WeaponsOfWarOne of the saddest facts about World War I is that millions died needlessly because military and civilian leaders were slow to adapt their oldfashioned strategies. Weapons Of War Gameclub DownloadA list of some of the most common or innovative weapons of the First World War. From vehicles to munitions, a host of homemade military hardware has been deployed in Syrias bloody civil war. Civil War Weapons. By Joseph G. Bilby. It was akin to shooting fish in a barrel. The Hoosiers of the 4. Illinois were pinned down in a crater that June 2. Union mine used in an attempt to blow up a section of the Rebel works at Vicksburg. The Federal attack had faltered in the reeking pit, and the Confederates had taken the opportunity to hurl ad hoc hand grenades, modified artillery shells, down up the helpless Yankees. Information and Articles About Civil War Weapons used during the American Civil War A Cannon Used During The Civil War Many weapons were used in the The Civil War. Weapons Of War' title='Weapons Of War' />A Union officer reported that the enemywith their hand grenades render it difficult for our working parties to remain in the crater at all. The wounds inflicted by those missiles are frightful. While artillery shells were pressed into service during that incident, there were several varieties of Civil War grenades made specifically for their purpose. Some had an almost cartoonish appearance, with fins for aerodynamics and plungers for detonating. Others looked like deadly bocce balls. But though the grenades used by the Blue and the Gray were far from perfectsome were as dangerous to the thrower as they were to the intended targeta variety of improvised and purpose built grenades were hurled and used in combat in numerous battles. Grenades had been used in battle for hundreds of years before the Civil War, and were well known to the military men of the 1. In his 1. 86. 1 Military Dictionary, Colonel Henry Lee Scott described a grenade as small shell about 2 inches in diameter, which, being set on fire by means of a short fuze and cast among the enemys troops causes great damage by its explosion. For troops attacking fortifications, Scott recommended the use of blindages, a French term for armored shields, as protection from grenades. Colonel Scott suggested that forts be amply supplied with grenades, and the weapons often were staples of garrison armament. At Fort Sumter hand grenades were distributed at critical points during the 1. Captain John G. Foster reported that he had made complete arrangements for using shells and grenades over the parapet. The Confederate bombardment exploded some of the grenade piles. By 1. 86. 2, grenades were being used in land warfare. In May, the commander of the 3. Ohio Infantry claimed his men were attacked by Confederates armed with grenades, and Colonel George H. Gordon of the 2nd Massachusetts Infantry reported that grenades thrown by civilians from houses in Winchester, Va., killed and wounded his soldiers as they retreated through the town that same month. In April Confederate Brig. Gen. Daniel H. Hill requested that a supply of grenades be sent to his men defending the Virginia Peninsula. Hand grenades were frequently used during the summer of 1. Port Hudson and Vicksburg. Following the 1. 86. New Orleans, Rebels fortified Port Hudson, situated atop an 8. Mississippi River and surrounded by deep ravines, in a desperate attempt to keep the river open between northern Louisiana and Vicksburg as an avenue to the trans Mississippi Confederacy. In May 1. 86. 3, Maj. Two Weeks Download Eng Sub'>Two Weeks Download Eng Sub. Gen. General Nathaniel Banks army of more than 3. New Orleans to attack Port Hudson, which, although well fortified, was garrisoned by only around 6,8. Confederates under Maj. Gen. Franklin Gardner. Banks goal was to overrun Port Hudson and proceed up the river to join forces with Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grants force besieging Vicksburg. On May 2. 7, Banks launched an all out assault on the miles of earthworks surrounding Port Hudson. It failed miserably. In preparation for a second attack, Banks ordered 5. Admiral David G. Farragut, requesting that they be accompanied, if you please, by an officer who can explain to our men their proper management. The U. S. Navy seems to have been the place to go for grenades on the Mississippi, because ships were routinely issued a generous supply to repel potential boarders. In April 1. 86. 2, Colonel Charles Ellett requested nine cases of parapet hand grenades, such as would be most convenient for throwing over a bulwark, to clear the bows of the steamer in case of boarding for his fleet of ramming ships. In February 1. 