The Lewis machine gun is a famous British light machine gun that took part in both global wars. This is one of the most famous weapons of the last century. The Lewis machine gun managed to take part in both the Russian Revolution and the Civil War. "Lewis" can be safely called the most successful machine gun of its own period.

The Lewis machine gun had an unusual design and indeed the highest combat properties, which allowed the machine gun to remain in service for so long. Distinctive feature Lewis machine gun is the shape of the barrel casing, by which you can accurately identify this tool.

Creation story

light machine gun Lewis was developed by Samuel McClen in the USA in 1911. Colonel was engaged in the development of this weapon american army Isaac Newton Lewis. At first, he wanted to make this machine gun an easel machine gun and equip it with water cooling, but then he stopped at the unique idea of ​​forced air cooling of the barrel. It must be emphasized that no one after Lewis used a similar scheme in the design of the gun.

Lewis offered his own machine gun for arming the American army, several models of guns even passed tests, but military administration The United States considered this machine gun unpromising and not worthy of attention. After this misfortune, Lewis retired and moved across the ocean, first to Belgium, and then to England. Specifically, the Belgians were the first to become interested in the new machine gun and in 1913 took it into service. The release of the Lewis light machine gun was launched at the factories of the BSA company (Great Britain).

In 1914, the machine gun received a baptism of fire - in Europe began global war. After its launch, the demand for the Lewis machine gun grew at an unusual pace, BSA expanded production, but, despite this, could not fulfill all orders. Because part of the orders was located in the United States.

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The German infantrymen called the Lewis machine gun " rattlesnake for the appropriate sound of his work and was taken with pleasure as a trophy. Then the "Lewis" was remade under the Mauser cartridge and used with success in battle. In particular, the German assault troops adored the Lewis machine gun.

This machine gun came to Russia back in 1913: several samples were bought for testing at the Officers' Rifle School. But the Russian military did not like the Lewis, in particular, there were many complaints about the short service life of the machine gun barrel.

But they did not forget about this machine gun in Russia, they became especially necessary during the war. In 1915, the British government ceded to Russia the rights to all "Lewis" made by British orders in the United States. Deliveries began next year. Also, Lewis machine guns made in Great Britain under the British cartridge .303 were delivered to Russia. South American machine guns were made under the Mosin cartridge 7.62 mm.

Lewis light machine guns were intensively used in Russian aviation. An additional handle, a sleeve collector and a flame arrester were installed on it. From time to time, the covers were removed: the oncoming air flow rather cooled the barrel.

Before the start of the revolutionary events, more than 10 thousand units of this gun were delivered to Russia, so they were intensively used during the Civil War. For example, the personal guards of the famous father Makhno were armed with Lewis.

"Lewis" in fairly large quantities were stored in Russian military warehouses. After the outbreak of the war, they were remembered and sent to the front. There is an eminent photo of Red Army soldiers armed with these machine guns, marching at the eminent parade on November 7, 1941.

The British were in a similar situation. In the late 30s, the British army began to change the "Lewis" to a more modern "Bren". During the flight from France, an unlimited number of small arms were lost, so the Lewis had to get back into line. The Germans also used these machine guns, occupied as trophies. In the main, they were armed with parts of the Volkssturm.

The last huge conflict for this machine gun was the Korean War.

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The device of the machine gun and the principle of its operation

The operation of the automatic machine gun is based on the removal of part of the powder gases from the bore. The rate of operation of automation (rate of fire) is regulated by a valve on the gas chamber. The gas piston moved backwards, started a spiral spring (as in ordinary watches) and turned the magazine through a special mechanism. The barrel bore was locked by turning the bolt, the stops of which were included in the grooves of the receiver. The trigger mechanism allowed only automatic fire.

The Lewis machine gun consisted of the following components: a barrel with a casing and a radiator, a receiver, a bolt and a bolt carrier, a magazine of a special design, a trigger mechanism with a handle, a reciprocating mainspring.

The coil spring is also a unique feature of this machine gun: it has never been used in a weapon since. To tighten the spring, a small special key came into the set for the machine gun.

The spring unwound and fed the cartridge into the chamber, after which a shot was fired.

