The Weapons Of World War I

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The Weapons of World War I
During World War I there were several new and old weapons being used. Many of the weapons are still in use today. Weapon, as defined by The American Heritage Dictionary, is an instrument used in offensive or defensive combat. During war there are several different kinds of weapons in use. The weapons used in World War I can be categorized as infantry, artillery, chemical, Naval, and air weapons.
Infantry, or ground forces were the main fighting force of World War I. The main weapon used was a regular bolt action rifle equipped with a bayonet. Later, during the war the machine gun was introduced although it was considered more of an artillery piece than infantry because it was usually mounted on wheels. During the war all the major powers except the United States adopted a light machine gun as the new infantry weapon of choice. Examples of these light machine guns are the Czech designed British Bren, the German MG-34 and the MG-42, and the Soviet Degtyarev. Other weapons of choice was the hand grenade, made better by new high explosive fillers and better fuses, rifle mounted grenade launchers, helmets, and mortar a high explosive a particularly popular type of mortar was the 82mm Stokes-Brandt (Cowley 221). Another important item of the infantry was armor. This refers to tanks, armored infantry carriers, reconnaissance vehicles, and armored self-propelled artillery pieces. One prime armored vehicle was the combination of the caterpillar tractor with an armored car equipped with a high caliber weapon. Another problem that arose for the infantry was the airplane and enemy artillery fire. To remedy this problem camouflage was brought to the front. Nets woven with various patterns of colored cloth cloaked gun positions, storage facilities, etc. Artists were used to think up camouflage color schemes (Cowley 32, 68). When infantry units were sent into the battle sometimes they were trapped behin...