What were the advantages of the machine gun in the world war 1?

Automatic weapons are able to sustain a high rate of fire compared to non-automatics. This means that they have a higher probability of hitting targets in a given amount of time, and they are able to score large numbers of hits in short periods of time. On the downside, they consume large amounts of ammunition, are more complex and are more subject to overheating. [[User:Crimson30|Crimson30]] 02:26, 7 Jul 2008 (UTC)