The main feature of the Lewis system machine gun was its casing, which was very much in favor of the dimensions of the gun barrel. When fired, the powder gases made the area reduced pressure at the back of the casing, which pulled cool air through it, which cooled the ribbed barrel. Folding bipods were attached to the casing.

The design of the store of this machine gun is also more exciting. It had a disc shape, the cartridges in it were placed in several rows: in two or four. Unlike most existing stores, it did not contain a supply spring. The cartridges were fed using a special mechanism, which was driven by a protrusion on the bolt. A similar store can be seen as one of the first attempts to move away from tape feeding.

The fuse was installed on the receiver.

40, seven rounds were fired in just 6 seconds, so machine gunners were taught to release their finger from the trigger on the count of "three". Sights consisted of a rear sight and a front sight located at the end of the casing. The rear sight had two positions: at 600 yards (approximately 500 meters) and the second, designed for firing at longer distances. Anti-aircraft "Lewis" were equipped with special sights made of wire.

The Belgians, who were the first to adopt this machine gun, called the Lewis "a machine gun that you can run with." And it really was. Despite its impressive dimensions, the machine gun weighed only twelve kg, which was very small. Most of the samples of such weapons of that time had water cooling, were equipped with machine tools and weighed more than 30 kg. It is clear that such a machine gun could hardly be used in offensive operations.

Tactical and technical properties

Machine gun video

Lewis machine gun(English) Lewis gun) or simply "Lewis"- a light machine gun developed before the First World War in 1913 and was in service with the armies different countries world until the middle of the 20th century.

PERFORMANCE AND TECHNICAL CHARACTERISTICS MACHINE GUN LEWIS
Manufacturer:Birmingham Small Arms
Cartridge:
Caliber:7.7mm
Weight without cartridges:13 kg
Weight with cartridges:n/a
Length:1280 mm
Barrel length:670 mm
Number of grooves in the barrel:n/a
Trigger mechanism (USM):n/a
Operating principle:Removal of powder gases, butterfly valve
Rate of fire:500–600 rounds/min
Fuse:n/a
Aim:Front sight and rack sight, it is possible to install an anti-aircraft sight
Effective range:800 m
Target range:3200 m
Muzzle velocity:740 m/s
Type of ammunition:Detachable magazine
Number of rounds:47, 97
Years of production:1913–1942

History of creation and production

The design idea belonged to Samuel McLean (eng. Samuel MacLean), but it was embodied by an American - US Army Colonel Isaac Newton Lewis (Eng. Isaac Newton Lewis).

Initially, Lewis intended to use his machine gun as a water-cooled machine gun, but later moved on to the idea of ​​developing a light machine gun with a forced air-cooled barrel.

Lewis failed to convince the leadership of the need to adopt his design, retired and in 1913 moved to Europe.

Lewis' offer to demonstrate his machine gun was accepted by a group of Belgian merchants. The machine gun showed itself on the good side, as a result, an agreement was signed, according to which in the Belgian city of Liege was created new company Automatic Lewis for the production of the Lewis machine gun. However, the only manufacturer able to offer the necessary production capacity was the British firm Birmingham Small Arms(BSA), with which they entered into an agreement.

Firm BSA received orders for test batches of a machine gun from the military departments of England, Belgium, Russia, as well as a number of other countries. After thorough testing, despite the problem with barrel overheating, the machine gun was generally rated positively and recommended for adoption. In 1913, the machine gun was officially adopted by the Belgian army.

Of great importance in the fate of the "Lewis" were trial aerial firing conducted by the British Air Force. After them, it became obvious that the Lewis machine gun was one of the best candidates for the role of aviation weapons. However, the British War Office was cautious, and BSA had to start shipping already produced batches of machine guns to Russia and Belgium.

Literally on the eve of the war, in June 1914, the War Office and the Admiralty of Great Britain urgently ordered 10 Lewis machine guns, and two weeks later another 45. Immediately after the outbreak of hostilities, BSA received an order for 200 machine guns, the production of which was then carried out at a rate of 25 pieces per week . And after the Lewis machine guns, which were in service with the Belgian army, brilliantly showed itself in battle, applications for new machine guns fell like a cornucopia.


