Machine Gun

WWI Weapons
Erin Simon, Alexandra Scarola, Olivia Vona, Jessica
Forsthoffer, and Ashley Granados
The British first had the Machine Gun
presented to them by Hiram Maxim
However, they rejected the machine gun,
because they saw no use of the weapon and it
was seen as an improper form of warfare
Soon after, Germans began making their own
version of Maxims machine gun
Weapon Developed
The Machine gun was positioned on a flat
tripod, and would require a gun crew of four
to six operators
Machine guns would often be grouped
together to maintain a constant defensive
position
Weapon Use
They had the fire-power of 60-100 guns
Also, the Machine guns would have a water
cooling system connected to the guns, since
they tended to over-heat quickly
But, water would not be readily available so,
soldiers would have to urinate into the jacket
of the guns to cool them down
Weapon Use (cont.)
They could shoot hundreds of ammunition a
minute
Usually had them in the trenches
Held at the top of trenches, without coming
out, and they would stand and fire
Fighting Techniques
1. Effectiveness
- considered Weapon of Mass Destruction
- majority of casualties were caused by machine
guns
- foolproof reliability
Impact on War
2.Improved Defense
- made defense stronger than offense
- offensive missions would fail because of their
lack of power with bayonets in comparison to
the heavy artillery defense based in the trenches
- at a battle at Loos, Germans reduced a 12-
battalion British force to less than 1/5 of its
initial 10,000 men using machine guns
Impact on War (cont.)
3.Air Combat
- the Lewis machine gun was put into use on
planes, usually for an observer to protect the pilot
- for a single-seat aircraft they mounted a machine
gun for the pilot to operate, but it continued to hit
propellers
- 1911 Parabellum only fired when propellers were
not in the way
Impact on War (cont.)
Bullets were used from a metal belt; this made
the needing of reloading occur less
The average round of fire per minute was 400-
500
Effective range of 2,187 yards, max range
4,500 yard
Able to easily shoot a line of people
- main cause of most WWI casualties
Advantages
Sustained fire would cause them to overheat
- will not operate without cooling mechanism;
sometimes cold water was hard to find
Inexpierenced gunner would often get it
jammed
Disadvantages
Heavy to move around - about 30 pounds
- needed 4 to 6 people to operate
Accurate fire was difficult to achieve
Disadvantages (cont.)
A quick change barrel
Fixed headspace- the distance between the
face of the bolt that houses the firing pin and
the base of the ammunition cartridge case
when fully seated in the chamber
Improvement
A new flash hider that reduces the weapon's
signature by 95 percent at night
Timing-is the adjustment of the gun so that
firing takes place when the recoiling parts are
in the correct position for firing
Improvement (cont.)
The machine gun could fire 400-600 rounds
per minute
Machines guns accountable for up to 85% of
casualties
Interesting Facts
Pictures
http://www.e-reading.me/bookreader.php/135797/Machine_Guns.
_An_Illustrated_History_of_Their_Impact.pdf (Impact)
http://prezi.com/lv92yuthtupx/world-war-one-machine-guns/
(Dis/advantages)
http://www.firstworldwar.com/weaponry/machineguns.htm (Weapon
Development/Use/Fact)
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/machine_guns.htm (Fighting
Techniques)
http://www.army.
mil/article/92130/M2A1_Machine_Gun_features_greater_safety__heightene
d_lethality/ (Improvement)
http://jhalpinww1technology.weebly.com/casualites.html (Intersting Facts)
Works Cited