U.S. troops aims their Winchester M1897 shotguns during a live-firing exercise in France prior to bringing them for combat in the WWI front. They are among the first combatants to employ shotguns for modern warfare. (1918) [1200 x 675]
The Germans protested the use of shotguns because of the terrible wounds they would inflict, doctors had a very difficult time treating those wounds.
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What_CanBe
If only they taught the first waves of American soldiers about tactics. There are accounts of whole groups of American men walking blindly across No-Mands-Land despite protestations from the French and British militaries.
AmoebaNot
According to family history my Great-Uncle (my grandfather’s older brother) was a shotgunner in the U.S. Army during World War I. The story was that his squad et al would lay down covering fire to allow him to crawl close to a German machine-gun nest. He would then pop up and blast the hell out of everyone in the nest. In the version of the story I heard as a young boy, they had gotten hold of a muzzle-loading 8-gauge double-barrel French Goose Gun somewhere. The gun was huge and heavy and so was he – he was only guy big enough to carry it and fire it. They would empty some rifle shells for powder and load it up with….whatever. Even though he was huge, it would knock him on his ass every time… but that machine gun nest was silenced and was gonna stay that way.
Ol_Manny
The Germans protested the use of shotguns because of the terrible wounds they would inflict, doctors had a very difficult time treating those wounds.
[deleted]
[deleted]
What_CanBe
If only they taught the first waves of American soldiers about tactics. There are accounts of whole groups of American men walking blindly across No-Mands-Land despite protestations from the French and British militaries.
AmoebaNot
According to family history my Great-Uncle (my grandfather’s older brother) was a shotgunner in the U.S. Army during World War I. The story was that his squad et al would lay down covering fire to allow him to crawl close to a German machine-gun nest. He would then pop up and blast the hell out of everyone in the nest. In the version of the story I heard as a young boy, they had gotten hold of a muzzle-loading 8-gauge double-barrel French Goose Gun somewhere. The gun was huge and heavy and so was he – he was only guy big enough to carry it and fire it. They would empty some rifle shells for powder and load it up with….whatever. Even though he was huge, it would knock him on his ass every time… but that machine gun nest was silenced and was gonna stay that way.