British soldiers with a Lewis machine gun during the Battle of Azbrouck, France 1918.

It soon became clear that the BSA alone could not cope with the growing wave of orders, so the British, together with the Canadians, ordered 12,000 machine guns from a major American weapons company. Savage Arms Co.. By the end of 1915, the new production workshops in Burningham were operating at full capacity and the production of machine guns there reached 300 pieces per week. After that, the British government agreed to cede to Russia their orders for Lewis machine guns placed in the United States. Deliveries of machine guns (chambered for .303 British) began in 1916.

In total, before June 1, 1917, 9,600 American-made Lewis machine guns and 1,860 English-made machine guns were delivered to Russia.

The license for the production of Lewis machine guns was bought by Japan and Holland, arming their armies with these weapons.

By the end of the 1930s, it was withdrawn from service, but with the outbreak of World War II it was returned to service after a partial modernization.

Variants and modifications

  • Mark I- the first model of .303 caliber adopted by the troops of the British Empire in 1915.
  • Mark II- a specially designed model for aviation based on Mk. I, with a lightweight casing without cooling fins. The butt is replaced with a handle similar to the handle of a garden shovel. The magazine receiver has been modified to accept a 97-round magazine.


  • Mark II*- modification with an increased rate of fire, adopted in 1918.
  • Mark III- further modernization Mk. II* with an even faster rate of fire, made in the same year with a barrel without a cooling jacket.
  • Mark III*- British designation for the American M1918 purchased under the Lend-Lease program in 1940 for use in parts of the second line. The “shovel handle” has been redesigned into a skeletal buttstock that allows you to fire a machine gun from a rest or from a “thigh”.
    Review of soldiers of the British Volunteer Territorial Defense Force Home Guard).
    The first soldier in the second rank is armed with a Lewis Mk. III*
  • Mark III**- model designation Mk. III modified according to the model M1918.
  • Mark III DEMS- model Mk. III* with a front holding handle, designed to arm the guards on merchant ships.
    Machine gun Mark III DEMS in the hands of a soldier from the guards of an armed merchant ship
  • Mark IV- remanufactured and assembled from spare parts stocks of the Mark III** model, in which the old "fragile" reciprocating mainsprings were replaced with more reliable ones.
  • Model 1915- machine gun Lewis Mk. I manufactured by an American company Savage Arms Co. for the Entente troops during the First World War.
  • M1917 Lewis - Model 1915 with a modified gas automation system for a more powerful American cartridge .30-06 Springfield. Part of the issued machine guns was adapted for use on aircraft.



  • M1918 Lewis- specially designed model for aviation chambered in .30-06 Springfield.
  • Mitrailleur M.20- licensed version chambered for 6.5 × 53 mm R, manufactured in the Netherlands by the Staatsbedrijf der Artillerie Inrichtingen A / D arsenal in Hamburg, 10,500 copies were produced under license. By May 1940, 8,410 units were still in service.
  • Type 92- Japanese aircraft machine gun. Licensed copy of the British machine gun "Lewis". Widely used on aircraft naval aviation Japan in the 1930s, but became obsolete by the start of World War II and was replaced by more powerful models.



Also, according to some reports, the machine guns of the Lewis system were produced in France and Czechoslovakia.

Design and principle of operation

Machine gun automation works on the principle of removal of powder gases. The 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 feeder, The back of the head of the butt - the back of the attachment to the arrows of the first weapon or from the del de tal attached to the la-e-may from the back side to p-kla-du."> butt pad with a butt, a fire control handle with a trigger, a bolt, a bolt carrier, a reciprocating mainspring in its box, a magazine and a bipod.

« calling card» system is a casing, the edges extending far beyond the muzzle and forming a kind of ejector there with its profile - when fired, a wave of powder gases, passing through it, created a rarefaction in the rear part of the casing with its inertia and, as a result, pulling portions of cold air under the casing along the longitudinally finned trunk. Active air cooling in history small arms was not used anywhere else (except for the modern Russian machine gun Pecheneg). The connection of the barrel with the receiver is threaded.

