Of all the small arms developed during the World War One years, none is as enigmatic as the Austro-Hungarian Standschütze Hellriegel M1915, or, in German, the Maschinengewehr des Standschützen Hellriegel. The existence of the weapon came to light from a handful of photographs dated from October 1915 that were found in the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek (Austrian National Library). Unfortunately, there were no technical details about the Hellriegel M1915 included with the photographs and so all information regarding it are derived from examination of the photographs and making educated guesses.
The weapon was named after a man with the last name of Hellriegel and he was a part of the Austro-Hungarian Schützenstand, or shooting club. Members of these clubs, whose men were called Standschützen, were committed to the voluntary, military protection of the state of Tyrol and Vorarlberg. When called to duty, the Standschützen were expected to supply their own rifles and often trained in civilian clothing. Officers in the Standschützen were elected, the maximum rank being Major. Standschützen officers had the same command authority as the regular military officers the latter of which, not surprisingly, did not look upon that with favor. In May 1913, those men who were already Standschützen were liable for service in the Landsturm (militia) and once assigned to Landsturm duty, these men were no longer volunteers. After August 1914, Standschützen were considered regular troops but could not be deployed outside Austrian territory (though this was later ignored). All told, there were some 65,000 Standschützen within Tyrol.
Returning to Hellriegel's weapon, it isn't known if he designed it himself to interest the Austro-Hungarian military or if it was in response to a call for a lighter, fully automatic weapon. The ammunition used in the weapon was certainly of the pistol caliber but exactly what caliber isn't stated. The most likely caliber was 9x23mm Steyr as this was the standard pistol ammunition for the Austro-Hungarian military starting in 1911 and through World War Two. There were two means to feed the weapon, the first being a 20-round stick magazine with the second, shown here, being a drum that held approximately 160 rounds of ammunition. Unlike the stick magazine which could be fitted to the weapon, the drum magazine, at least in the photographs, could not or was only shown dismounted from the weapon. A novel feature of the drum magazine was the flexible feed chute which used a clip to secure it to the magazine well. The drum magazine was also provided with a stand (also seen in the photograph) which kept it upright if the firer did not have someone to support the drum. Another interesting feature of the Hellriegel M1915 was the fact it was water-cooled. The barrel was surrounded by the cooling jacket and the fill cap can be seen near the muzzle. A simple tubular fore-grip was affixed to the underside of the cooling jacket. Based on the photographs, the action is believed to be a form of blowback and this is because a blowback weapon doesn't require the barrel to move and instead, uses the expanding gas from the fired cartridge to push the bolt backwards, eject the round, then feed a new round as the bolt rides forward. Protruding out the back of the upper receiver were two posts connected by a central bar which was part of the return springs for the bolt. The wooden stock is believed to have been a cut down stock from a Mannlicher M1895 bolt-action rifle, the standard firearm for Austro-Hungarian infantry. The main difference was a deeper cut thumb groove. The leather sling was also derived from the M1895 rifle. Aiming was done by a iron front post sight and a rear flip-up sight. The rate of fire has been estimated to be between 650 to 800 rounds per minute though likely in combat, it would have been less. Also, the effective range of the Hellriegel M1915 isn't known. The 115 grain, full metal jacket 9x23mm round had a maximum muzzle velocity of 1,230 feet per second and when fired from the Steyr M1912 pistol, the range was 160 feet. However, fired from a longer barrel as used by the Hellriegel M1915, a more plausible effective range would be around 320 feet or more.
The Hellriegel M1915, while it could be operated by a single man (ergo, the use of stick magazines), it could also be crewed by two men and this suggests that while classified as a submachine gun, the Hellriegel M1915 could be deployed as a light weight, light caliber machine-gun. In fact, one of the photographs shows a soldier wearing a special wooden backpack, open at the rear, with a fur covered leather flap to protect the contents consisting of five drum magazines and two pull-out drawers that may have been used for gun tools, loose ammunition, cleaning supplies, or additional stick magazines. The Italians, during World War One, used a similar concept, the twin-barrel Pistola Mitragliatrice Villar Perosa M1915, which fired the 9mm Glisenti round. Favored by the Italian “Arditi” (“The Daring Ones”), as Italian Army shock troops called themselves, the Villar Perosa was light and provided significant firepower at short ranges during assaults. A typical Villar Perosa crew was four men: a gunner and three ammunition bearers, the latter carried some 5,000 rounds between them to feed the ravenous weapon that had a maximum rate of fire of 1,500 rounds per minute, per barrel. Feed was by way of 25-round box magazines.
Unlike the Villar Perosa, the Hellriegel M1915 failed to make it into service. The exact reasons for this are not known. Issues with the drum feed system, overall complexity, lack of a bipod support (though had it been developed further, might have been added), and difficulty plus expense to produce the gun may have all spelled the end of the novel weapon. The photographs show a weapon that was clearly a prototype, lacking finish and it is believed only a single example was built. Following its demise, it disappeared from history, the prototype lost, until the discovery of the photographs brought the unique weapon to light once more.
Source:
Banach, M. (2017, November 27). Zapomniany Standschütze Hellriegel M1915. SmartAge.pl. Retrieved September 28, 2021, from https://www.smartage.pl/zapomniany-standschutze-hellriegel-m1915/.
