Existing comment:
Machine-guns!
The first true shock of the Great War was the machine-gun, an American invention that was at first rejected by the US Army because they said it used too much ammunition. It was quickly adopted by most of the major European powers. The machine-gun was used as a defensive weapon because of its size and weight. Defenders learned to combine their trenches and wire entanglements with the overlapping fire from machine-guns. Even a single machine-gun with crew could blunt an attack by a much larger force. It severely limited the options of the attacking enemy. Thousands of machine-guns were used in WWI. Troops quickly moved into trenches for protection from machine-gun fire. Movement on the battlefield stopped and casualties grew. |