The design of the infantry version of the "Lewis" remained virtually unchanged until the end of the First World War. But for use in aviation, the machine gun began to be intensively modernized. The first change was the replacement of the rifle stock with a handle similar to the Hotchkiss Mle machine gun. 1914, more convenient when handling a machine gun mounted on a shooting turret. Moreover, in this case, it was not required to rest against the shoulder to parry the recoil.

frame sight, Diopter - a special variety of aper-tour-no-go-pri-la, in this vari-an-te whole-face half-no-stu-pe-re-roof-va- there is an overview of the eye of a spe-re-di, and sa-ma aper-tu-ra is very small in diameter (with a human-lo-ve-che-sky pupil) ra- bo-ta-et like a ka-me-ra-ob-sku-ra, projecting an image of an arrow on the pupil with greater contrast. This type of target gives the highest accuracy of all possible mechanical le-niy, ras-pay-toy for this serves a lot of time at-a-go-li-va-niya and labor-no-sti with on-ve-de-ni-em in condition-vi- yah su-me-rek and no-chi, it’s precisely for these reasons that we are given a given view at-tse-la it’s worth pract-ti-che-ski only on screws for target shooting would be for large distances, and it also requires special-ben-but right-vil-no-go-so-ba at-tse- li-va-niya."> diopter; triangular shaped fly.

Operation and combat use

By the end of the 1930s, Lewis machine guns began to be withdrawn from service, but with the outbreak of World War II they were returned to service.

  • Belgium- adopted by the army in 1913. It remained in service until the outbreak of World War II.
  • Great Britain- Adopted in the British Empire, including the dominions and colonies in 1914.
    Soldiers of the distant desert patrol ( Long Ran-ge De-se-rt Gro-up (juice-ra-schen-no LRDG, lit. va-tel-no-di-version-noe sub-raz-de-le-nie of the British army, su-stu-in-vav-neck during the Second-swarm of the world-ro - howl of war. Commander-blowing German Af-ri-Kan-sky Kor-pu-som Field Marshal Er-vin Rom-mel believed that LRDG “why-y-nya-et to us more harm than any other British unit of the same power. ">LRDG)

    By the beginning of World War II, the Lewis machine guns in the British army were mostly replaced by more advanced BREN machine guns, however, after the evacuation from France (in conditions of a shortage of small arms), the stocks of machine guns in the warehouses in the amount of 58,963 pieces. were hastily transferred to second-echelon units.

  • Netherlands- Adopted and produced under license.
  • Poland- in service with the Polish army since independence (from the arsenals of the tsarist army).
  • USSR- in Russia, the first 10 Lewis machine guns were purchased in July 1913 and, after testing, transferred to the Officers' Rifle School. In 1916, at the initiative of the tsarist government, an agreement was signed on the supply to Russia of 9,600 American and 1,800 machine guns made in England. Lewis machine guns were also used during civil war. In particular, the personal guards of Makhno's father were armed with Lewis machine guns - "Luysists". Machine guns of American origin were made under the Mosin 7.62 mm cartridge (stamp on the butt plate - 0.3). The English fired the .303 British cartridge. The latter were more popular due to their increased crippling ability. Mk VII bullets. English machine guns "Lewis" under the 7.71-mm cartridge were used in Russia mainly in aviation

    Machine guns "Lewis" remained in military warehouses until the Great Patriotic War and used in its early stages. A well-known photograph of machine gunners with manual "Lewis" marching at the parade on November 7, 1941 on Red Square before leaving for the front.


    Military parade on Red Square. Moscow, November 7, 1941. The photo is interesting in that the soldiers of the Red Army are wearing winter helmets, canceled in July 1940, and armed with old English machine guns Lewis systems brought to Russia in 1917

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

  • USA- after the start of World War II, Lewis machine guns were in service with parts of the second line.
  • Third Reich- due to maneuverability and general secrecy, Lewis machine guns were nicknamed by the soldiers of Kaiser Germany "rattle snake", which was facilitated by the characteristic sound of a machine-gun burst. Captured machine guns by the Germans were actively reworked under the 7.92 mm Mauser cartridge and were used in assault squads along with other trophies.

    In the Third Reich, captured machine guns were used under the name MG 137(e). In the autumn of 1944, during the formation of Volkssturm battalions, 2,891 units were transferred for their armament. 6.5 mm machine guns Lewis M. 20 from the arsenals of occupied Holland.

