during world war i, a modified version of the 3-round clip "mle" 1907 rifle called "fusil mle 1907/15" was manufactured in large numbers (altogether 435,000 rifles) and issued to colonial troops, to the french foreign legion and to many minor allies (e.g. russian legion in france, serbia, greece, american expeditionary force african-american regiments detached to the french army). it was also issued to some french regular infantry regiments after 1916 in order to bring relief to an endemic shortage of the lebel rifle although well over 2 million lebel rifles had already been produced between 1887 and 1917. both the mas (manufacture d'armes de saint-étienne) and the mac (manufacture d'armes de châtellerault) were the principal state contractors for the mle 1907/15 rifle. french civilian contractors ("automobiles delaunay-belleville", "établissement continsouza" and "manufacture parisienne d'armes et de mecanique generale") also participated massively in the industrial production of the mle 1907/15 rifle.