Page 82 - All About History - Issue 18-14

MACHINESOFWAR

Ofthesefirstautomaticmachines,theGatlinggunwasthe
deadliest, with its six barrels capable of firing hundreds of
bulletsperminute.Withinyearsofitsintroduction,Gatling
An early version
ofadouble- guns were in production that had theoretical rates of fire of
weapon.Byscor barrelled rifle over 1,200 rounds per minute.
riflingintothebarrel’swalls,astheweap TheGatlinggunwassoonfollowedbyaconveyorbeltof
–suchasabullet–passedthroughit,thebarrelwoul more refined and deadly machines. The handheld machine
make it spin, significantly increasing the weapon’s gun was created, as well as increasingly mobile iterations
range and accuracy. of the weapon that
Wars,withtheBritisharmingsoldierswiththenew ASPIN 1,200RPM could be deployed
The first rifles were introduced in the Napoleonic
on the battlefield
weapon.Afterinitialproblemswiththerifle,such KILL EFFICIENCY: KILL EFFICIENCY: with unsurpassed
as difficulty in loading, it evolved to include breech- COLLATERAL DAMAGE: rapidity,ormounted
loading, allowing for bullets to be quickly inserted and COLLATERAL DAMAGE: to ships, tanks
fired.Bythecloseofthe19thcentury,revolvingrifles, SHOCK FACTOR: SHOCK FACTOR: and other military
repeating cartridge rifles and many other deadly rifles ENGINEERING GENIUS: ENGINEERING GENIUS: vehicles with
had been introduced. consummate ease.

THEDEADLY

WOLFPACK
A stealth weapon utilised by Germany Allied forces working in unison to take
duringbothWorldWars,theU-boatwas them down. KILL EFFICIENCY:
an armed submarine capable of different While the U-boat’s legacy lives on today COLLATERAL DAMAGE:
roles;asafearsomehunter-killer,chasing in modern nuclear military submarines, SHOCK FACTOR:
down Allied vessels and sinking them with by the end of World War II it had been
torpedoesandasraider,disruptingsupply rendered largely obsolete, with the U-boat ENGINEERING GENIUS:
lines and enemy convoys. fleetsufferinga75percentcasualtyrate,
Duetotheirstealthability,aswellasthe afactthatsawover28,000submariners
fact that they operated in groups referred lose their lives.
toas‘wolfpacks’,theU-boatbecame
infamous for its ability to sink even the
biggest military warships while remaining
undetected and unharmed. It was only
whenavarietyofcountermeasureswere
laterdeveloped,suchasdepthcharges
andactivesonar,thatthetidebegantobe
turned on these wolves of the sea, with

O Musket O Torpedo O Flamethrower O Fragmentation O Napalm bomb
Aheavier,more The first modern The modern grenade A devastating
refined evolution of torpedotobe flamethrower The first modern mixture of
the arquebus, the invented was the wasinventedby fragmentation petroleum and a
musket allowed its user Whiteheadtorpedoof Germany’s Richard grenade was the Mills gelling agent that
tofirebulletsathigh 1866, a self-propelled Fiedlerin1901.The bomb,anexplosive- sticks to human skin
velocity at the enemy. underwater weapon machine, which filled steel canister and causes severe
Itwasusedatfirstas withawarheadof was single-shot, fittedwithatriggering burnswhenignited,
a specialised, armour- 53.5kg (118lb) of projected a jet of pinandadeeply napalm was first
piercing weapon. nitrocellulose. fire over 18m (59ft). notched surface. used in WWII.
1550 1866 1901 1915 1942