Postwar Service
After World War I, some Colt-Browning guns (possibly including the M1917/18 Marlin variants) saw use in the Russian Civil war. Its most spectacular use came during the Czech Legion's exodus from Russia, where the guns (either Colt-Browning M1914 or Marlin M1917 models) were photographed in sandbagged stations on the top of trains being used to transport the Legion as it withdrew from Soviet Russia. Many of these guns were also used in the Polish–Soviet War war of 1920. At the outset of World War II, M1917 and M1918 Marlins were also sent to Britain for use by the Home Guard, but were never actually employed in combat.
The last documented use of the type was by the National Guard against striking miners in the Battle of Blair Mountain, West Virginia in 1921. A contemporary photo illustrates a Colt-Browning gun with a ribbed barrel in the hands of a guardsman supporting Sheriff's deputies. The ventilating ribs indicate the gun was most likely a Marlin M1917/18 machine Gun purchased by the Army in 1917-18 for training and familiarization purposes, as the U.S. military never purchased the Colt M1895/1914 variant.
The Belgian army acquired a large number of 7mm Mauser M1895/14 versions towards the end of World War I, which were kept in storage after the conflict and allocated to certain reserve infantry regiments before the outbreak of World War II. The guns were widely used in action during the German invasion of Belgium between 10th May and 28th May 1940.
Read more about this topic: M1895 Colt-Browning Machine Gun
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