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fire, specifically machine guns. It describes the area between the "first catch" and the "last graze" of a bullet's trajectory. At the first of these points, a bullet will hit a standing person in the head; at the last of these points, as the bullet drops, it will hit a standing person in the foot.
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Given that there is variance in the path of each bullet, and differences in mechanisms as designed, all machine guns have beaten zones with some width. A good example from history is the duels between
Australian soldiers and German MG34 teams, during the 'April battles' and later, at
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sights (such as a dial sight) fitted in addition to, or instead of, direct fire ones. Fire can then be called in by spotters to engage specific points in the guns' field of fire, even if out of sight of the machine gunners.
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piece. It is in the shape of a rectangle with the longer sides parallel to the direction of fire because artillery tends to deviate more forwards and backwards than right and left.
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The concept works best as part of a static defence with the area covered by a position plotted out beforehand. Usually the machine guns will be mounted on a
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Beaten zone can also refer to the area that shells will usually land in when fired from an
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helped the
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Area that can easily and effectively be reached by gunfire from a firearm
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Thus, anyone standing within a given gun's beaten zone will be hit.
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The term originally came from the 'field of fire' in front of
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