I mean, shotguns also made trenches a really not great option.
Bad enough that Germany literally tried to get them banned, and considered them a violation of the Hague conventions...
Video games make a joke of shotguns, but they're disgustingly effective in real life.
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"On September 15, 1918, the German government officially protested the use of the shotgun in a note verbale—an unsigned diplomatic note—transmitted to the Spanish Embassy in Berlin, then to the Swiss Embassy, and eventually to the American legation in Berne, Switzerland. The note asserted that the use of shotguns by U.S. forces violated Article 23(e) of the 1899 and 1907 Hague Conventions and warned that any American captured with a shotgun or shotgun ammunition would be executed."
