augfc:Seizure of automatic weapons in France, 1938These photos were taken during the aftermath of a
augfc:Seizure of automatic weapons in France, 1938These photos were taken during the aftermath of a police raid on an arms cache owned by the French fascist movement La Cagoule in October 1938. Among the weapons that were discovered in this large cache were quantities of Bergmann M.P.35/I and Haenel M.P.28,II submachine guns, Beretta Mod.1918/30 carbines, Hotchkiss Model 1926 and Châtellerault FM24/29 machine guns, and hunting shotguns. The Bergmann and Haenel SMGs were almost certainly supplied by the Nazis; German-made SMGs also cropped up in the hands of fascist groups in Czechoslovakia around the same time.The Beretta carbines are a little more interesting. These guns were updated versions of the old Beretta Mod.1918 automatic carbine produced during the latter months of World War I. The Italian government seems to have sold quantities of both the Mod.1918 and the Mod.1918/30 to Ethiopia, Argentina, and Saudi Arabia in the 1930s, however these were mostly commercial sales, whereas the examples that were supplied to La Cagoule were probably donated for political reasons. -- source link