Machine Guns of World War I

Book excerpt: Seven classic World War I weapons are illustrated in 250 colour photographs, showing them in close-up, during step-by-step field stripping, and during handling, loading and firing. Gunners wearing period uniforms then put these weapons through live firing trials.Covering the Maxim Maschinengewehr 08, Maxim Maschinengewehr 08/15, Maschinenpistole MP 18/1, Vickers Mk 1, Lewis Mk 1, Hotchkiss Mle 1914 and the Chauchat Mle 1915, this books shows what the guns looked like, sounded like and felt like fire on the battlefields of the Western Front in 1914-18.With concise accounts of each weapon's historical and technical background, and non-technical descriptions of its firing characteristics, the book offers all students of military history a new insight into the physical reality of the Great War as experienced by the men in the trenches.