The German Armed Forces Technology

[Germany]

Rifles and Pistols

The German Army's main rifle is the Mauser Gewehr. It has been claimed that the Mauser Gewehr was the most successful bolt-action rifle ever designed.

The German Army's main side arm is the Luger pistol. The Swiss Army was the first to officially adopt the Luger P.04 pistol. They were followed by the German Navy in in 1904 and the German Army in 1908. Produced by Deutsche Waffen und Munitions, the Luger Parabellum became the world's most widely used military handgun. The Luger fired a 7-round clip of 9mm ammunition.

Machine-Guns

The standard machine-gun used by the German Army is the Maschinengewehr. An almost direct copy of the Maxim Machine-Gun, the Maschinengewehr fireds 7.92mm ammunition from a 250-round fabric belt. It has a practical range of 2,200 yards and an extreme range of 4,000 yards.

Artillery

-Big Bertha
A mobile howitzer. This 43 ton howitzer could fire a 2,200 lb shell over 9 miles. Transported by Daimler-Benz tractors, it took its 200-man crew, over six hours to re-assemble it on the site.

-The German stick grenade
This had a wooden handle about ten inches long that carried a metal canister at his head. The head unscrewed to allow the detonator to be inserted. The screw cap at the end covered a string which was pulled to ignite the fuse inside the head.

-Skoda 30.5
Although 28 tons it is designed to be road-transportable. Once it arrives at the firing-site it takes only 40 minutes to assemble. The gun needs a crew of twelve men and can fire ten rounds per hour. The 846 lb shell has a range of 13,124 yards.

Tanks

-Schwerer Kampfwagen A7V
Powered by two Daimler engines. In addition to six water-cooled machine-guns, it has a 5.7-cm Sokol gun at the front of the vehicle. Some of its features, such as the sprung tracks and the thicker armour, makes it better than British tanks.

-Leichter Kampfwagen II
Its length is 16 ft. 8 in. which enables it to cross a 6 ft. 6 in. trench. It weighs 8.7 tons and it has a 5.7-cm gun.

Miscellaneous

-bayonets
All infantrymen are provided with bayonets. Some German soldiers favoured a saw-bladed version. The bayonet was the infantryman's primary close combat weapon in trench warfare.

-Poison Gases
Chlorine
Sarin
Mustard gas
Phosgene
VX
Zyklon-B


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German Navy
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The German vessels are the most efficient; by 1911, German designers had abandoned both steam and gasoline--which was volatile and therefore hazardous within the confines of a submarine--and had equipped all their vessels with diesel engines. Also, German periscopes are the best in the world.

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-U-boat
The German Navy is developing a submarine with real fighting qualities. In 1913 Germany produced its first diesel-powered Unterseeboot (U-boat). The U-boat is considered the best boat in the sea.

Dreadnoughts (Schlachtschiffe)
Battlecruisers
Armoured Cruisers (Panzerkreuzer)
Light Cruisers (Leichte Kreuzer)
Torpedo Boats (Torpedoboote)
Auxiliary Ships
Armament and Equipment

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More to come later

[Germany]

Gotha Bomb Dropper[/size]

It is no doubt that the Zeppelin was a bad way of bombing a target due to it's abililty to be shot down easily. The Zeppelins were enormously expensive weapons, and Germany couldn't afford all of them to be shot down. It was clear that a more rational way of striking Germany's enemies would have to be found in the form of aircraft.



The Gotha Bomb Dropper is now being produced, because the limitations of the Zeppelin as a raider had become painfully obvious. Unlike the Zeppelins, the Gothas could fly in formation and cover each other with their Parabellum Machine Guns. On daylight attacks the Gothas flew between 10,000 ft and 16,000 ft- too high to enable the defense to intercept them as they flew. On the night raids, when a lower ceiling sufficed, a greater weight of bombs could be carried.



The most novel feature of the Gotha, and one which made it difficult to attack, was the carefully designed tunnel through the fuselage for firing downward, covering the standard blind spot and enabling the tail and underside to be perfectly protected against attacking aeroplanes. A crew of three was normally carried in the Gotha.

Several types of Gothas are being built, ranging from the G.I with two 160 h.p. Benz motors to G.V, the type most generally used, and the G.V, both with two 260 h.p. Mercedes motors. The two early versions have a span of only 72 ft.; the standard G.IV spanned 77 feet.

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Fuselage:
Four main ash wooden longeron, wooden cross members, wire braced. Plywood covered near nacelle, remainder covered with unbleached linen fabric.

Firing tunnel:
linen fabric covered Wooden frame-work forming Concave belly beneath rear section of fuselage. firing tunnel used for rear defence, eliminating blind spot.

ARMAMENT:
Movable Parabellum 7.9mm machine gun on turntable mounting in front cockpit and a Parabellum gun on traverse mounting on rear cockpit. (Interesting note is that this rear cockpit gun can be fired downward through an opening in the upper fuselage for belly defense). Twelve (10?) heavy Explosive (H.E.) bombs carried in twin chambers mounted within the fuselage between the pilot's and rear cockpit along with two external bombs in spring jaws under the forward section to correct tail heaviness. Some Gothas can be seen to be carrying 6X50kg bombs externally between the landing gear. Total bomb capacity is 1,102lb.

POWER PLANTS:
Two 260 hp Mercedes motors driving pusher props:

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Details
Role: Heavy Bomber
Span: 77ft 8ins
Length: 40ft 9ins
Max Speed: 87.5 mph
Ceiling 21,325 ft
Range: 522 miles
Endurance: 4 hours
Max Load: 1,100 lb
Norm Load: 660 lb
Weight: 6,039 lb
Loaded: 8,763 lb