rpm. During the same period, Saive continued to improve the Grand Rendement, and by 1934 the French term Grande Puissance ("Hi-Power") was first applied to the evolved design which became the French GP-35 self-loading pistol or FN Browning Hi-Power. The Hi-Power was the first 9×19mm handgun to utilize a true staggered-column magazine. The large magazine enabled the weapon to carry a total of fourteen cartridges without an excessively oversized or protruding handgrip. France declined to adopt the Hi-Power for its armed forces, instead using the Modèle 1935 pistol. Despite this rejection, the Hi-Power was a sales success with more than 56,000 produced by May 1940, mostly for the Belgian military. It was used extensively in World War II by many nations including the British Commonwealth and Chinese forces. More than 65,000 Hi-Power pistols were also used by German forces, renamed Pistole 640(b), after the Germans captured FN's manufacturing plant in Liège on 12 May 1940. Saive fled the German invasion, eventually arriving in London in mid-1941. He was soon at work at the Royal Small Arms Factory Enfield Design Department at the Drill Hall in Cheshunt, England, recreating production drawings for the Hi-Power and further developing his design for a gas-operated rifle called the EXP-1, later the FN Model 1949. By June 1943, the British modified Saive's technical drawings to produce the British Mk. I model of the Hi-Power. In April 1943, China requested 180,000 Hi-Powers with hollow wooden shoulder stocks that also served as holsters through a Mutual Aid Plan with Canada. The Chinese were familiar with the Mauser C96 "Broomhandle" that came with a stock/holster and wanted the same thing for the Hi-Powers they requested. The Canadian contract was with the Inglis firm who hired Saive and Rene Laloux, also a Belgian engineer, to work on production. After the war, the Browning Hi-Power was adopted as the standard military service sidearm of many Western countries, including the United Kingdom and Australia. Slightly modernized versions remain in production today, three-quarters of a century later. Saive's gas-operated rifle designs Saive is most famous for his series of gas-operated self-loading rifle designs, which used a tipping bolt to lock the action. His FN-49 rifle went into production, and was later developed into the widely successful FN FAL selective fire battle rifle. References Johnson, Wayne, and Anthony Vanderlinden (December 2005). "The Last of its Kind: FN's Model 1949 Self-Loading Rifle", American Rifleman: