Bayonet Essay

They knew about the basics like hand grenades, rifles, and pistols; but they didn’t have the slightest idea of the gas attacks, machine guns, and tanks. The Germans used the machine gun and gas to their advantage, and it was a deadly combo in trench warfare. The Germans would shoot gas into the enemy’s trenches, sort of like a mortar shell. The unlucky soldiers who have broken their masks would crawl out of the trench to try to get some fresh air (or so they thought). The German machine guns would tear through the crawling soldiers that were desperate for air. On the Western Front, many soldiers died because of this, mostly French and British, due to lack of knowledge and disastrous plans. However, due to this cruel and disastrous plan, the Germans had to pay for all of the damages that they have caused in the Great War. They only fully paid out this debt in

The standard rifle of the British army during World War I was the Lee-Enfield .303, a variation of a weapon that had been used by the army since 1902. Fed by a magazine that could hold 10 bullets, the bolt-action Lee-Enfield was a robust, reliable rifle well-suited to the harsh conditions of trench warfare. A trained regular soldier could fire 15 rounds per minute with the weapon. In fact, it was so successful that further variants were used throughout World War II and, in some countries, for decades after that. German infantry, meanwhile, were issued with the Gewehr 98, a rifle with a bolt action designed by the famous Mauser company. The Gewehr was a well-constructed and accurate weapon, but it was ill-suited to the conditions on the Western

By using a machine gun, many men could be killed in one time. So the machine gun was ‘stronger’ than the individual soldier. Since the Allies outgunned the Axis in artillery and machinery, the German soldiers took refuge in trenches that were no match for the kind of warfare waged. This made soldiers feel impotent. New recruits quickly learn about reality in warfare. In World War I, it was rare when an individual was a hero.

While the Germans had the upper hand in technology, this condition did have its drawbacks. This advanced weaponry was costly to manufacture, so the German Army could not afford to produce them in large quantities. On top of that, this new weaponry was also more difficult to repair and maintain, which reduced its efficiency even further (Stewart, 6).

The British High Command were less enthusiastic about machine gun technology, supposedly considering the weapon too "unsporting", and they lagged behind the Germans in adopting the weapon. In 1915 the Machine Gun Corps was formed to train and provide sufficient heavy machine gun teams. To match demand, production of the Vickers machine gun was contracted to firms in the USA. By 1917, every company in the British forces was also equipped with four light Lewis machine guns, which significantly enhanced their

American soldiers were using fairly new weapons compared to previous conflicts. The fully automatic assault rifle was new addition to the American arsenal. A prime example of the sheer power and deadliness of an automatic rifle is the M1918BAR (Browning Automatic Rifle). This gun was the first of it’s kind for American forces. Though it was a bit heavy, it had stopping power. It blasted the .30-06 Springfield round down range at 2,822 f/s. Although the iron sights weren’t all that great, the aperture view did the job quite well for targets that were a little ways out. Due to the success of this weapon, Browning set out to create a better, stronger version of it for heavier combat. The M1919 Browning Heavy Machinegun was deployed. This monster of a gun was usable without a bipod, but heavy and hard to aim without. With a 600 round per minute rate of fire from a direct feed belt, the Browning was one of the

Another dynamic change of World War I on Artillery was Unit mobility. Horse drawn Artillery being the primary method of movement used by the American Artillery at the start of the War, quickly changed with the addition of self-propelled weapons and Artillery tractors. The creation of tanks as a countermeasure to trench warfare would be one of many factors to shift emphasis away from the coast. Using tractors as opposed to horses would allow greater range in American Artillery movements. These designs and innovations would help shape the American Artillery weaponry used in later American conflicts around the globe.

These machines we're made because trench warfare was slow and unpredictable, because of sneak attacks, just waiting for time to shoot seemed very slow too them. Tanks we're able to drag barbed wire away with an grappling hook or also to flatten barbed wire so that the soldiers couldn't cross it. The first tanks we're difficult to maneuver mostly because of thick mud and uneven grounds of the Western Front. The tanks we're also hot and very small as well as cramped. The idea for the tanks came from studying farm

With a lemon-shaped piece of iron and a tail made of paper or cardboard, the handheld explosive greatly resembled a dart. On the front of the grenade’s body was a plunger, which held a percussion cap filled with explosive material.When the the grenade fell onto its nose and applied pressure to the plunger, an explosion was triggered, only to be met by more gunpowder inside. Although the resulting explosion caused a great deal of mayhem and shrapnel, it was not very reliable because its detonation depended on the grenade falling directly onto its nose. Because of its temperamental behavior, the grenade got a reputation for not being very accurate.

The machinegun was first used at the very start of WWI, The Germans having a design already in mass production by 1914. Seeing as there were already machine guns made the first battle would likely be the battle of Marne. The machine gun changed the face of war, as it was known, adding in the ability to cover areas in blankets of bullets in both defense and offensive stances. There are many types of modern machine guns. These guns are used in mostly every military operation in modern time.

In the early 1900s there was not very much technology behind weaponry and transportation to help the soldiers fight. A typical soldier would have been issued a standard rifle called the Krag Jorgensen M1896 Carbine.

Only 1% of deaths recorded during the War were the result of a bayonet wound (Civil War Bayonet). Most soldiers used their bayonets as tools around the camp or just got rid of their bayonets all together so they had less gear to look after. The bayonet itself varied from where they were stationed, some got bayonets that were as short as a foot and others had a bayonet almost as long as their rifle. But most bayonets were sized from one-to-two feet in length and made from a sturdy metal material. It was similar to a large knife, it would just simply slide onto the end of the rifle (Civil War Bayonet). It was rarely used by most soldiers but there were some cases, such as the Battle of Getttysburg where Joshua Chamberlain, Union General, ordered his mean to use just bayonets and charge the enemy screaming (Council on Foreign

Later on, it would be designed to be used with a bayonet. The British pistol, actually

is not certain. However what is certain is that it was thought of as a

Another part of why WWI was an industrial war, not just because of the new technological advancements, but because of the numbers in man power. Like mass production in industry, soldiers were mass made.