Help me out with World War One - I need primary sources

[slade]

so i have a research paper for history that i should probably be working on about now. its a semester paper worth like a quarter of my grade or something, and i ended up looking around a bit and choosing to do it on the advancement of machine guns during WW1 and its effect on the way in which the war was fought. I have the basic idea of what i want to write down (i already handed in an outline) but there is one problem: i need at least two primary sources. something like a firsthand account from a soldier, newspaper article, machine gun owners manual, etc. i would think an account from a soldier in WW1 or an article from back then about new machine guns would be the best bet, but the problem is i have no idea where the heck i can find something like that. I was talking with Ken about this, and he mentioned starting a thread on AO, so here i am. If you have written about machine guns in WW1 before, or just happen to know where a primary source is or a good place to FIND primary sources, please post.

It would be great if you could give me a primary source on the internet, but i am also going to the library tomorrow... although throughout my life i have spent probably 10 times the time on AO as i have in the library (i learn more on AO... dont tell my teachers i said that) so i really know nothing about libraries or how to find things... especially primary sources. so i would be glad if you could help me with that also, or give me the names of any books or primary sources you know of that i might want to look for. I also probably need more info on how the usage of machine guns actually CHANGED the way wars were fought, as just about everything i find talks about the machine guns themselves, or specific battles.

oh yeah and btw "machine guns" includes automatic rifles.

thanks in advance, ao ;). i know i can count on you. or at least i BETTER be able to, because if i cant find a primary source im just gonna end up making up a fake quote from a "soldier" and footnote it as "the hobo in the alley who said he fought in the Great War." you wouldnt want me to fail history and have to have a private conference with my guidance counselor and teacher, would you ao?

*edit* my 2^10th post! *W00T*!!

[Destructo6]

Soldiers' Tale, The : Bearing Witness to a Modern War by Samuel Hynes covers several wars and the personal accounts of some participants.

[slade]

Soldiers' Tale, The : Bearing Witness to a Modern War by Samuel Hynes covers several wars and the personal accounts of some participants.
thanks for the help! ;) ill check it out.

[Army]

Do searches for Maxim, Lewis, Pederson, Browning, Gatling, Chauchaut, Schwartloze.

These are the inventors and names of only SOME of the many designs used in the "war to end all wars". The Germans had many eclectic designs that made it to limited production and use.

[9868Classic]

As an overall reference, you might be able to scrounge up a copy of the History Channels 'History of the Gun' its extremely broad, but you might get some ideas to further investigate from there aswell.

[Dryden]

A good site to visit for an overview:
http://www.firstworldwar.com/weaponry/machineguns.htm

The references cited by that site:
http://www.firstworldwar.com/references.htm

I would look particularly close at the French Chauchat Light Machine Gun (Automatic Rifle). It was among the first ARs developed during the war, over 250,000 were produced, with fewer than 50,000 even being used by the French themselves. Everybody began the war using this weapon, the American Forces in particular had to - because they needed something in the interim while the Browning 1917 was being produced - and it was so spectacularly bad that The History Channel has devoted an entire Modern Marvels: Engineering Disasters, to the The Chauchat.

The Chauchat [pronounced "Show-Shaw"] jammed and failed completely at the slightest introduction of dirt or debris into the rifle, and this is obviously an issue during the war where trench warfare was invented. The gun even jammed when completely clean, and was impossible to operate on the run. 10,000s were killed with inoperable or jammed Chauchats in their hands.

A good pic of the Chauchat:
http://www.gunsworld.com/gun_mg/chauchat.htm

[MarkM]

This may be of some use to you http://www.1914-1918.net/intrenches.htm

[WingMan13]

Two good books I can think of that was written by H. W. McBride. He served in the Machine gun section. Check out the links, I think "The Emma Gees" talks more on his experience machine guns.

"A Rifleman Went To War" http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0935856013/ref=pd_bxgy_text_1/102-8018242-4510527?v=glance&s=books&st=*

and "The Emma Gees" http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0935856145/qid=1111510978/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-8018242-4510527?v=glance&s=books

[slade]

thanks everyone!! wingman the two books you mention look great, but i cant find them anywhere. i did a search for emma gees though, and found this site: http://members.tripod.com/RegimentalRogue/emmagees/emmagees1.htm if you scroll down to the part where it talks about the brigaider general there is a lot of good information, but the rest of the page and the fact that its a tripod site make it seem a bit unreliable... what do you guys think? if i can use it ive got one primary resource down...

[Destructo6]

Here's a bunch of online primary sources, some of which may be useful.

http://www.lib.byu.edu/~rdh/wwi/1916.html is for the year 1916.

The Sykes-Picot agreement and the Balfour Declaration would be handy if you mention the Middle East in your paper. If you need an explanation, you can email me.

Otherwise, Lloyd George on the Battle of the Somme, July 1, 1916 would be a good mention.

Here's and index to documents by year:

http://www.lib.byu.edu/%7erdh/wwi/

[WingMan13]

I would guess that you mean you can't find it in the library. Most book stores around where I live carry it because it is required reading for certain "occupations" :ninja: Maybe you could get it used from Amazon..? As for the site, I was always taught not to rely on them because its hard to prove its credibility . Maybe as a last resort though. Good luck on your paper :cheers:

[slade]

W00T!!!!!! i finished the paper... well the rough draft at least. thanks to everyone that posted, it helped out and i found the sources i needed. 8 pages written in one night... i think ill be going to bed right about now...