By Gabriel Coutinho de Gusmão
The Standschützen Hellriegel submachine gun could be considered the most notorious “mystery firearm.” Even before it’s infamous inclusion in the videogame “Battlefield 1”, internet sleuths were already looking into the almost non-existent archival material of it, that is, a whopping three photographs.
But what can these photographs tell us about this intriguing weapon? I believe that my colleague Frederick Clifford and I have identified some potentially breaking news about the Hellriegel, and by investigating other leads like the Standschützen members list, we can figure out who might’ve been the inventor, who he was related to, and other potential clues to solve this mystery.
The Who
The title given to this sub-machine gun in the official pictures is “Maschinengewehr des Standschützen Hellriegel” or, in English, Machine Gun made by Standschützen Hellriegel. The Standschützen were a type of regulated militia in the Austrian Alps, any male over seventeen was compelled to join a shooting range and train at least four times per year. Our most likely candidate is Dr. Richard Hellriegel (sometimes spelled Hellriegl). Full name, Richard von Hellriegel zu Rechtenfeld, who served as the medical officer of Standschützenbattalion Kitzbühel. His name is the only “Hellriegel” that has been found in the Standschützen archives, which would mean that he is our only option. Not much is known about Dr. Hellriegel. After the First World War, he became a priest and was arrested by the Gestapo later in World War Two, twice, but never convicted of any crime.
The What
There are very few pictures of the Hellriegel, though they do provide some important details about how this unique SMG worked. First, we have the two “buffer” tubes on the rear of a large receiver which thins out around where the chamber must be located. Second, we have the two types of magazines, one of which is a sort of linked/chute belt system held inside a drum magazine which does not attach to the gun itself, the other is a more conventional stick magazine, which looks to be single fed. The drum magazine seems to have a capacity of around 160 rounds, meanwhile, the box magazine seems to have accommodated 20 rounds. The gun also had a water-cooled jacket, some sort of tube underneath which also served as an ad-hoc front grip.
The photographs also depict some accouterments that went with the gun, there was supposed to be an assistant loader which carried a backpack with the drum magazines inside. Speaking of which, two people are seen in the photographs, one seems to have been a Zugsführer, a rank equivalent to Master Corporal. Sadly, his assistant’s rank isn’t clear, and only appearing in one of the photos. The Zugsführer seems to be wearing a special rig, possibly as a way to carry the drum magazines in the move, something similar being made after the First World War by Heinrich Vollmer.
Unfortunately, since no documents or any other material aside from the Hellriegel photographs exist, all we can do is speculate. That being said, here are two long theories and two short theories I’ve discussed with my colleagues.
Theory 1: The Visini-Fuchs connection
Franz Fuchs has often been referred as the creator of the Steyr P.12/16 machine pistol, however, according to new research done by Josef Mötz and Joschi Schuy in their book “Die Weiterentwicklung der Selbstladepistole II,” this has been proven false. No documents pertaining to the development of the P.12/16 machine pistol mention Fuchs, this possibly being made up by Lothar Sengewitz.
But what if he didn’t make it up? There are reports in old newspapers of the time of a few “Visini-Fuchs” semi-automatic rifles being captured on the Russian front. Looking deeper into this claim, we found a patent from Mr. Friedrich von Visini of a gas-operated semi-automatic rifle submitted in 1913, it features some peculiar design elements, such as two buffer tubes on the rear of the receiver to accommodate two large recoil springs, something very similar to what we find in the Hellriegel photographs. Fuchs co-signed the Visini patent and since he was in the Standschützen, he could’ve easily met with Hellriegel and discussed some plans to modify Visini’s design into a submachine-gun type weapon.
Theory 2: Dating the Hellriegel
It’s been well accepted by now that the Hellriegel dates to 1915, making it one of, if not, the first submachine guns ever developed. However, by analyzing the images in more detail and with some clarification on the writing in the back of one of the photographs, I believe the Hellriegel to be more appropriately dated to at least July of 1918.
To clarify, the Hellriegel has two sets of pictures, the National Library set and the State Archive set, the latter was sent to the War Press and is dated 1918. The other set came from the War Press itself and is the evidence we have for the 1915 date. That being said, the images dispatched to the War Press, and now in the possession of the State Archives, must have come before the National Library set, which disproves the 1915 date of the pictures. Even further, the description on the official ÖNB website claims that the back of the picture reads Okt. 15, not 1915 as it was previously thought.
More evidence that supports this theory is that there were plans for an Austro-Hungarian submachine gun trials occurring at the end of the war, the Schwarzlose SMG (this detail could explain the two different patterns of Schwarzlose SMG that still exist) and the previously “adopted” Sturmpistole M.17 were planned on being tested together in a few different calibers. This could coincide with the Hellriegel submachine gun tests we know of.
Theory 3: How did the left side look?
The only photos we have of the Hellriegel show only the right side of the gun, however, on one of the photos, specifically of the gun laying right-face-up on the table, you can see something on the left side which is propping the gun up slightly, could this be a mirrored bolt handle… or, some sort of safety perhaps?
Theory 4: Caliber
The last and shortest theory is what ammo was used in the Hellriegel. From analyzing the photos, I noticed the very peculiar primer the rounds had. They appear uncharacteristically large compared to other rounds of the era. I ended up landing on the 8mm Roth-Steyr cartridge, which also has a very big primer and the overall dimensions fit the gun well. Plus, it was technically the official “pistol” cartridge of the Austro-Hungarian empire, since they adopted the Roth-Steyr M.7 pistol as their standard sidearm.
How You Can Help
The First World War ended on November 11th, 1918. With that, many restrictions and demilitarization efforts very likely resulted in the destruction of the Hellriegel prototype. However, there is still a lot we can theorize and understand about this unique piece of firearms history.
I propose to you, the reader, that together we can solve these firearm mysteries. If you have any leads or additional information that I did not mention in this article, I urge you to send me an email at sircoutin@gmail.com.
