Landships II

Both these subjects have been raised in days gone by. Have managed to get a look at a copy of Easterly's improbably named The Belgian Rattlesnake, and it throws some light on the Lewis in Belgian and Russian hands. It doesn't clear everything up, but gets us a bit further forward.

Lewis's first 4 prototypes were made by the Savage Arms Co. of New York in Sep 1911.

(As previously discussed), Lewis set up Armes Automatiques Lewis in Belgium in Nov 1912 after promising trials with several European armies and an invitation from the Belgian government. Belgium's interest seems to have been in the Lewis as an aircraft gun, and the first air-to-ground use of a machine gun in Europe was the trial with the Belgian Air Force.

AAL's offices were in Antwerp, but the most obvious place for the factory was Liege, where the Belgian state armaments factory Fabrique Nationale d'Armes de Guerre was already established. However, Lewis was unhappy with its proximity to the German border, realising the possibility of invasion and fearing the plant would easily fall into German hands. He was also concerned that some Belgian but pro-German directors of Fabrique Nationale were on the board of the German parent company, Deutsche Waffen und Munitions Fabriken. (See this on DWM and FN: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsche_Waffen_und_Munitionsfabriken ) That was solved by buying their shares at inflated prices, though it was suspected that a director sent a prototype to Germany.

Lewis had had talks with BSA as early as 1913, with a view to mass production and the eradication of some faults. Two trial examples were commissioned and an order for 50 placed in April. In the meantime, the Belgian govt had ordered 50 guns from AAL. On advice from one of Lewis's co-directors, work was transferred from Liege to Antwerp on July 17th 1914. Five Lewises were delivered to the Belgians on August 2nd, the day after the German invasion, and Belgium had ordered a further 124 by August 14th.

However, on the 15th all AAL staff evacuated to England. Lewis himself remained in Antwerp until the 29th, when the Royal Naval Division arrived.

Apparently, 15 Lewises were "sent to Belgium" (presumably from BSA) and, it is claimed, were in use by the Belgian IV Division in the defence of Namur, the first use in battle. They are also said to have been used during the sorties from Antwerp. (What is interesting about that is that the IV Division was separated from the rest of the Belgian Army and fell back towards the French. They were then sent via land and sea to Antwerp to rejoin the main body, so those might have been the same weapons.)

I know this isn't crystal clear, but it does seem to support my theory that the number of Lewises in Belgian hands was very small, maybe only 20. Some of them must have been the ones fitted to Belgian armoured cars.

All production for the British Army was at BSA from then on. The Belgians subsequently adopted the Chauchat, and it doesn't seem as if they received any further Lewises.

Now it gets very interesting. The Savage Arms Co. offered to manufacture Lewises for the Canadian Army, and received an order for 500. Savage began to manufacture both Air and Ground versions and spares, and the USA took a belated interest, ordering 3 guns.

Which brings us to Russia.

Despite the ubiquitous assertion that Russia had large numbers of Lewises, there is grave doubt. There are some photos of Russian Morane-Saulnier aircraft sporting Lewises, and it is believed that a few were supplied by BSA before the War. The British Ministry of Munitions makes no mention of deliveries to Russia, but any supplied might have come from the War Office via the RFC.

In December 1916 The Russian Naval Air Service ordered 200 British Lewises, and the Russian Imperial Government ordered 10,000 in January 1917. The numbers involved would seem to indicate that the former were for aircraft and the latter for ground use. Meetings were held to discuss the order, but Easterly makes no mention of any deliveries. And, of course, the Revolution began in March of the same year. It seems unlikely that BSA could produce so many weapons in such a short time or that GB would be prepared to divert so large a number from her own Army. On top of which, GB would hardly be willing to supply arms of any kind to the Soviets. For the same reason, Savage and AAL do not seem to have responded to Russian enquiries.

There are some Lewis Manuals, printed in October 1918, in Russian and English/Russian, but I can only imagine that they are in some way connected with the Allied Interventions or intended for the White Russians, since supplying the Soviets would have been unthinkable. Wikipedia is unclear on the subject, saying that nearly 6,000 or possibly two lots of 6,000 might have reached Russia. The problem is that I have never seen a photograph of a Lewis in Russian service. Easterly shows a photo of a group of exceptionally unattractive Communist guerrillas (male and female) with an assortment of weapons including one early Lewis and half-a-dozen drum magazines. Surely, if thousands of Lewises were in service with the Imperial forces there would be some evidence. As mentioned in the previous thread, I think the Lewises used in the Civil War came from foreign troops, perhaps supplied to the Whites and captured by the Reds.

My assessment: Belgium - about 20; Russia - ?

Feel free to argue.