World War I Weapons

World War I was characterized by the use of new weapons that were the byproducts of the second industrial revolution. These new weapons forced army generals to change their traditional tactics and use new ones to overcome the new lethal weaponry and obstacles such as the barbed wire.

Machine Guns: The machine gun was the weapon that really made the difference in the Great War as it gave the infantry so high a rate of fire to the point that it rendered the horse and the cavalry useless in the battlefield. The machine gun was the initiator of the trench warfare.

The Germans used the Maschinengewehr 08, which fired 7.92mm ammunition from a 250-round fabric belt and it carried 2,150 meters effective range. The German Army deployed over 15,000 of these machine-guns on the Western Front during the first year of the war.

Invented in 1881 by the American Hiram Maxim, the Maxim Machine-Gun was adopted by the British Army with a different name, the Vicker (the producer name), which was the standard British machine gun during World War I. Using the energy of each bullet’s recoil force to eject the spent cartridge, it could fire 600 rounds per minute. This .303-caliber machine gun was water-cooled.

The Browning M1917 was the American standard machine gun during the war. Invented by the American gunsmith John Moses Browning, this .30-caliber(7.62mm) machine gun was water-cooled and used the bullet ignition gas for the recoil to eject the spent cartridge and reload. It could fire 600 rounds per minute, utilizing a 250-round belt. The Browning Machine Gun weighed 103 pounds (47kg) with tripod, water, and ammunition and had a barrel length of 24 inch.

Invented by the American-born Benjamin Hotchkiss, the French utilized the Hotchkiss 8mm M1914 machine gun throughout the war. This machine gun effective range was 3,600 meters and it could fire 600 rounds per minute using a 249-round belt. The French Army also used the Chauchat light machine gun; Fusil-Mitrailleur Mle 1915 CSRG, which was a good weapon except for the open-sided magazines that were defective, causing two thirds of all jams.

Flamethrowers:using liquid fuel, a flamethrower was a weapon designed to spew a long stream of fire. It was used mainly against pillbox, machine gun nestles, and other strong enemy positions. Hand-carried by infantry, or mounted on tanks, modern flamethrowers were first used during World War I to overcome the trench warfare conditions that made the war static. It was used for the first time during the Great War on February 26, 1916, by the Germans against French positions in the assault on Verdun.Then later in a surprise attack launched by the German Army on the British at Hooge, Flanders, on July 30, 1915. But to operate this weapon was extremely dangerous as the fuel in the small tank on the operator’s back was unstable, and the British and the French poured rifle fire into the area of attack where flamethrowers were used and their operators were treated without mercy when they were taken prisoners.

Hand grenades: Considered useful for siege and assault operations, the hand grenade was intensively used in World War I by both belligerent armies. At the outbreak of the war, the Germans were ahead of the rest in terms of grenade development with more than 80,000 hand grenades ready for use. The German stick handgrenade featured an explosive charge encased in metal can mounted on a wooded stick for throwing. At the start of the war, the British troops improvised their own hand grenade, the Jam Tin grenade, which was later replaced with manufactured versions such as the Mills bomb; a fragmentation grenade available to front-line troops. The Mills bomb was developed at the Mills Munitions Factory in Birmingham. The United States developed the M67, which was a fragmentation grenade with a smooth exterior. 75,000,000 hand grenades were made during the Great War.

Bolt-Action Rifles: The rifle was the number one infantry weapon during the war. All of the rifles used during the armed conflict were breech-loading, bolt-action rifles, which were improved versions of earlier models developed during the second half of the 19th century. The Germans used the 7.92mm-caliber Mauser M98 rifle, which was an effective and precise weapon. The British troops were issued with the .303 caliber Lee-Enfield M1907, with a bolt designed for rapid fire. The French used at the beginning the 8mm-caliber Lebel M1886 rifle, which was later replaced by the Berthier M1907, which had an improved bolt mechanism and sights. The American troops wielded the .30 caliber Springfield M1903 rifle whose performance was comparable to the British Lee-Enfield. The Austro-Hungarian troops used the Steyr-Mannlicher M95 rifle.

Tanks: The development of tanks in the Great War came about as a solution to the deadlock of trenchwarfare. Originally called "landships" by the British Army, the first Mark I Tank prototype was tested in September, 1915, and it was first used at the Battle of the Somme, in September, 1916. The French were not far behind and fielded their first tanks in 1917, the St.Chamond M.16, which saw action in April, 1917, during the Aisne offensive. As the clumsy St.chamond M.16 tank was a complete failure, the French decided to give impulse to the mass production of the new Renault FT-17, which was effectively used in mass attack during the Soisson counter-offensive. The first German tank was the A7V, which designed during the first months of 1917; it was produced by Daimler (mechanics), Steffens (chassis) and Noelle (armour), with first tank being delivered in December 1917 and, by the end of the war, only 20 had been produced.

Artillery: Artillery guns had a big impact in the World War I, playing an important role during great battles.

British 18 Pounder. The British used 18 pounder Mark II field gun, which could fire shells of high explosives of between 4.6 kg and 8.4 kg. Each 18-pounder gun weighed 1,279 kg. In August 1914, the British Army had 1,226 of them.

British 60-Pounder. It was one of the main gun of the British artillery. Designed in 1904, it was 5-inch caliber, weighed 4 tons, had a range of 11 kilometers, and fired a 60 pound shell. The 60-pounder was manufactured by the Elswick Ordnance Company.

British 9.2-inch Mark 1. It was a heavy siege howitzer which weighed 15 tons, fired a 131 kg shell of high explosives, and had a effective range of 9 kilometers. It was introduced in the war by October 1914.

French 75mm Field Gun. The main gun of the French artillery was the French 75 mm field gun. With a range of 9 km, the French 75mm fired a 5.2 kg high explosive shell and a 7.2 kg shrapnel shell. The French Army had 4000 of these guns.

Big Bertha. Among the many artillery pieces used by the Germans, the 420mm howitzer Big Bertha stands out in World War I. It weighed 43 tons, had a length of 5.88 meters and an effective range of 12 kilometers. The Big Bertha fired an 820 kg shell. It was manufactured by the German Krupp company.

French Tank Renault F.T.17