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Any gun nerd worthy of his GLOCK has at least a passing knowledge of the history of automatic firearms. Seminal names like Maxim, Browning, Lewis and Thompson shaped the landscape. We all know that true machine guns were introduced in the late 19th century only to find their legs later during the hemoclysm that was World War I.
The English Vickers and American BAR were legendary, while the French Chauchaut was an abomination. However, what is not so well known is that there was a relatively obscure Danish design debuted in 1902 that was actually the world’s first true light machine gun. Offered in a dozen calibers and formally adopted by 34 nations, the Madsen LMG (light machine gun) was decades ahead of its time. Incredibly, it soldiers on to this very day.
In the Beginning
Designed by Theodor Schouboe and Julius Rasmussen, the Madsen LMG was first proposed by Colonel Vilhelm Herman Olaf Madsen, the Danish Minister of War. As Colonel Madsen was the driving force behind this radically advanced gun, he got to hang his name onto it. At a time when most machine guns were water-cooled, belt-fed and as big as a chest freezer, the Madsen fed from a top-mounted magazine and was light enough to be utilized by a single operator. It would take the rest of the world years to catch up.
Colonel Madsen started a company, Compagnie Madsen A/S, to produce this extraordinary automatic rifle. That company remains in operation today as DISA. Through the decades they produced a wide variety of military guns to include the 9mm M50 SMG. Nowadays, DISA is an industry leader in industrial casting and molding equipment.
Mechanical Details
The Madsen LMG began as the M1888 Self-Loading Rifle first imagined by then-Captain of Artillery VHO Madsen in 1883. The formal name for the M.1888 was the Madsen M1888 Forsøgsrekylgevær. You have no idea how tough it was convincing Microsoft Word to produce that term.
The M1888 was a novel recoil-operated shoulder arm chambered in the 8x58mm Rimmed cartridge. Curiously, the M1888 was gravity-fed via an integral folding stripper clip. The clip remained with the rifle and would pivot to seal the action when not in use. While inspired, the M1888’s gravity-fed action was mechanically doomed. Despite being as complicated as a sewing machine, the basic action nonetheless held great promise.
These rifles were designed just as cartridge-firing guns were transitioning from black powder to smokeless nitrocellulose-based propellants. The first prototype Madsen machine guns were finicky and prone to fouling with the early black powder rounds. However, once the gun was chambered for the then-state-of-the-art 6.5mm smokeless cartridge, it ran quite well.
The Madsen operated via a hybrid recoil-driven action inspired by the lever-action Martini-Henry rifle. It fired from the open bolt to aid in cooling. Where the Martini-Henry was manually operated, the Madsen used the recoil impulse from a fired round to move the bolt, barrel and barrel extension to the rear. When the moment was right, the bolt cammed upward, while the barrel and barrel extension cycled separately. A combination extractor/ejector lever discarded the empty case through the bottom of the receiver. As the action returned forward, it stripped a new round and shoved it into the chamber.
The movement of all this mass helped mitigate recoil forces. It also resulted in a positively impressive rate of fire of around 450 rpm. This is about the same as that of the American M3 Grease Gun.
Major Players of the Madsen LMG
The Madsen LMG was expensive and laborious to produce, but all machine guns made during this time were expensive and laborious to produce. Regardless, when stoked with smokeless rounds, the Madsen was lightweight and portable in an era when automatic guns typically were not. These attributes made it quite popular. The Madsen became a common fixture on battlefields.
Both sides used the Madsen during the Mexican Revolution. In fact, in 1905 the British Rexer Arms Company began producing an unauthorized copy that they sold to anyone with cash. The Russians bought a pile of the guns for use with both horse cavalry and aboard the crude warplanes of the day.
The open-bolt nature of the design confounded efforts to create a synchronization gear to allow the gun to fire through the propellor arc safely on early Morane-Saulnier aircraft. Some versions of the plane even employed an armored propellor to deflect the rounds as needed. This probably didn’t inspire confidence among its pilots.
