Those who have seen the Soviet film "The White Sun of the Desert" probably remember what a Lewis light machine gun looks like. At the same time, many were definitely surprised by the unusual design of the machine gun and asked themselves the question - why would he need such a huge barrel. It's time to find out - for what, and also to find out if everything is really as it seems at first glance with this weapon.
British development is an American craft.
For those who like "quick answers", let's say right away that the thick "barrel" of a Lewis machine gun is not a barrel at all. This is actually a special casing. But now we will understand in more detail. And you should start with the history of the appearance of this type of weapon. So, as the name of the machine gun directly indicates to us, Isaac Lewis, Colonel of the US Army, made it. Why is the British machine gun? Yes, all because Isaac only implemented the project, but did not design the machine gun itself. The idea of the weapon design belongs to the Englishman Samuel McLean.
The baptism of fire took place in the First World War.
It is noteworthy that in the USA the colonel was never able to promote "his" machine gun. The army command, having familiarized itself with the project, abandoned it. As a result, Lewis retired in 1913 and went to Belgium, where he founded the company "Armes Automatique Lewis". It is noteworthy that at first the machine gun was promoted exclusively as an easel, and with a water cooling system. However, in the end, this idea was abandoned in favor of a more advanced system at that time: it was decided to equip the weapon with a forced air cooling system for the barrel. For this, a casing was needed, which eventually became the hallmark of the Lewis machine gun.
The barrel is inside a huge casing.
The operation of the automatic machine gun is based on the removal of powder gases. The barrel is equipped with a radiator and shroud. Behind them is a receiver with a cover and a feed mechanism, as well as a butt plate with a butt. There is a fire control handle (it has a trigger and a bolt carrier). The box contains a return-combat spring. The casing of the machine gun extends far beyond the muzzle. Thus, with its profile, this part forms an ejector. The system works as follows: when fired, a wave of powder gases passes through the casing and creates a vacuum in the rear of the ejector by its inertia. Due to this, portions of cold air are drawn along the entire barrel under the casing. As a result, cooling occurs.
It turned out to be a good weapon.
Promotional video:
Interesting fact: during the Second World War, during the "Battle of Britain", the British got from the warehouses, including the remaining Lewis machine guns. Most of them entered the ground forces and did not have cooling jackets. As a result, it turned out that even without them, the machine guns do not experience additional problems with overheating. Thus, the "calling card" of the weapon was (as a structural element) almost useless. Everything turned out exactly like this, because before the First World War, when the RPL was used very widely, the weapons almost did not have time to thoroughly test.
Disassembled.
As already noted, the first military conflict in which the machine gun took part was the First World War. The baptism of fire of the weapon happened in 1914. At the end of 1915, Great Britain approved the delivery of the Lewis to Russia. Samples of light machine guns chambered for the British.303 British began supplying the empire in 1916. In total, at the time of the revolution, the country had about 9,600 American-made machine guns and another 1,860 British-made machine guns. In the future, the machine gun was actively used during the civil war.
An interesting fact: the personal bodyguard of the revolutionary anarchist Nestor Makhno was called "Luisists", as it was mainly armed with these machine guns.
In fact, the DT machine gun was used in the film.
The machine gun was also used in the Second World War. Its main operators were also Great Britain and Russia, which at that time became the Soviet Union. In the USSR, Lewis machine guns were mainly armed with militia units.
Interesting fact: in the Soviet film "White Sun of the Desert", dedicated to the events of the civil war, the Red Army soldier Sukhov uses a Lewis machine gun in the story. In fact, it is not him at all. For the filming of the film, they used another weapon - the DT machine gun, which was "made up" for Lewis by installing a characteristic casing on the barrel.