What was the theory behind charging towards enemy trenches and machine guns?

The machine gun made it inevitable that any charge on an enemy trench would cost many lives. However, the theory was that if enough soldiers charged then no matter how many were killed or wounded on the way there would still be enough men alive to capture the machine guns in the enemy trenches.

When did the British start using machine guns in ww1?

October 1915
The British however did not create their Machine Gun Corps until October 1915; until this time the few machine guns available were attached in sections to individual battalions. A mere two guns were allocated to each infantry battalion in 1914.

What was the purpose of machine guns in ww1?

Machine guns could shoot hundreds of rounds of ammunition a minute and the standard military tactic of World War One was the infantry charge. Casualties were huge. Many soldiers barely got out of their trench before they were cut down.

Why was the machine gun invented in ww1?

Innovators | Hiram Maxim. At the Paris Exhibition in 1881, a man told Maxim that if he wanted to make a fortune, he should invent a machine that would help these Europeans kill each other. Maxim did and sold his machine guns to European countries on the eve of World War I, changing the nature of combat.

How did the machine gun help?

The defensive power of the machine gun created the stalemate on the Western Front, and almost all of the technologies that were introduced during the war were built in order to defeat it. The introduction of this weapon radically changed the strategies and tactics used by militaries in the future.

What was the role of the machine gun in WW1?

It was one of the weapons that forced both sides into deeply dug defensive positions on the Western Front, leading to four years of virtually static warfare. It was also a weapon that, when properly used, helped to break the deadlock in 1918.

Why did British troops charge at machine guns?

A number of nations had troops who charged towards machine guns. Sometimes the British thought the machine guns would be put out of action by heavy artillery fire before their charge or suppressed by a rolling barrage as the British moved forward. If tanks preceded the troops, the infantry hoped the tanks would take out the enemy machine gunners.

How many guns were there in WW1?

There were a meager 12,000 guns by the time the war broke out in 1914. That number, however, would explosively grow to become 100,000 guns in a very short time. By 1917, the Germans were reporting that the majority of their small arms ammunition, 90\% to be exact, were going into the chambers of their machine guns.

How many Vickers machine guns did the British use in WW1?

It was supported by the Company’s ten Vickers machine-guns. Before the offensive, the guns had been strategically placed in the Savoy Trench. The soldiers were given pre-determined targets, each one chosen to support the infantry in their advance and to prevent a German counter-attack.