86. Acting Rear Adm. David D. Porter advised one of his captains to keep your pilot house well supplied with hand grenades, c., in case the enemy should get on your upper decks. The naval grenades were issued to Banks troops in time for his next attack, which took place on June 1. Special ad hoc grenadier units were created, including one of five companies from the 4th Massachusetts and 1. New York Infantry and another of 1. Connecticut Infantry. The grenadiers were ordered to sling their muskets, closely follow the skirmish line up to the enemy parapets, toss their grenades and continue the fight as skirmishers. Banks second attack proved to be another disaster, and Port Hudson would hold out until the fall of Vicksburg made the post untenable. During the second ill fated Yankee attack, most of the grenadiers did not get close enough to the enemy to use their hand grenades. Those who did had some of their grenades thrown back at them. That fact, along with the special training requested by Banks, suggests they may have been issued the hand grenades invented in 1. William F. Ketchum. Ketchums grenade featured a cast iron cylinder filled with gunpowder and tapered on both ends, with one end fitted with a plunger and percussion cap to facilitate detonation on impact. A dowel with four pasteboard arrowlike vanes was inserted in the opposite end to aid with the grenades flight. Sometimes Ketchum grenades would not strike a hard enough object to detonate, allowing them to be tossed back. At Vicksburg the hand grenade shoe was initially on the other foot, and Confederate defenders used them to repel General Grants attempt to take the town by storm on May 2. According to Confederate Maj. Gen. John H. Forney, hand grenades were used at each point with good effect against the Union attack. The grenades the Rebels used, however, were not purpose built hand grenades like those the Union Navy supplied to their forces at Port Hudson, but 6 and 1. Colonel Ashbell Smith of the 2nd Texas Infantry reported that to clear the outside ditch, spherical case were used as hand grenades, and these were the most common Vicksburg Rebel grenades, although one source states that the Confederates also used glass bottle grenades like those employed by the Russians in the Crimean War. As the Vicksburg siege developed and Union forces pushed their trenches and saps forward and dug mines under the citys defenses, the Rebel use of artillery shells as improvised grenades increased. The men of the 5. Illinois countered the enemy tactic of rolling grenades over the parapet by blocking them with a board held up by bayonets at the edge of the Union trench. It worked, and only one shell hurt any of those in the ditch, bursting against one soldier and killing him. The Confederates soon improved their grenade techniques, however, organizing artillerymen whose guns were disabled or otherwise unusable into a specialized hand grenade and thunder barrel corps. The grenadiers proved very effective in repelling Union forays. In an attempt to counter these tactics, the Federals created their own grenadier corps, initially turning to the Navy for genuine hand grenades that were supposedly more portable and easier to pitch than artillery shells. World War 2 Weapons   World War 2 Weaponspart 1. Land. The backstory of weapons employed in World War 2 on land, sea and air was the intense focus of the scientific tech communities to create the means for the greatest devastation. Earlier wars may have planted the seeds for lethality, but this new war that engulfed the planet was a quantum leap into the future of weaponry. The reader will hardly forget the game changer the atomic bomb that made hyperbole an understatement. The weapons were often  utilized with a degree of barbaric cruelty and hatred. How else can history explain over 6. Automation  became a standard for what had merely been mechanical. Introduction of full rapid fire required new platforms that created new systems for delivery. The aircraft carrier, the amphibious landing craft, the self propelled gun, the dive bomber became terms  common in civilian discourse. Our identification of these weapons into Land, Sea, Air does not limit their use to these broad categories. Many of the systems crossed these boundaries and were employed effectively in all environments. Small Arms Naval officer and Medal of Honor winner, John D. Bulkley Its not the captain but the men who do the fighting, man the guns, theyre the guys that really win the war. These arms were regularly described by all belligerents as those weapons used by an infantry squad, but not necessarily limited to the infantry. They are portable. Pistols. The pistol was notoriously inaccurate and useful only in close combat. This weapon was carried by infantry officers, tank crews and pilots. There were no significant innovations from those pistols used in World War 1. All were semi automatic. Each trigger pull fired a single shot. United States . M1. Germans        . Walther considered more reliable than their                         Luger Model 1. The most sought after souvenir by                         U. S. servicemen in European Theater Operations. World War 2 Weapons                                                                                                          World War 2 Weapons. British . 3. 