The ''Manufacture Nationale d’Armes de Tulle'', often abbreviated to MAT ("Tulle National Weapons Factory" in English) was a French

state-owned State ownership, also called public ownership or government ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, property, or enterprise by the national government of a country or state, or a public body representing a community, as opposed to ...

weapons manufacturer in the town of

Tulle Tulle (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in central France. It is the third-largest town in the former region of Limousin and is the capital of the Departments of France, department of Corrèze, in the Regions of France, region of Nouvelle- ...

Corrèze Corrèze (; ) is a département in France, named after the river Corrèze which runs through it. Although its prefecture is Tulle, its most populated city is Brive-la-Gaillarde. Corrèze is located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, on the bo ...

. Founded in 1690, it was absorbed into the French state-owned defense conglomerate GIAT Industries in the 1980s.

History

The company was founded in 1690 and was given the status of a royal arms factory in 1777. It was established as a state-owned enterprise from 1886.Yves Cayre: ''Histoire de la Manufacture d’armes de Tulle de 1690 à 1970.''
/ref> Tulle was one of the most important weapons manufacturers in France, producing, among others, the

Chassepot The Chassepot (pronounced ; ), officially known as , was a bolt-action military breechloading rifle. It is famous for having been the arm of the French forces in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871. It replaced an assortment of muzzleloading ...

, Lebel, Berthier and

RSC M1917 RSC may refer to: Arts * Royal Shakespeare Company, a British theatre company * Reduced Shakespeare Company, a touring American acting troupe * Richmondshire Subscription Concerts, a music society in Richmond, North Yorkshire, England * Rock St ...

rifle A rifle is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting and higher stopping power, with a gun barrel, barrel that has a helical or spiralling pattern of grooves (rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus o ...

s. Until

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

mainly small-caliber weapons were produced, particularly machine guns. Tulle started intensive production of heavy equipment during the First World War. After the war, intensive efforts were made to develop automatic weapons. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the company produced weapons for the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

occupying power, but was also a haven of resistance. The factory location played a part in the Tulle massacre by the

2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich The 2nd SS Panzer Division ''Das Reich'' () or SS Division ''Das Reich'' was an armored division of the of Nazi Germany during World War II. Initially formed from regiments of the ''SS-Verfügungstruppe'' (SS-VT), ''Das Reich'' initially served ...

in June 1944. After the Allied landings in Normandy, all production was moved to Epernay. After Tulle was liberated, production resumed at the original facility. After the war, it specialized in light and medium-caliber automatic weapons. The

MAT-49 The MAT-49 is a submachine gun which was developed by the French arms factory Manufacture Nationale d'Armes de Tulle (MAT) for use by the French Army. It was first produced in 1949 and remained in French service until it was phased out following ...

submachine gun A submachine gun (SMG) is a magazine (firearms), magazine-fed automatic firearm, automatic carbine designed to fire handgun cartridges. The term "submachine gun" was coined by John T. Thompson, the inventor of the Thompson submachine gun, to descri ...

was developed at Tulle. MAT remained the most important employer in the

Limousin Limousin (; ) is a former administrative region of southwest-central France. Named after the old province of Limousin, the administrative region was founded in 1960. It comprised three departments: Corrèze, Creuse, and Haute-Vienne. On 1 Jan ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

(now merged into

Nouvelle-Aquitaine Nouvelle-Aquitaine () is the largest Regions of France, administrative region in France by area, spanning the west and southwest of Metropolitan France. The region was created in 2014 by the merging of Aquitaine, Limousin, and Poitou-Charentes ...

) until the 1980s. The company was integrated into the newly-founded GIAT Industries (now Nexter Group) as part of the rationalization of the French arms industry and restructured several times. A subsidiary (Nexter Mechanics) continues to produce mechanical and hydraulic components for weapon systems at the Tulle location, but increasingly also for civil applications. There has also been a weapons museum at the site since 1999.

References

Sources

* Cayre, Yves. ''Histoire de la Manufacture d’armes de Tulle de 1690 à 1970'', MAT, Tulle, 1973.

External links

Museum
{{Authority control Firearm manufacturers of France 1690 establishments in France Corrèze KNDS France

History

See also

References

Sources

External links