  • Finland- in service with the Finnish army since independence (from the arsenals of the tsarist army).
  • Japan- adopted by the Japanese Air Force, produced under license.

Video

Shooting from the Lewis Machine Gun, handling weapons and more:

Lewis Gun at the Range

The Lewis machine gun is a legendary English light machine gun that saw action in both World Wars. This is one of the most recognizable weapons of the last century. The Lewis machine gun managed to take part in both the Russian Revolution and the Civil War. "Lewis" can be safely called the most successful machine gun of its period.



The Lewis machine gun had an original design and really high combat characteristics, which allowed the machine gun to remain in service for so long. A distinctive feature of the Lewis machine gun is the shape of the barrel casing, by which you can unmistakably recognize this weapon.


History of creation

The Lewis light machine gun was developed by Samuel McClen in the USA in 1911. The completion of this weapon was carried out by the colonel of the American army Isaac Newton Lewis. Initially, he wanted to make this machine gun an easel and equip it with water cooling, but then settled on original idea forced air cooling of the barrel. It should be noted that no one after Lewis used a similar scheme in the design of weapons.

Lewis offered his machine gun to arm the American army, several weapons were even tested, but the US military leadership considered this machine gun unpromising and not worthy of attention. After this failure, Lewis retired and moved across the ocean, first to Belgium and then to the UK. It was the Belgians who were the first to become interested in the new machine gun and in 1913 took it into service. The release of the Lewis light machine gun was launched at the factories of the BSA company (England).

In 1914, the machine gun received a baptism of fire - a world war broke out in Europe. After it began, the demand for the Lewis machine gun grew at an unprecedented pace, BSA expanded production, but, despite this, could not fulfill all orders. Therefore, part of the orders were placed in the United States.



The German infantrymen called the Lewis machine gun "rattlesnake" for the characteristic sound of his work and took it with pleasure as a trophy. Then the "Lewis" was converted under the Mauser cartridge and successfully used in battle. The German assault squads were especially fond of the Lewis machine gun.


This machine gun came to Russia back in 1913: several samples were purchased for testing at the Officers' Rifle School. However, the Russian military did not like the Lewis, especially there were many complaints about the short service life of the machine gun barrel.

However, this machine gun was not forgotten in Russia, they were especially needed during the war. In 1915, the British government ceded to Russia the rights to all Lewis made to English orders in the United States. Deliveries started at next year. Also, Lewis machine guns, made in England under the English patron.303, were delivered to Russia. American machine guns were made under the Mosin cartridge 7.62 mm.

Lewis light machine guns were actively used in Russian aviation. An additional handle, a sleeve collector and a flame arrester were installed on it. Sometimes the casings were removed: the oncoming air flow cooled the barrel sufficiently.



Before the start of the revolutionary events, more than 10 thousand units of these weapons were delivered to Russia, so they were actively used during the Civil War. For example, the personal guards of the legendary father Makhno were armed with "Lewis".

"Lewis" in pretty large quantities were stored in Soviet military warehouses. After the outbreak of the war, they were remembered and sent to the front. Eat famous photo Red Army soldiers armed with these machine guns marching at the famous parade on November 7, 1941.

The British were in a similar situation. In the late 30s, the British army began to change the "Lewis" to a more modern "Bren". During the flight from France was lost great amount small arms, so the Lewis had to get back in line. The Germans also used these machine guns captured as trophies. Basically, they were armed with parts of the Volkssturm.

The last big conflict for this machine gun was the Korean War.



The device of the machine gun and the principle of its operation

The work of machine gun automation is based on the removal of part of the powder gases from the bore. The rate of operation of automation (rate of fire) is regulated by a valve on the gas chamber. The gas piston moved backwards, wound up a spiral spring (as in ordinary watches) and turned the magazine through a special mechanism. The barrel bore was locked by turning the bolt, the stops of which entered the grooves of the receiver. The trigger mechanism allowed only automatic fire.

The Lewis machine gun consisted of the following components: a barrel with a casing and a radiator, a receiver, a bolt and a bolt carrier, a special design magazine, a trigger mechanism with a handle, a reciprocating mainspring.

