One detail in which this war surpassed all others was in the use of
machine guns and grenades. The Germans were first to make extensive use
of the machine gun as a weapon with which to produce an effective
barrage. They established machine-gun nests at frequent intervals
commanding the zone over which infantry was to advance and by skilful
crossfire kept that terrain free from every living thing. The Germans
preferred a machine gun, water cooled and of the barrel-recoil type. The
English used a Vickers-Maxim and a Lewis gun, the latter the invention
of an officer in the American army. The French preferred the Hotchkiss
and the Saint-Etienne. The Americans standardized the Browning light and
heavy machine guns, and these did effective service. It was asserted by
American gunnery experts that the Browning excels all other weapons of
its type.
Two general types of grenades were used on both sides. One a defensive
bomb about the size of an orange, containing a bursting charge weighing
twenty-two ounces. Then there was a grenade used for offensive work
carrying about thirty-two ounces of high explosives. The defensive
grenades were of cast iron and so made that they burst into more than a
hundred jagged pieces when they exploded. These wounded or killed within
a radius of one hundred and fifty yards.
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