The German infantry used Madsen LMGs chambered in 7.92x57mm during WWI. The relatively-lightweight Madsens were popular among the soldiers who needed a mobile base of automatic fire for trench-clearing operations. Considering the alternative was the MG08/15 Maxim that weighed a whopping 40 pounds empty, the Madsen offered markedly improved mobility.
The Chinese were cursed with internecine warfare among sundry warlords throughout the first half of the 20th century. They bought a small number of Madsens and then began local production at the Guandong Arsenal in 1909. As a result of such widespread distribution, the Madsen eventually found its way around the globe.
You Can’t Keep a Good Gun Down
In the years following World War I, it really did seem that everybody was using the Madsen, albeit in small numbers. The Czechs employed the gun to fight the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War. China bought another 300 in the 1930s and put them to use. Paraguay and Bolivia both bought Madsens to use against each other. Brazil and Argentina stocked their arms rooms with Madsens as well.
After World War II broke out, the world just could not get enough guns. Thousands went to the Chinese, while Norway used the Madsen LMG as a Squad Automatic Weapon chambered in 6.5×55 Krag. However, of all the calibers the Madsen ran, this was one of the least reliable.
The Madsen was originally a Dutch design, and the Dutch used the gun in a hopeless effort at maintaining their Pacific colonies prior to their capitulation to the Japanese. As the Imperial Japanese Army was forever short of firearms, they press-ganged these liberated Madsens into use against the Allies. A few were captured by U.S. forces at Guadalcanal.
Onward To the Present
While the Great War might have ended, other wars and battles picked up around the world. The Madsen saw significant post-war service in Brazil. Chambered in 7.62x51mm NATO, these guns were still in use by Brazilian police as recently as 2018. The Portuguese used Madsens through the 1970s and 80s as they tried to gracefully extricate themselves from their chaotic African holdings.
In July of 1969, Honduras and El Salvador actually went to war over a soccer game. Four days later, some 3,600 people were dead…because of a soccer game. There were other issues of mass migration and cultural incompatibility as well, but it was the soccer game that conflagrated everything in the first place. Naturally, the Madsen LMG figured prominently.
If properly maintained, firearms will last pretty much forever. In fact, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the Ukrainians threw absolutely everything they had into defense of their country. News footage showed members of the Ukrainian youth group Prava Molod going into action against Russian forces packing WWI-vintage Madsens.
Despite being more complicated than the U.S. tax code and looking like the illegitimate love child between a boat paddle and a fishing rod, the Madsen LMG has had an outsized impact on the course of modern war.
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When the M1 Carbine (officially the United States Carbine, Caliber .30, M1) began to reach American combat units in late 1942, the handy little rifle quickly gained a reputation as the “soldier’s pet”.
And why not? The little M1 Carbine weighed just 5.8 pounds (loaded with a 15-round magazine) and was only 35.6” long. By 1942 standards, it was a semi-automatic sweetheart.
Consequently, as the Carbine quickly made its way from its intended role as a weapon for officers and specialist troops (like artillerymen, tankers, and paratroops) into the hands of the long-suffering infantrymen, the G.I.’s penchant for customization created some interesting field modifications for their new favorite rifle.
They had plenty of opportunities — there were 6.1 million carbines made during World War II, and they were issued in every combat theatre.
Bayonets
M1 Carbines equipped with a bayonet lug did not appear until the final weeks of the war, but that doesn’t mean that American troops weren’t creating their own bayonets for the Carbine in the field.
Ultimately, the M3 fighting knife was transformed into the M4 bayonet for use on the M1 Carbine. The official design appears to follow along with improvised bayonets created in the field.
Flash Hiders
During the war, the T23 (later designated M3) flash hider was developed for use with the M3 Carbine and its infrared sniperscope. Only a handful of the M3 Carbines saw service by the war’s end, and consequently few of the M3 flash hiders were in use until the Korean War.
Even so, I managed to find a pair of photos of a field-made flash hider from an Army unit in the Philippines. Different units experimented with flash hider/compensator combinations for their carbines, the flash hider for use in close-quarters night fighting, and the compensator for Carbines field-modified for fully automatic fire.