The coil spring is also a unique feature of this machine gun: it has never been used in a weapon since. To tighten the spring, a small special key was included with the machine gun.



The spring unwound and fed the cartridge into the chamber, after which a shot was fired.

The main feature of the Lewis system machine gun was its casing, which strongly protruded beyond the dimensions of the weapon's barrel. When fired, the powder gases created an area of ​​low pressure in the rear of the casing, which pulled cold air through it, which cooled the ribbed barrel. Folding bipods were attached to the casing.

No less interesting is the design of the magazine of this machine gun. It had a disc shape, the cartridges in it were arranged in several rows: in two or four. Unlike most existing stores, it did not contain a feed spring. The cartridges were fed using a special mechanism, which was actuated by a protrusion on the bolt. Such a store can be seen as one of the first attempts to abandon the tape feed.



The fuse was installed on the receiver.

Forty-seven rounds fired in just six seconds, so machine gunners were taught to release their finger from the trigger on the count of three. Sights consisted of a rear sight and a front sight located at the end of the casing. The rear sight had two positions: at 600 yards (approximately 500 meters) and the second, designed for firing at longer distances. Anti-aircraft "Lewis" were equipped with special sights made of wire.

American Isaac Newton Lewis (1858-1931) served as an officer in the US Army. In addition, he was also an inventor, whose work is still used in the military industry in many countries. In 1911, Lewis improved original design machine gun Samuel McLean and launched a broad marketing campaign for the rifle, which eventually turned out. She was called " automatic rifle Lewis" and was equipped with a mobile air-cooling system.

Rifle production

Throughout its history, this rifle has been used for defense, for shooting from the air and as a light version of the infantry machine gun. The Lewis rifle continued to be used during the First and Second World Wars. It is curious that the US authorities at first were not interested in the development of Lewis, and this forced him to sell his invention to Europe, where it served in the arsenal of the Belgian army. Belgium began serial production of the machine, then Britain and France became interested in it.

America was forced to join the First world war, and only then did she finally invest in the production of the Lewis rifle. Production was carried out in England, in Birmingham (BSA). The German attack on Belgium was swift, and the Belgian troops were forced to retreat. It was during this fierce battle that the Lewis rifle was used for the first time. By the time the war reached its peak, the Lewis rifle had already found its widest use. It was equipped with observation towers, biplanes and bombers. The war, which, according to experts, should have ended by Christmas 1914, ended up lasting four long years and became one of the bloodiest in history.

Huge front-line territories were entangled in a network of trenches, between which there were round-the-clock skirmishes. Areas not occupied by trenches were under constant crossfire and were called "deserted lands" because it was impossible to survive on them.

firing range

Machine gun played important role in this war. Wartime practice showed that it was the side that was armed with machine guns that always won. At the same time, aircraft and tanks began to join the machine guns. The firing range and ballistics of rifle cartridges made it possible to keep the enemy at a great distance, preventing him from going on the offensive.

Machine gunners could also be combined into a detachment, where they, mutually covering each other, ensured complete control over enemy positions and shelters. Along with artillery fire, these weapons resulted in huge human casualties. In essence, the Lewis rifle was an automatic firing system equipped with a gas chamber and air cooling. She weighed about 13 kilograms. The machine gun was loaded with a 30-06 Springfield round drum, and its rate of fire was from 500 to 600 rounds per minute. The firing range varied from 800 to 3000 meters.

A distinctive feature of the Lewis machine gun was its casing. It was intended to protect the shooter from contact with the hot barrel and to better purge it with a forced cooling system. This system worked at the expense of spent powder gases and was innovative and very effective for its time. The machine gun, which has forced air cooling, compares favorably with its water-cooled competitors. It did not need to be additionally filled with water and one person could easily handle it (unlike the same Vickers).

By the time America adopted the Lewis machine gun, this weapon had already proven itself in battles around the world. America entered World War I only in 1917. By this time, Lewis already had wide popularity and was used almost everywhere. Especially often, aircraft and biplanes of the allied forces were equipped with this machine gun. There was a serious shortage in the American army firearms. This forced America to buy Lewis machine guns from Britain, and they remained in service with America until the end of World War II, despite the fact that in parallel the Americans also bought the Czech machine gun Bren Light Machine.

