Machine Gun: the story of the men and the weapon that changed the face of war by Anthony Smith

A British viewpoint on the development of the machine gun. A bit scattered, in my view. Colt, Gatling and Maxim are the three characters that gets the most attention, where it is obvious that Colt had no connection to the eventual design of the modern (Maxim) machine gun, and the Gatling gun surviving only in specialized forms.

I think the book is best seen as an attempt by a British mind to understand their tremendous casualties in WWI; the machine gun being a major killer in that conflict. The battle of the Somme is the focus of the book. How did it come about that men in close order were marched into a rain of bullets? Why were recent experiences elsewhere in the world ignored?

The answer offered seems to lie in what it meant to be British. Vigorous action by the men was the answer to every problem, and a charge was guaranteed to "break the nerve of the enemy".

I'm not sure that the answer to the machine gun was the tank, as is often claimed. It seems that the answer was mutually supportive fire and movement, with the tank carrying a (machine) gun that was always under cover. The mountains around Monte Cassino made the use of tanks impossible, yet there (superb) trenches were eventually taken. The final answer to the machine gun came only thirty years later, in the assault rifle.

The stalemate had become too stale, the trenches too entrenched.