The Clip Carrier
By late 1944, the twin-magazine “stock pouch” was fitted to many carbines — giving troops quick access to three 15-round magazines without using an ammunition belt. In the spring of 1945, a semi-official “clip carrier” was introduced in small numbers in Germany.
The unusual ammunition clip carrier allowed three additional 15-round magazines to be carried forward of the normal 15-round magazine in the mag-well (60 rounds total).
he U.S. War Department’s “Combat Lessons No. 8” describes the device:
This ammunition clip carrier was designed by T/4 Pierce S. Priest, for use with the .30 caliber carbine M1. When the carrier is fully loaded, the exhausted clip is removed in the usual manner and a fresh clip placed in position for insertion by pressure exerted with fingers of the left hand at the front of the carrier. When the carrier is partially loaded, operation is the same except that the fingers of the left hand are inserted at the side of the carrier.
Cut-Down Carbine
Units with access to tools often experimented with converting an M1 Carbine to full-auto fire. Likewise, the already small carbine was sometimes cut down even further to create an oversized pistol, or machine-pistol.
During the 1960s, both Iver Johnson and Universal created commercial variants of the M1 Carbine cut down to pistol length for sale in the USA. It seems likely that the G.I. field modifications were popular enough for postwar manufacturers to “productize” them.
Bandolier-Sling
As a photo researcher, I can tell you that I often find interesting images of firearms modifications or adaptations that ask more questions than they answer. Back in 2006, I published a photo study of the M1 Carbine in action. In that book, I included a couple of photos that showed Marines on Okinawa with a unique sling that doubled as a bandolier for their Carbines. I didn’t say much about it in the captions, as I had no reference to describe specifically what it was.
In the summer of that year, I sat down with renowned gun researcher Dolf Goldsmith. Dolf looked at those images, and quickly asked that a box of .30 Carbine cartridges along with the web ammunition belt for a Browning M1917 .30 caliber machine gun be brought to him. With both of those in hand and an M1 Carbine on the table, Dolf broke down the “mystery sling”.
The Marines had used a web ammo belt (for the .30 cal M1917 machine gun), and the .30 Carbine rounds held in there perfectly. The newly made sling did the same job as the standard type, while providing the user with about 30 rounds of loose ammunition. All of the materials were readily available, and the conversion was relatively simple to complete.
The next expert I talked to took in all the available information, and then shot back some questions that I could not answer. I reviewed the bandolier-sling photos with the leading M1 Carbine expert, the late Larry Ruth. After a little thought, Larry had this to say: “I think you and Dolf have figured out what it is and how it was made. That makes perfect sense. But I wonder why it exists at all?”
Solving the Mystery
Apparently, the bandolier-sling concept intersected with some research that Larry was conducting on M1 Carbine magazines. Then he hit me with another question: “In all your photo research and collecting, have you found any images that show empty carbine magazines laying discarded on the battlefield?” I thought about it a bit and concluded that I had not.
Larry went on to explain that although there were millions of spare magazines made for the Carbine during the war — enough that individual magazines should have been expendable. Even today, you can find examples of 15-round magazines that are still unopened in their factory wraps. Larry went on to say that he had not seen images that showed discarded carbines mags, and furthermore, he had no anecdotal evidence of empty Carbine magazines treated as disposable by Marines, or G.I.s, or anyone. I asked several WWII combat veterans that used the M1 Carbine, and all that any of them could remember was that when a carbine magazine was empty, they put it in their pocket to eventually reload and use it again.
It was the mathematics of production and distribution of M1 Carbine magazines that wasn’t adding up for Larry. The fact that U.S. combat troops went to the time and trouble to create a sling that doubled as an ammunition bandolier (particularly late in the war when production was at its peak) appeared to be a symptom of a U.S. Ordnance problem with distribution.
The concept of a bandolier-sling would never have come up if American combat troops had enough Carbine magazines that they could confidently discard the empties in a firefight. It seems like a minor point, but it was next-level thinking on Larry’s part, and it also showed that American troops could invent tactical-level solutions for strategic-level problems. Also — spoiler alert — we won the war, so it is unlikely that anyone bothered to investigate it after August of 1945.
