Reinventing Warfare 1914-18: Novel Munitions and Tactics of Trench WarfareNo army went to war in 1914 ready to conduct trench warfare operations. All the armies of the First World War discovered that prolonged trench warfare required new types of munitions alongside the conventional howitzers, large-calibre guns and explosive shells. This volume examines how the British went about inventing and manufacturing new weaponry such as hand grenades, rifle grenades and trench mortars when no body of knowledge about trench warfare munitions existed. It also examines how tactics were developed for these new munitions. Based on new research, this is the first book to discuss the complexity of invention and manufacture of novel weapons such as the Mills grenade and the Stokes mortar, and to consider the relationship between technical design and operational tactics on the ground. In so doing the book presents a different model of the trench warfare conducted by the British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front, and also provides a blueprint to understanding the relationship between technology and tactics applicable to all types of weapons and warfare. |
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2-inch mortar 3-inch Stokes ammunition Army Workshops Artillery Notes Awards to Inventors barrel battery bayonet became Britain Brothers cartridge Commission on Awards Design and Inspection detonator device devised DoPB Employment of Bombers Employment of Grenadiers enemy evaluation Experimental Section explosive fire functionality fuze German grenades and mortars hand grenades History Ibid improvised infantry Instructions on Bombing Japanese June lethal lever Lewis gun Light Mortar Training Livens projector Lloyd George London machine-guns manufacture March Marten Hale mechanism medium mortars Military Mills Ministry of Munitions mortar bomb novel munitions Office op cit operational Ordnance Board output percussion-fuzed grenades problems production propellant range reliability rifle grenade rounds Royal Commission Royal Engineers Russo-Japanese Russo-Japanese War safety September 1916 shells Small Arms Stokes mortar striker tactical target technical time-fuzed Training and Employment trench warfare munitions Trench Warfare Supplies Vickers War Office weapons Western Front Woolwich World yards