"The History of Weapons," by ZDF Studios Pt. 6

"The History of Weapons"
By: ZDF Studios
Pt. 6 (cont. from pt. 5)




Episode 6:  The Power of Destruction

                                                                   

                             American Civil War Ketchum Explosive/Fragmentation Grenade
        (note percussion cap impact detonator, wooden shaft and flights, meant to keep it moving in a                                                               straight line when thrown)

   In this episode, they cover the machine gun, hand grenade and the tank.

   As with the revolver, many small arms manufacturers, inventors and armorers had been working on a way to get the firepower of many men into one convenient easy-to-use firearm that could increase a single soldier's combat effectiveness on the battlefield. Many long barreled "revolving rifles" entered the market, along with clamp-on stocks that added a shoulder rest to many a Colt Pistol. Unfortunately they still used patched, round lead balls that took a lengthy process to be loaded and capped, or needed the cylinder to be swapped out entirely. This could burden a soldier longer than it would take for the enemy to overrun them, so while many were bought through arms dealers and sutlers dealing directly to the soldiers, they were often of little use on the battlefield. Then along came the Sharp's Rifle and Carbine, which marked the entry of government issued rapid fire small arms into combat. They greatly increased the effectiveness of a soldier. At first, officers feared it would give the user little incentive to conserve ammunition; after proving that to not be the case, the Sharp's became widely utilized and sought after by men and officers alike. The Sharps Rifle and Carbine were also renowned for their increased range and accuracy over other muzzleloading rifles of the day. The soldiers that utilized them to great effect earned the title: "Sharps-Shooter," (later shortened to "Sharpshooter") which brought that term into our lexicon. Onto the Henry Repeating Rifle; holding 16 rounds of  metallic .44 Rimfire cartridges, it also quickly came a battlefield favorite. Gaining such a fearsome reputation by the Confederates, they nicknamed it: "That Damned Yankee Rifle You Could Load on Sunday and Fire All Week." Equipped with these shorter quicker carbines, The US Cavalry could scout ahead, dismount and engage the enemy in a skirmish line in; both an effort to halt an advance and gauge the enemy's strength, then quickly slip away to bring up reinforcements. The Henry, Sharp's (in all its varieties) and the Winchester 1873 Repeating Rifle (a very close cousin to the Henry) were heavily utilized by the U.S. Cavalry in the effort to subdue Native Americans during the Westward expansion, and Buffalo Hunters and Pioneers alike, earning them the moniker: "The Gun That Won the West."

 While some mark the invention of the Gatling gun as the dawn of the "machine gun," it's not a machine gun in the modern understanding of the term. Taking up to four men to operate the reloading and rotating mechanism, and having to be wheeled in by horse and then manipulated by the crew, it was a fearsome rapid fire weapon but not a true "machine gun." Its gravity-fed rotating-barrel design often caused misfires; the barrels got hot and often fouled with black powder and lead residue; to the point of them becoming inoperable after as little as a few tens of rounds were ran through them. While several modified versions were made to accept the new metallic cartridges, and an early electric rotating mechanism added, it wasn't able to keep pace with the new generation of rapid-fire weapons. It took an inventor by the name of Hiram Stevens Maxim to marry metallic smokeless cartridges and a new "gas-operated blow-back" reloading design to make the world's first true "machine gun." The recoil based reloading design made it capable of reloading and firing under its own power with a single pull of a trigger. The innovative recoil design also makes it the great-granddaddy of all modern gas operated automatic/semi-automatic weapons. The Maxim quickly found favor in the "Scramble for Africa" and the Spanish-American War, but it found its true calling in the First World War, where it caused terror and battlefield casualties that had never been seen before. Mechanized killing had entered the battlefield, making one man truly as deadly as an entire regiment. The immediate response in tactics was to dig in deep to keep out of the Machine gun's deadly arc of death, which leads us to the next response in tactics... 

  The hand grenade.

    Containing the explosive power of gunpowder in a package that could be delivered safely by the user and explode when it met the enemy, grenades were likely one of the first and most obvious uses for the newly discovered explosive material. The "Thunderclap Bomb" was used as early as the eleventh century in China, and has never really left military service since; only the design and materials have been refined. The Thunder Clap Bomb was made of ceramic with shrapnel placed inside; bombs filled with toxic gasses and incendiary devices were soon to follow. Through the centuries as many designs and innovations were made as the number of fighting forces utilizing them. The German "Potato Masher" was a very successful design; as were the round and pineapple shaped fragmentation grenades used by The Allies in both World Wars and beyond. As the trenches grew further apart, the fighting men needed a way to get the grenades further than could be thrown, so purpose made throwers were designed, both hand held and stationary. They have been continuously refined, and now include the Automatic Grenade Launcher, under-the-barrel attachments and mobile armor based launchers.


 In World War One, the trenches of the Western Front had caused a stalemate that led to countless millions being killed or wounded by "going over the top," just to try to gain an inch of ground. With all sides desperate for a cease fire or, other end to the hostilities; the Allies started working on an innovative new approach to clearing trenches; an armored and armed, self-propelled machine, that could protect the operators and get close enough to the enemy to make a difference. Many designs were tried, but ultimately the British designed Mark 1 won out. In the design and testing phase, it was touted as a mobile water carrier or "water tank," which cemented the name in history. First being utilized in the Battle of the Somme, the first tanks didn't immediately give the battlefield edge the Allies so desired, but they didn't give up hope on them. After a few modifications and redeployments, the tank proved its usefulness in getting men and firepower to the enemy trenches and breaking up the stalemate. Many more designs were tried during the First World War, with many implements added to bridge trenches, destroy barbed wire lines, and take out machine gun nests. The allies produced thousands; Germany didn't believe in the design, leaving them to manufacture a mere twenty and never utilizing them the way the Allies did. General Patton was the first American officer to be trained with tank operation and famously rode on top of one at the Battle of Pannes, to inspire courage in his men. The increased utility of the tanks as the war progressed, cemented the tank's place on the modern battlefield.