In the years after, I have found more images of the carbine bandolier-sling, and while all of them are shown on rifles in the Pacific Theater of the war, not all of them were taken by Marines. Army units used the same modification. This modification may have been used in the ETO or MTO, but I have no photographs to prove it.
Conclusion
So there you have it, a round-up of some of the more interesting adaptations applied to the M1 Carbine by troops in the field. Necessity is truly the mother of invention, and Americans have always acquitted themselves well when it comes to creativity in times of need.
Landing on Sicily in a Higgins Boat, these Coastguardsmen are armed with M1903 Springfield rifles.
Image courtesy of National Archives.
During 1940, the war in North Africa began as a Mediterranean side show. By the time that Rommel’s forces threatened Egypt and the Suez Canal in July 1942, the desert war had become a crisis. The British victory at El Alamein, and the Anglo-American landings in Algeria a few months later, put an ever-tightening squeeze on the Afrika Korps.
In the North African dust, this member of the 82nd Airborne Division, shown above with the M1 Garand rifle, is ready for the paratroop assault on Sicily. Image courtesy of National Archives.
When Axis forces in North Africa were forced to surrender during May 1943, the path to an Allied invasion of occupied Europe was clear—Italy was the target. The western Allies could fulfill their promise to Stalin and the Soviets that a true invasion of Axis Europe was in the making. Winston Churchill is noted to have initially described Italy as “the soft underbelly of Europe.” U.S. 5th Army commander General Mark Clark later described Italy as a “tough old gut.” Whatever the description, the stepping stone to Italy was Sicily. Strangely, the Germans didn’t quite believe it.
A Serving Of Mincemeat
Even though Sicily was clearly the most accessible landmass for the Allies to invade, British intelligence successfully convinced the Germans, including Hitler himself, that any attack on Sicily was merely a feint. “Operation Mincemeat” cleverly misled the Germans into believing that Greece and Sardinia were the focus of the upcoming Allied attacks—and reinforcements were sent anywhere in the Mediterranean area but Sicily. “Mincemeat” was also one of the reasons why Hitler cut short the massive Kursk offensive on the Russian front, in order to make troops available to counter an Allied invasion in the Balkans. Meanwhile, there was significant distrust growing between Germany and Italy, and Hitler was loath to rely on Italian troops, even in the defense of their own home territory.
The first parachute assault of the 82nd Airborne Division came on July 9, 1943, over Sicily. The standing paratrooper carries an early M1A1 carbine with a folding stock. Image courtesy of National Archives.
Even with many factors in their favor, particularly momentum, Allied troops would be attempting a combination of sophisticated operations to assault enemy territory in Sicily by sea and air. Coordinated beach landings and paratroop assaults would test American and British combined skills like never before.
Maturing American Forces
Before the invasion, dubbed “Operation Husky,” Allied air forces pounded Axis airfields across Sicily, destroying more than 300 German and Italian planes, and leaving just two airstrips operational by the time of the landings. Ammunition dumps and logistic centers were repeatedly bombed, while the coastal defenses were left untouched to leave the enemy guessing about landing beaches. Even with the extensive preparatory bombardment, the Axis troops were still in position—and the Italians would be fighting for their home territory.
A rare appearance of the .30-cal. M1917 “Enfield” rifle in combat during World War II. This U.S. artilleryman (shown above) takes aim on the streets of a Sicilian town. Image courtesy of National Archives.
America’s paratroopers were ready for their first major battle, and airborne landings began after dark on July 9th. Powerful winds conspired to widely scatter the 82nd Airborne Division between Gela and Syracuse. Even so, the All-Americans rallied and attacked enemy strongpoints and cut communications. The paratroopers showed grit and initiative, and the airborne concept quickly showed promise. Specialized firearms for the airborne infantry, including the relatively new M1 carbine, offered a competitive advantage.
The old and the new: The G.I.s carry a wide range of small arms on Sicily, including an M1 Thompson SMG, an M1903 Springfield rifle, and an M1 Garand rifle. The semi-automatic M1 was still being integrated into combat units in the Mediterranean theater of operations until well into 1944. Image courtesy of National Archives.
