Winchester Model 1897 - World War I Protests

World War I Protests

Although the Model 1897 was popular with American troops in World War I, it wasn't so popular with the German troops. "On 19 September 1918, the German government issued a diplomatic protest against the American use of shotguns, alleging that the shotgun was prohibited by the law of war." A part of the German protest read; "It is especially forbidden to employ arms, projections, or materials calculated to cause unnecessary suffering". "This is the only known occasion in which the legality of actual combat use of the shotgun has been raised." However, the United States interpreted their use of the shotgun differently than Germany. The Judge Advocate General of the Army, Secretary of State Robert Lansing carefully considered and reviewed the applicable law and promptly rejected the German protest. France and Britain considered using shotguns as trench warfare weapons during World War I. The shotgun in question was a double-barreled shotgun, which was not used because they were unable to obtain high powered ammunition and that type of gun is slow to reload in close combat.