8 caliber Webley and Enfield 2. Soviets Nagent revolver 1. Tokarev pistol not widely issued. Italy      Beretta . Japan   Nambu Type 9. Many officers preferred ceremonial sword. Was sometimes used by officers to commit suicide Seppuk to avoid capture. World War 2 Weapons World War 2 Weapons                                                               Rifles. Many of the armies entered the war equipped with World War 1 rifles. Americans were issued 1. Springfield, bolt action. The Japanese were using a weapon that was in vogue in the Russo Japanese conflict of 1. United States By 1. Garand M1 John Garand with a maximum range of 5. The rifle was semi automatic and self loading. It was gas operated and fed with an 8 clip. Its sight was extremely accurate and the gun unaffected by weather. The butt carried swabs, brush and cleaning rod. Its simplicity was confirmed by every infantryman who could it tear it down and put it together in the dark. It was described as 9 plus pounds of terrific knock down power and never jammed. Isekai No Seikishi Monogatari Sub. World War 2 Weapons. World War 2 Weapons. British     Reliable Lee Enfield NO. AND 5. Italy         Mannlicher Modello 9. Japan      Arisaka, Meiji, Mosin  The Arisaka was a copy of the German Mauser rifl 3. Germany Karabiner 9. K, one of many numerous upgrades, fired a Mauser cartridge 7. Many German rifles utilized earlier Czechoslovakian designs. Used by  Wehrmachinfantry, kriegsmarine Subs, Luftwaffe air, Waffen SS multi services from police to panzer. World War 2 Weapons. World War 2 Weapons                                                    Submachine Guns. The Thompson gun had its origin at the end of world War 1. It was the notorious weapon of choice for 1. Tommy gun. The gun was fully automatic. Gun continuously fires as long as the trigger remains depressed. United States This gun was occasionally issued to non commissioned officers but its  low velocity and failure to penetrate light armor was a significant problem. It was found somewhat ineffective in jungle battle. The M1 model had a 5. Marines were issued the weapon in the Pacific and used on Okinawa April June 1. World War 2 Weapons. World War 2 Weapons. Britain Their commandos favored the Thompson gun. They would also manufacture their version of the submachine gun the Sten gun. World War 2 Weapons. World War 2 Weapons. Japan      Used their machine gun when they captured the oil fields on Java,rarely utilized. Germany  The following illustrates the MP 4. Germany Most innovative produced a semi or fully automatic assault rifle. The machine pistol 4. Sturmgewehrstorm rifle had shorter range than most rifles, a less powerful bullet. Its compact form made it more controllable and proved very effective on Russias, eastern front. Although referred to as a rifle, it  had the qualities of a sub machine gun. World War 2 Weapons. World War 2 Weapons. The significant use of steel for defense had its counterpoint in the armor piercing projectiles. Technology utilized two methods. A. Kinetic energy depended on velocity of at least 3,0. It was constructed of tungstencarbide material that was denser than steel. B. Chemical development of a hollow, higher explosive charge generating high, penetrating heat traveling at 2,0. Utilized by all belligerents. Hand Grenades. Hand held hollow materials containing explosives and thrown at an  enemy have been used in multiple centuries. The grenade in World War 2 became an integral weapon in every infantry mans kit. The United States manufactured over 8. Marine Corporal Robert Johnsmiller reported his grenade experience on Red Beach, Tarawa while crawling through the bodies of dead comrades Gilbert Islands Campaign November 2. A Japanese hand grenade landed next to me. I quickly moved my body as it went off. Wounded, he kept crawling forward until he reached a trench. He looked into the ditch and saw a Japanese soldier looking up at him. He pulled back and signaled to his comrades. We quickly dispatched grenades into the emplacement and silenced the threat. The corporals grenade wound a lost eye. Grenades evolved that differentiated between offensive and defensive use. The defensive grenade MKII when exploded emitted deadly fragments at super speed. The offensive  grenade MKIII created an explosive blast. Some grenades were utilized for signaling or screening. Some even had handles for throwing. One grenade manufactured, when thrown, emitted tear gas. There also was the home made grenade known as the molotov cocktail Soviet Commissioner for Foreign Affairs Vyocheslav Molotov. When Great Britain feared invasion, the government distributed to its citizens this type of weapon which followed the molotov formula a solution of phosphorus and benzine. Used Soft Indoor Playground Equipment. This explosive appeared in a number of innovative forms. The simple bottle was the most used and first appeared in  numbers with Finnish troops in the their run up pre World War 2 fight against the Soviet Union. The Russians used the more traditional long handle type of  grenade similar to German potato masher. World War 2 Weapons. World War 2 Weapons.