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Old 12-19-2021, 05:34 AM
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Default Automatic Weapons Revolutionized Colonial Warfare

Automatic Weapons Revolutionized Colonial Warfare
By: Peter Suciu - National Interest News - 12-18-21
Re: https://nationalinterest.org/blog/bu...warfare-198170

Photo link: https://nationalinterest.org/sites/d...?itok=RXtrFreW
Tags: British Empire - World War I - Colonial Wars - Gatling Gun - Maxim Gun

If the Brown Bess and Martini Henry rifles built the British Empire, then the Maxim Gun allowed it to expand and gain mastery of the battlefield.

Military thinkers are not always the most forward of thinkers, and this was certainly the case with small arms in the nineteenth century. Initially, the U.S. Army was not sold on the concept of rapid-fire weapons and only adopted Richard Jordan Gatling’s hand-cranked “Gatling Gun” after the Civil War for use on the plains.

But Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer thought the carriage-mounted weapons were a burden and left them behind when he campaigned against the Lakota in June 1876. There has been much speculation about whether the guns could have changed the outcome of the Battle of Little Big Horn—one might only look to the Battle of Ulundi for an answer.

British military leader Lord Chelmsford (Frederic Thesiger, Second Baron Chelmsford) brought a pair of Gatling Guns on campaign in the latter stages of the Zulu War. Chelmsford is widely remembered for bungling the war effort, including the disastrous loss of British forces at Isandlwana in January 1879—made famous in the movie Zulu Dawn and chronicled in the book Washing of the Spears. Yet, Chelmsford successfully employed Gatling Guns just three years and a week after Little Big Horn at the Battle of Ulundi. The British force of 5,000 lost less than twenty men when it defeated a force three times its size. By contrast, more than 1,500 Zulus died or were wounded.

Enter the Machine Gun:

The British military was among the first to see the potential of the gun created by American-born British inventor Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim. It has since been credited as “the weapon most associated with the British imperial conquest.”

Maxim had already been a prolific inventor, holding patents on mechanical devices like hair-curling irons, a mousetrap, and, most notably, a steam pump. At one point, he even claimed to have invented the light bulb prior to Thomas Edison.

Like Edison, Maxim was a tinkerer who wanted to become wealthy from his inventions. It was during a trip to Europe when he met with a fellow American who told Maxim, “Hang up your chemistry and electricity! If you want to make a pile of money, invent something that will enable these Europeans to cut each other’s throats with greater facility.”

Maxim took that suggestion to heart and, using his understanding of steam pumps, devised a recoil system for firearms. The system took the energy of one shot and created a weapon that could fire nonstop. Maxim had created the first truly successful machine gun, the Maxim Gun.

If the Brown Bess and Martini Henry rifles built the British Empire, then the Maxim Gun allowed it to expand and gain mastery of the battlefield. The weapon played a significant role in 1893’s First Matabele War in Rhodesia (modern day Zimbabwe) where 700 soldiers and five Maxim machine guns helped fend off 5,000 warriors.

Just five years later, at the 1898 Battle of Omdurman in the Sudan, the British employed fifty-two Maxim guns and modern artillery against a force of fanatical Mahdist warriors carrying mostly swords and spears—and still wearing antiquated chain mail. It was this engagement that truly demonstrated the killing potential of the machine gun. Few Mahdist warriors were able to get within fifty yards of the British and, when the battle was over, 12,000 Sudanese were dead, 13,000 more were wounded, and 5,000 were captured. On the other hand, British losses were fewer than fifty dead and less than 400 wounded. It was arguably the most one-sided battle in modern history.

Maxim Guns were subsequently used by both sides in the Second Anglo-Boer War, likely the first conflict in history where opposing armies had machine guns. The weapons certainly contributed to the high causalities on both sides.

The role of the machine gun in colonial wars, as well as in the Russo-Japanese War and the Spanish-American War, among other conflicts, should have signified the weapon’s devastating killing power. Yet, it was almost as if military leaders were unaware that sending their young men across open fields in the early weeks of the First World War would result in devastating carnage. Clearly, the lessons from those other conflicts weren’t learned, or at least they weren’t not taken to heart.

