Standard rifles of French Army in 1940

[Kelvin]

Hi, I know France had many types of rifles in 1940, even some old 1886 model, but I want to which type of rifles was official or standard rifles of French Army ? MAS-36 bolt action rifles or any ? Thank

[Hoover]

Hi,
official standard was the MAS36, yes, but there were only a few units already outfitted with this rifle. Most in use were the Berthier M1907/15 M16 rifle (5 cartridge clips) or the 3 shot M907/15. But especially reserve units still had a lot of M1886 Lebel. Olivier Bellec mentioned in his 2 volume book "1940 le soldat francais" even some M1874 M14 Gras rifles in use. Also the Mousqueton Berthier and some Mousqueton Lebel (Mle1886/93 R35) were in use mainly with Artillerie, Train and Fortress units.

[Kelvin]

Hi, Hoover, thank for your reply. I see many Panzer divisions like 9. and 21. Pz divisions have several hundred French Gewehre, I suppose German would use new MAS-36 Rifles as they kept producing that rifles after collapse of France.