It demonstrated its importance on the first day of the Somme, 1 July 1916, when almost 60,000 British soldiers were killed. He was the king of the defense and a small team would operate the gun in a dug in position; this gave them cover from most of the artillery fire. In addition to the artillery, they killed most of the soldiers and were afraid that the soldiers would overdo it. It was because of machine guns that innovations such as the tank had to be invented to absorb some of the fire and allow easier movement for the infantry. The machine gun was so effective because it slowed down the war and reduced the number of frontal assaults