About this writer: Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer who has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers and websites.

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Personal note: I've heard the expression used several times.

(Example): The German Buzzsaw 42 is, in many ways, comparable to the KSP, with certain advantages and disadvantages.

Damage-wise, the Buzzsaw deals the same amount per bullet, compounded with its blistering rate-of-fire makes for a terrifyingly high damage output. The Buzzsaw, however, has 50 fewer rounds per belt, meaning that the same rate-of-fire advantage will require it to be reloaded more often.

Like the KSP, the Buzzsaw is highly appropriate for close quarter combat, having a very high rate of fire and high damage, alongside an enormous capacity of 150 rounds and a total ammo of 450 (563 with Fully Loaded). The weapon can be fired for several seconds before having to be reloaded, though this is usually not recommended. As a result, a single person can cover a whole room without much difficulty. At the end of a wave one can collect a large portion of their ammo back, as the weapon collects a large amount of ammunition back from pickups. This extreme room clearing power can be boosted even more with the Technician's Oppressor skill tree, as it offers more hip fire accuracy and damage. In an extreme situation one can use an ammo bag with the Bullet Storm skill or use Swan Song to get up to 15 seconds of continuous fire with no ammo loss. With the weapon's quick fire-rate, these 15 seconds can be used to deal massive damage.

Its extreme rate-of-fire makes the Buzzsaw an excellent choice in combatting special units up close, barring Shields, which are immune to normal damage from the front. The Buzzsaw's high damage-per-second ensures that even the sturdiest of Bulldozers will fall after mere seconds, provided the player aims for the head and are well-complemented enough with armor and skill/perk bonuses to remain standing. Though somewhat difficult, it is also possible to take out Snipers with this weapon if one has a good feel for where bullets will land, or if their weapon is equipped with a laser sight or bipod.

Like most LMGs, the Buzzsaw's main weakness lies in its low accuracy. Without mods and skills to combat it, the weapon is barely useful at ranges exceeding a few meters. The weapon's recoil makes the low accuracy even more devastating, being hard to control outside of very short bursts. Both the KSP and Buzzsaw are equally accurate (48), though the KSP is much more stable during extended firing due to its lower rate of fire.

Note the German MG-42 is still in service since 1942 -45. fires 1200 rounds per min.

Earlier models: MG13 used in WW1 prior to that was the MG13

Nicknames given to this MG42: The distinctive sound caused by the high cyclic firing rate gave rise to a variety of nicknames. The Germans called it the Hitlersäge (Hitler’s Saw), Schnellespritze (Fast Sprayer), Knochensäge (Bone Saw), Tripperspritze (Gonorrhoea Syringe) and elektrisches MG (Electric MG). The Soviets called it the "Linoleum Ripper", and British and American troops called it "Hitler's Buzzsaw", or "Hitler's Zipper".[14] Like the MG 34, British troops sometimes called it a "Spandau", a traditional generic term for all German machine guns, left over from the famous Allied nickname for the MG 08 Maxim-derivative used by German forces during World War I and derived from its manufacturer's plates noting the city of Spandau where some were produced.[15][16] Brazilian expeditionary soldiers fighting in Italy used to refer to the MG 42 as Lourdinha; this nickname is due to the fact that the bride of one of the soldiers, named Maria de Lourdes, was a seamstress and the sound of MG 42 was similar to the sound of her sewing machine (Lourdinha is a common nickname in Brazil for women called Maria de Lourdes).

Read more on this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MG_42
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O Almighty Lord God, who neither slumberest nor sleepest; Protect and assist, we beseech thee, all those who at home or abroad, by land, by sea, or in the air, are serving this country, that they, being armed with thy defence, may be preserved evermore in all perils; and being filled with wisdom and girded with strength, may do their duty to thy honour and glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

"IN GOD WE TRUST"
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