"The First World War (1914-18) has a close association with static trench warfare dominated by heavy artillery and machine guns, but the conflict witnessed many entirely new developments in weaponry as all sides desperately sought to outdo the enemy and then, very often, invent countermeasures to these new and terrible devices of destruction. Innovative weapons of WWI include the flamethrower, hand grenade, gas shell, tank, long-range bomber plane, mine, torpedo, and depth charge."
"Some flamethrowers required three men to carry and operate, but the development of a portable version allowed a single soldier to carry a weapon that could cause devastation if he managed to get in or near the enemy's trench system. The weapon was used by specially trained assault units known as 'storm troops'. The device used gas to push out fuel under pressure, which was ignited when it reached the nozzle."
"The first grenades to be used in WWI were primitive homemade affairs where soldiers used their imagination and what materials they had at hand, such as old jam or tobacco tins, to make an explosive device that could be thrown at the enemy. Tens of millions of hand grenades were manufactured through WWI as mass production of the devices began in 1915."
World War I combined static trench warfare with rapid weapon innovation as combatants sought offensive advantages and countermeasures. Flamethrowers, first developed by the German Army, evolved from multi-man rigs to portable versions carried by storm troops; they used gas to pressurize fuel and could project flaming petrol up to 36 metres, but operators became prime targets and faced high self-inflicted risk. Hand grenades began as improvised tins and later entered mass production from 1915, with tens of millions manufactured; some grenades contained poisonous gas and German designs featured a wooden-handled stick grenade (Steilhandgranate).
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