<P> Grenades came to the attention of German military planners as a result of the Russo - Japanese war of 1904--1905, and by the beginning of the Great War, the Germans had 106,000 rifle grenades and 70,000 hand grenades . The French and Russian armies were better prepared than the British, expecting to find themselves besieging German fortresses, a task suited to the grenade . The French, along with the British, persisted in the use of rifle grenades (they used a special cup for launching) throughout the war, increasing their range from 180 and 200 metres (590 and 660 ft) to 400 metres (1,300 ft). </P> <P> The mortar also interested the Germans, for a specific use: an invasion of France's eastern front . The advantage of a mortar was that it could be fired from the relative safety of a trench, unlike artillery . At the beginning of World War I, the German Army had a stockpile of 150 mortars, which was a surprise to the French and British . The French were able to use the century - old Coehorn mortars from the Napoleonic Wars . Subsequently, the French borrowed the design of the British Stokes Mortar, and collaborated on mortar designs with the British throughout the war . Eventually, large mortars could throw bombs 2 kilometres (1.2 mi). </P> <P> Despite the technological advances in grenades, machine guns, and mortars, the rifle remained the primary infantry weapon, in large part because other weapons were too cumbersome and unwieldy for an infantryman, and remained the weapon of choice for snipers . Rifles remained virtually the same during the war years, mostly because research tended to be focused on larger weapons and poison gas . The average range of a rifle throughout World War I was 1,400 metres (4,600 ft), but most were only accurate to 600 metres (2,000 ft). The French rifle of choice was the Lebel Model 1886, officially styled the Fusil Modèle 1886 - M93, from 1886 . Its major design flaw was its eight - round tubular magazine which could cause explosions when the nose of one cartridge was forced onto the base of another . In 1916, the Berthier rifle, officially titled the Fusil d'Infanterie Modele 1907, Transforme 1915, was issued as an improvement; it was clip - loaded . The original, produced in 1907, only held three rounds, but later versions in 1915 and 1916 held five and six rounds, respectively, and a carbine version of the Berthier, dubbed the Berthier carbine but titled Mousqueton modele 1916, was released in 1916 . The carbine was preferred over a' normal' rifle because of the advantages in handling in a confined space, such as a trench, and was one of the few significant advances in rifle technology, although periscopes and tripods were produced for trench warfare . </P> <P> Contrary to popular belief, the first country to use chemical warfare in World War I was not Germany, but France, who used tear gas grenades against the German army in August 1914; however, the Germans were the first to seriously research chemical warfare . Poison gas (chlorine) was first used on April 22, 1915, at the Second Battle of Ypres, by the German army . April 1915 saw the first innovation in protection against chemical warfare: a cotton pad dipped in bicarbonate of soda, but by 1918, troops on both sides had charcoal respirators . By November 11, 1918, France had suffered 190,000 chemical warfare casualties, including 8,000 dead . </P>

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