The seaborne landings featured extensive use of the Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel (LCVP or Higgins Boat) and the new DUKW amphibious truck. Both provided stellar performance delivering men and supplies from ship to shore throughout the campaign, and Operation H
usky was a powerful learning experience and building block for later amphibious operations in the MTO and ETO.
Enjoying the sun and surf on a Sicilian beach, these GIs carry a mix of M1 Garand and M1903 Springfield rifles. Image courtesy of author.
But even the best plans don’t survive contact with the enemy, and Operation Husky was no different. Despite hopes to the contrary, several Italian coastal defense units fought well. Italian tanks and infantry attacked the Gela beachhead on July 10th, and again on the 12th. U.S. naval gunfire helped save the day on those occasions, breaking up the Italian assaults with 5″ and 6″ artillery fire support.
At the port of Licata, the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division took the town and then held it against a strong Italian counterattack. Casualties were high, with nearly 100 men killed, but the fresh American troops improvised, adapted and carried on to victory.
New Guns Earn Their Stripes While Some Legends Fade
As U.S. troops took on larger combat roles, American-made arms began to make their presence felt. By the summer of 1943, more American infantrymen in the MTO were carrying the M1 Garand rifle. Photos of the action on Sicily show more of the semi-automatic M1 rifles than they do the older (but still deadly) bolt-action M1903 Springfield rifle. American infantry firepower was steadily growing, as more Browning Automatic Rifles were reaching the troops, along with lighter, air-cooled .30-cal. Browning M1919A4 machine guns.
Glad to be out of the war, this mixed bag of Italian POWs is guarded by a U.S. Coastguardsman armed with an M1A1 Thompson SMG. Image courtesy of National Archives.
The invasion of Sicily also saw the first significant use of the M1 carbine (.30 Carbine), mostly in the hands of the 82nd Airborne Division paratroops. Among the Carbines were M1A1 folding stock variants, a firearm specifically designed for paratroops. Also, a small number of the improved Bazooka, the M1A1 (and its more reliable M6A1 rocket) were issued in the Sicilian campaign—giving the G.I.s a measure of infantry anti-tank defense. The M1A1 bazooka was credited with destroying four Panzer IV medium tanks and was even reported to have knocked out one of the vaunted German Tiger I tanks on the streets of Biscari.
Even so, the Bazooka had not yet won over all the troops—an after-action report from Sicily reads: “Most of the officers prefer the rifle grenade to the Bazooka as a close-range antitank weapon.”
Sicilian civilians welcoming U.S. troops during late July 1943. The dusty G.I. carries a classic M1903 Springfield rifle. Image courtesy of National Archives.
American troops were growing more experienced with every action, and the telling effect of U.S. infantry firepower was described in Army’s “Report of Operations” on the Sicilian Campaign:
“The German will invariably counterattack immediately after dawn and is very adept in supporting this with artillery and mortar fire. The infantry starts to attack between 800-1000 yards and comes forward at a continuous fast walk using marching fire or firing from the halt, or from the kneel.
In no case where our infantry utilized the full power of their rifle did the German counterattack get home. In fact, our troops looked forward to the German counterattack as the surest and most effective way of killing Germans.
If the observers from the batteries are in contact, it frequently is possible to stop the counterattack by a combination of percussion and air bursts. Only one case is known where the German, stopped by artillery fire, resumed his attack. Normally, he moves forward until human nature can stand no more and then quits. While going forward he shoots a great deal and makes all the noise he can. However, his small arms fire is of little value.”
No longer a threat: U.S. troops examine the wreck of Junkers Ju 87 “Stuka” dive bomber, destroyed on Sicily. This aircraft was in Italian service, where the Stuka was called “Picchiatello.” Image courtesy of National Archives.
As the Allies advanced across Sicily, the spirit of the war was changing. For example, one of the German icons of the Blitzkrieg era was no longer relevant on the battlefield, as a US intelligence report noted:
“The German Ju 87 or “Stuka” dive bomber has served its usefulness, lost its terror, and will probably not be seen in future operations.” G.I.s noticed that the sunny skies above contained fewer Axis planes, and when they appeared, American fighters and AA guns usually drove them off.
