Machine Guns and the Great WarThe machine-gun is one of the iconic weapons of the Great War - indeed of the twentieth century. Yet it is also one of the most misunderstood. During a four-year war that generated unprecedented casualties, the machine-gun stood out as a key weapon. In the process it took on an almost legendary status that persists to the present day. It shaped the tactics of the trenches, while simultaneously evolving in response to the tactical imperatives thrown up by this new form of warfare. Paul Cornish, in this authoritative and carefully considered study, reconsiders the history automatic firepower, and he describes in vivid detail its development during the First World War and the far-reaching consequences thereof. He dispels many myths and misconceptions that have grown up around automatic firearms, but also explores their potency as symbols and icons. His clear-sighted reassessment of the phenomenon of the machine-gun will be fascinating reading for students of military history and of the Great War in particular. |
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action advance Allied ammunition artillery assault attack automatic firepower automatic rifle barrage fire barrel battery battle battlefield bipod Brigade British Army British machine gun Brutinel bullets calibre captured cartridge cavalry commander CSRG defensive deployed Division effect emplacements enemy equipped fact field firearms French Army George Coppard German Army German machine gun German machine-gunners Hotchkiss Hutchinson II Anzac Corps Imperial War Museum indirect fire Infantry Regiment issue later Lewis gun light machine guns lock London machine gun barrage machine gun company Machine Gun Corps machine gun fire Machine Gun Notes machine gun officer machine gun sections machine gun tactics machine gunners machine-gunners machine-gunnery Madsen manufacture Maxim gun mechanism MG battalions MG Companies military Minister of Munitions mounted offensive operation pistol platoon positions potential production range recoil role rounds Russian small arms Somme submachine-gun trench warfare tripod troops Vickers guns Villar Perosa weapon Western Front World