The Madsen Machine Gun

25 The Madsen [6 June 1918] Gun. 26 1,000 Madsen guns with the new factory, I think the exchange is at the least in our favour. In six months you could not make those 1,000 civilians into soldiers; at any rate into only a very inferior ar- ticle, in my opinion: and if you could turn on those civilians to making 1,000 Madsen guns you would arm a good many of our present Divisions in a way in which they are certainly not armed at the present time, and with a weapon which I am convinced, if we had had it only in small numbers at the beginning of the war, would have put an entirely different complexion on the whole thing. Lord SALTOUN: My Lords, I hardly like to intervene, but I am a very old soldier, I am sorry to say. There are one or two things, however, that fell from the noble Lord who answered the Questions which seem to me to require something more explicit. I do not think that he understood the matter. He did not give much hope that the gun would be accepted; yet there is no doubt that this Madsen gun is the best quick-firing gun. Surely it is the duty of the Govern- ment to equip the men in the field with the best possible weapon and not to be affected by any expence or trouble to which it may put the country. There was one other thing to which the noble Lord drew attention, and that was the draw- back of having different weapons with different ammunition, but this weapon uses the same ammunition as the Lewis gun, and the result would be that you would only be adding another weapon. You would do that gradually and so strengthen the arms we have, and not in any way reduce them. Earl BRASSEY: My Lords, I have had the privilege, like my noble and gallant friend who moved this Resolution, of seeing this gun. I cannot pretend to be a machine-gun expert, but I commanded a Yeomanry regiment for some years be- fore the war and have done so for two and a-half years since the war, and I share the opinion of the noble Lord that this gun is infinitely superior for certain purposes to any other machine-gun. In my opinion it will be a national disaster if it is not at once adopted by this coun- try. If it goes to our enemies the conse- quences will follow to which Lord Beres- ford alluded. The Duke of SOMERSET: My Lords, I merely rise to back the opinion of my noble friend Lord Beresford. I had an opportunity of seing this gun thoroughly explained yesterday, and I also saw the Lewis gun, and I think nobody can see the two without noticing at once the extraordinary improvement which the Mad- sen gun is on the Lewis g,un. I will quote what a New Zealand officer said to me. When I remarked yesterday, »How any- body can be so mad as not to take up this gun when they can get it instead of the Lewis gun, I cannot .understand,« he replied »ALI I can say is that it amounts to a crime, not to a mistake.« Lord PENRHYN: My Lords, there was one point with regard to what Lord El- phinstone said to which I should rather like to take exception, and that was as to the weight of the spare barrel, which I think we were told was 5 lbs. We have always to remember that although the spare barrel of the Madsen gun may weigh 5 lbs. it takes only fifteen seconds to replace the heated barrel by the cool spare barrel, whereas the Lewis gun is for at least twenty minutes out of action, which makes a very great difference. There is also a point which I do not think has had quite sufficient stress laid upon it, and it is this. I am informed that the Ger- mans know perfectly well when our Lewis guns are out of action, and that their rushes in waves are to a very considerable extent timed to meet the occasions when our Lewis guns happen to be out of action. With the Madsen gun you could change the barrel in fifteen seconds and go straight away. Lord HENEAGE: My Lords, there is one point that has not been answered, and that is as to the danger of the enemy getting this gun whilst the War Office are considering whether or not they will have it, because it is of very little use the War Office coming to the conclusion six months hence that this is the best gun which can be had if in the meantime the