"It certainly wasn't operated by the Brits in WWII,"
err..........Troops of 1 Kings Own Scottish Borderers (KOSB), 9th Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, firing a captured Hotchkiss machine gun during street fighting in Caen, 10 July 1944.
Nice piccy @
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotchkiss_machine_gun