Another thought relates to how the militaries of the world viewed riflery 100+ years ago. Even though individual marksmanship was honed, by and large, rifle fire was assumed to be directed against mass formations of enemy troops. As such, volley fire was still taught. High volumes of aimed accurate fire put down on tightly packed bodies of troops was pretty effective. (Witness that such gunfire is what basically saved the BEF in Belgium, September 1914. The British Regulars then depended on rifle fire more than machine gun fire.) Single-mindedness of commanders who clung to archaic open ground battle tactics providing such lush targets for riflemen and machine gunners (and artillery) was the primary cause for the horrific casualties in The Great War. High volume fire (musketry) was pretty effective against high volume stupidity.
Last edited by gnoahhh; 03/02/15.
