Editing MAT-49 (section)

==Usage==
[[File:Mortier2.jpg|thumb|right|Paratroopers of the [[2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment|2e REP]] from the [[French Foreign Legion]] [[Battle of Kolwezi|storming]] [[Kolwezi]] in 1978.]]
The MAT-49 saw widespread combat use during the [[First Indochina War]] and the [[Algerian War]], as well as the 1956 [[Suez Crisis]].<ref name="SA">{{Cite web |url=https://www.smallarmsreview.com/display.article.cfm?idarticles=2508 |title=The French MAT 49 Submachine Gun |website=Small Arms Review |access-date=2021-09-14 |archive-date=2021-06-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210612201416/http://www.smallarmsreview.com/display.article.cfm?idarticles=2508 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="LEU">{{cite book |last=Leulliette |first=Pierre |date=1964 |title=St. Michael and the Dragon: Memoirs of a Paratrooper |location=New York City |publisher=Houghton, Mifflin & Co |page=29|url=https://archive.org/details/stmichaeldrago00leul/}}</ref> The weapon found considerable favor with [[airborne forces]] and [[Mechanized infantry|mechanized troops]], who prized it for its simplicity, ruggedness, firepower and compactness.<ref name="LEU"/>

After French forces left [[Indochina]], the [[People's Army of Vietnam]] and [[Viet Minh]] continued to use many captured MAT-49s into the [[Vietnam War]]. Some were converted to the Soviet [[7.62×25mm Tokarev|7.62 mm Tokarev]] pistol cartridge, then available in large quantities from the [[Soviet Union]] and the [[People's Republic of China]]. These converted versions could be distinguished by a longer barrel and a higher rate of fire at 900 rpm.<ref name="5RAR">{{Cite web |url=https://www.5rar.asn.au/weapons/mat49.htm |title=French MAT-49 Sub-Machine Gun |website=5rar.asn.au |access-date=2021-09-14| archive-date=2020-03-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200322070250/https://www.5rar.asn.au/weapons/mat49.htm |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=http://www.virginia1774.org/DIA-ST-HB-07-03-74.pdf |title=Small Arms Identification and Operation Guide – Eurasian Communist Countries |first=Harold E. |last=Johnson |date=September 1973 |edition=3rd |page=98 |publisher=[[Defense Intelligence Agency]] |access-date=2016-11-21 |archive-date=2016-03-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304090738/http://www.virginia1774.org/DIA-ST-HB-07-03-74.pdf |url-status=usurped}}</ref>

North Vietnam covertly provided MAT-49s to anti-French occupation groups during the Algerian War after the French left Indochina.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.forgottenweapons.com/vietnamese-guns-for-algeria/ |title=Vietnamese Guns for Algeria |first=Ian |last=McCollum |date=October 18, 2016 |website=Forgotten Weapons |access-date=September 5, 2017 |archive-date=September 5, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170905184624/https://www.forgottenweapons.com/vietnamese-guns-for-algeria/ |url-status=live}}</ref>