Torrents Of Fire: American Machine Gun Units in the Great War

Torrents of Fire is the history of American machine gunners in World War I.The introduction of machine guns during the Great War was revolutionary. Their presence on the battlefield changed tactics, and their effective use often spelled the difference between success and failure. By the spring of 1917 when the United States entered the war machine guns were centerpieces of tactical operations. Although Americans were aware of the power of the machine gun, the nation entered the war with only a few hundred of these weapons, all of which were obsolete, and almost no trained machine gunners. To use their weapons effectively and survive combat machine gunners had to be part tactician, part mathematician, and part technician. They had to be highly disciplined for they often operated on the flanks and in front of the infantry they supported. Their equipment was cumbersome and required significant physical strength to move and operate. Yet from an impoverished beginning in a little more than 18 months the U.S. became rich in both modern machine guns and proficient gunners. By the Armistice, America had more than 55,000 heavy machine guns and enough trained gunners to provide three machine gun battalions and four separate machine gun companies per infantry division. These units accounted for 15 percent of a division’s personnel, yet provided more than 2/3rds of the immediately available firepower. Torrents of Fire chronicles this remarkable achievement. It examines this history from the organization of the first machine gun units in the summer of 1917 through their use in France in the war's final campaigns. It explores how machine gunners were equipped and trained, the theory of fire that guided their use, and the tactical doctrine that prescribed how machine gun units were to be used on the battlefield. In addition to official documents and reports, the book draws heavily on the experiences of doughboy machine gunners who lived and died with their guns. The text describes both the successes and failures of the effort to introduce a revolutionary weapon to a force ill-prepared for the war in which it was engaged.