Shotguns are mean!

They were way too effective in clearing trenches. Model 97s fired 9 .33 buckshot pellets and needed essentially no aiming, which is a significant edge in the heat of close combat trench warfare. The cone can catch multiple enemies, especially in trenches where they were all bunched up.

The complaint was that it was cruel because it wasn't as immediately lethal as getting picked off by sniper fire, getting turned into swiss cheese by machine guns, or vaporized into red mist by artillery.

Really, the complaint was bs to try to hamstring the Americans. It was definitely less cruel than flamethrowers, gas, and serrated bayonets, all of which were used by the Germans.

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