a Lewis type machine gun was used during the battle of the triplane and the monster in the form of a sandstorm.
• In the historical television movie Britannic (2000), dedicated to the ocean liner of the same type as the Titanic , which was turned into a floating hospital during World War I, a senior officer of a ship shoots a torpedo fired by a German submarine from a Lewis machine gun.
• In the movie King Kong (2005), Lewis machine guns were used against King Kong during the Battle of the Empire State Building .
• In the series Nine Lives of Nestor Makhno (2007), Lewis appears repeatedly. The machine gun was often used by a real historical Makhno , who had in his rebel army a whole detachment of "lucists."
• In the film “ Forbidden Reception ” (2011), the Doll knocks down the German “ Zeppelin ” from the Lewis machine gun.
• In the series Sharp Visors , a batch of weapons, including about 25 Lewis units, is an important part of the plot of season 1, and is used at its end.

• In the game Battlefield 1 , the Lewis machine gun is part of the Support soldier’s arsenal.
• In the weapon simulator game “World of Guns: Gun Disassembly” you can get acquainted with the real functioning of the 3D model of Lewis Machinegun.
• The basis of the appearance of the T-21B blaster rifle from the Star Wars Battlefront game is taken exactly by the Lewis machine gun.
• In the Will Rock game, the Lewis machine gun is part of Willford Rockwell's arsenal.
• The game Battlefield Hardline presents an improved version of the “Lewis” with a telescopic sight and a laser sight, which is called the “Syndicate Weapon”.

Type 92 - Japanese aircraft machine gun of the 1930s. Licensed copy of the British Lewis machine gun.

• Machine gun list

• Ian Skennerton. Small Arms Identification Series No. 14: .303 Lewis Machine Gun. - Gold Coast QLD (Australia): Arms & Militaria Press, 2001 .-- ISBN 0-949749-42-7 .
• Evstafiev D. Lewis machine guns: service in aviation (Russian) // Weapon: magazine. - 2005. - June ( No. 06 ). - S. 44-49 . - ISSN 1728-9203 .

• Guide to the use of automatic Louis submachine gun sample 1915 Birmingham gun factory / Per. from English with the bureau "Cavalian". - Petrograd: type. t-va M.O. Wolf, 1916 .-- 48 p., 1 p. heck. : ill .; 21.

• description of the Lewis machine gun on the site world.guns.ru
• user manual for Lewis
• Photograph of Lewis arr. 1914 at guns.allzip.org
• Animation of the device and operation of the mechanisms of the machine gun Lewis arr. 1916