U.S. infantrymen on the north coast of Sicily during August 1943, guarding against a potential counterattack. Image courtesy of author.
American morale grew stronger, and General Patton famously raced with British Field Marshal Montgomery to be the first to reach Messina. Along the way, U.S. G-2 provided this assessment of Axis morale on Sicily:
“Morale of the German prisoners interrogated indicates it is low and of a defeatist nature. Morale of the Italian prisoners is apparently higher, while the native population has invariable welcomed the advance of American troops.”
Preparing for a German counterattack during Patton’s drive to Messina, this machine gunner of the 30th Infantry Regiment scrapes out a hasty firing position for his Browning .30-cal. M1917 water-cooled MG. Image courtesy of National Archives.
Growing Distrust
As the Allies advanced in Sicily, the Italian government began to lose confidence in Mussolini. On July 24, 1943, the Duce was summoned before the Fascist National Council, where he suffered through a vote of no-confidence. The next day, Mussolini met with King Victor Emmanuel and was dismissed from his position as prime minister. As he left the meeting, Il Duce was arrested, and taken to the first in a series of secret locations. When news of his downfall was broadcast to the Italian people, many celebrated, anticipating the end of the war for Italy. Meanwhile, the Italian army remained intact in the field, loyal to their king.
A U.S. Coastguardsman proudly displays his war trophy, an Italian Carcano M91 carbine (6.5×52 mm). Image courtesy of National Archives.
From Hitler on down to the lowest ranks of the German military, there was little faith or trust in their Italian allies. On the Italian side, the Germans seemed increasingly like prison guards than they were partners. More and more Italians began to consider Allied troops, particularly Americans, as more friend than foe.
Excerpts from orders captured from the Herman Goering Division in early August 1943, provide some insight into the growing Axis rift, and the declining tactical situation:
Instructions for further fighting in Sicily:
-No roadblocks or demolitions will be manned by Italians.
-No Italians will be allowed to disturb troop movements, either civilians or soldiers. Every Italian and all Italian equipment is to be cleared from the streets (except those Italians who have been fighting and who will still fight).
-Destroy all materials which cannot be carried. Burning material is forbidden on account of hostile aircraft. The best procedure is to blow up the material.
The final command on the list is the most telling, as well as the most sinister:
The strictest discipline must govern. Shoot all who fail to obey.
America’s Fighting Men Coming Of Age
Taking advantage of an extremely heavy concentration of anti-aircraft guns on the narrow strait of Messina, Axis forces began a general evacuation from Sicily, beginning on August 11th. By August 18th, the Italians had removed more than 60,000 men to the mainland, while the Germans evacuated more than 50,000, along with 47 tanks. But while the Germans could briefly celebrate saving valuable men and equipment, they still suffered more than 4,000 dead, and about 10,000 captured. Worse still, they were soon to lose Italy as an ally.
The massive German Pzkw VI Tiger I, knocked out on the streets of Biscari, Sicily. Sixteen of these 60-ton tanks were lost during the campaign on Sicily. Image courtesy of National Archives.
With Mussolini imprisoned, and more than 116,000 of their soldiers captured on Sicily, Italy was on the brink of collapse. Sicily fell on August 17th, and the Italian surrender soon followed. Fascist Italy came to an end on Sept. 3, 1943, with the signing of the Armistice of Cassibile. In early 1944, the Italian co-belligerent army was formed, fighting alongside the Allies until the end of the war.
U.S. forces suffered nearly 10,000 casualties during the campaign in Sicily. It was a steep price to pay for the hard-knocks education of a new global fighting force. But Sicily was taken, and Italy was knocked out. The door to the initial invasion of Europe was open. The U.S. 7th Army report on the battle of Messina concluded:
“The fall of Messina was the fall of Sicily itself. Thirty-eight days after the landings, the campaign had ended. The first United States field army to fight as a unit in this war had accomplished its mission with complete success. Long hard months of training and of battle experience, the vast productive power of America, and the courage and vision of its leaders had combined to demonstrate to the world that the unprepared nation of two years before had arrived on the scene of battle as a full-fledged fighting power.”