Lewis Mark XI SS

At the end of the war, the Lewis was praised for its lethality and ease of use, but the machine gun often jammed and was too heavy. It was also condemned for its extremely inconvenient reloading and relatively complex mechanism, which was difficult to repair in field conditions. Despite this, it was inexpensive and was used everywhere: on land, in the air, infantry, navy and air force.

By the beginning, the Lewis machine gun had undergone a number of modifications and improvements and was again put into service. In 1942, Britain financed the development of another modification of the Lewis - Lewis Mark XI SS.

It was assumed that this would make it possible to make a full-fledged infantry LMG from the Lewis machine gun for firing from the shoulder. Similar developments were carried out by the Americans.

As a result, a series of Mark assault rifles saw the light, many of which were not successful and never entered service. Latest Versions Markovs were widely used after the war, and the structural elements used in this series served as the basis for modern automatic rifles.

The Lewis machine gun continued to be used later - during the Arab-Israeli war (1948-1949), during the Troubles (1960-1998) and during the Croatian War of Independence (1991-1995).

Colonel Isaac Newton Lewis of the US Coastal Artillery offered this machine gun to the US Army, but the weapon was not accepted, and Lewis set up his own factory in Belgium. In 1914, his firm went bankrupt and the factory was taken over by the British Small Arms Company.
The action of the automation mechanisms of the Lewis system light machine gun is based on the principle of the removal of powder gases through a hole in the barrel. In front of the casing there is a gas chamber regulator, which has two holes for venting gases with letter designations: "L" - a hole of a larger diameter and "S" - a hole of a smaller diameter. To move the regulator from one hole to another, it is rotated 180° using the regulator lever.

The barrel bore is locked by turning the bolt, the lugs of which are included in the transverse grooves of the receiver. The rotation of the bolt when locking is carried out by a curved groove on the bolt and the base of the bolt rack. The percussion mechanism of the percussion type is fixed on the bolt carrier. The trigger mechanism allows only automatic fire.

The machine gun is fed with cartridges during firing from a disk magazine, which is driven by a feed mechanism. The lever-type feed mechanism is actuated by a protrusion of the bolt tail, which is included in the curved groove of the feed lever.
There is a pawl on the feed lever, which, interacting with the transverse ribs of the magazine, rotates the magazine. Keeping the magazine from turning to the right and left is made by two levers, which are located on the cover of the receiver.
The extraction of the sleeve is carried out by two ejectors fixed in the gate, and reflection is carried out by a lever-type reflector located in the receiver.
This design of the feed mechanism proved to be too complicated and prone to delays when firing. In addition, the disc magazine with a capacity of 47 rounds was expensive to manufacture and low-tech. Therefore, in 1923, the design of the machine gun was modernized, during which a simple box magazine with a capacity of 20 rounds was introduced instead of a disk magazine. The feeding mechanism has been simplified accordingly.

The machine gun fuse consists of two strips with cutouts placed on both sides of the receiver. The cutouts are designed for setting the bolt carrier on the fuse in the forward and rear positions.


The design of the machine gun used air-cooled barrel. In order to increase the cooling efficiency, an aluminum radiator with high longitudinal ribs and a casing with a pipe are installed on the barrel. The barrel is connected to the receiver with a thread.

The machine gun has a rack type sight. It is mounted on the cover of the receiver and has up to 20 divisions. The maximum range of aimed fire is 2000 yards, which corresponds to 1850 m.
To use the machine gun as a manual machine gun, it is equipped with a bipod, butt and trigger guard handle. In the variant of a light easel machine gun, it was mounted on a light tripod machine, the recoil pad with a butt was replaced with a recoil pad with a handle.
The Lewis machine gun was also used as an aircraft. On aircraft, it was installed in turrets and equipped with disk magazines with a capacity of 97 rounds.
With the adoption of the Bren light machine gun by the British army, the Lewis machine guns were put into warehouses or transferred to the colonial troops. The shortage of light machine guns at the beginning of the Second World War forced the use of these machine guns in the regular units of the British army.