eapon with which to produce an effective
barrage. They established machine-gun nests at frequent intervals
commanding the zone over which infantry was to advance and by skilful
crossfire kept that terrain free from every living thing. The Germans
preferred a machine gun, water cooled and of the barrel-recoil type. The
English used a Vickers-Maxim and a Lewis gun, the latter the invention
of an officer in the American army. The French preferred the Hotchkiss
and the Saint-Etienne. The Americans standardized the Browning light and
heavy machine guns, and these did effective service. It was asserted by
American gunnery experts that the Browning excels all other weapons of
its type.

Two general types of grenades were used on both sides. One a defensive
bomb about the size of an orange, containing a bursting charge weighing
twenty-two ounces. Then there was a grenade used for offensive work
carrying about thirty-two ounces of high explosives. The defensive
grenades were of cast iron and so made that they burst into more than a
hundred jagged pieces when they exploded. These wounded or killed within
a radius of one hundred and fifty yards. In exceptional instances, the
range was higher.

The function of artillery in a modern battle is constantly extending.
Both the big guns and the howitzers were the deciding factors in most of
the military decisions reached during the war. Artillery is divided
first between the big guns having a comparatively flat trajectory and
the howitzers whose trajectory is curved. Then there is a further
division into these four classes:
Field artillery,
Heavy artillery,
Railroad artillery,
Trench artillery.

The type of field artillery is the famous 75-millimeter gun used
interchangeably by the French and Americans. It is a quick-firing weapon
and is used against attacking masses and for the various kind of
barrages, including an anti-aircraft barrage.

Included in the heavy artillery are guns and howitzers of larger caliber
than the 75-millimeter. Three distinct and terrifying noises accompany
explosions of these guns. First, there is the explosion when the shell
leaves the gun; then there is the peculiar rattling noise like the
passing of a railway train when the shells pass overhead; then there is
the explosion at point of contact, a terrific concussion which produces
the human condition called "shell-shock," a derangement of body and
brain, paralyzing nerve and muscle centers and f