Field Guns and Shells

A shell was basically a metal tube filled with explosive. As the war went on, the shell production in Britain also rose rapidly.

Shells came in three sorts:

•    High Explosive: designed to explode on impact and wreck buildings, as well as kill people.

•    Shrapnel: these were packed with small iron balls. When they exploded over enemy trenches, hot iron rained down. This would kill or seriously wound anyone below.

•     Armour piercing: these were designed to penetrate tough steel then explode. They were first used by the navy against ships, but they were later used against tanks.

Howitzers (huge field guns)

Shelling turned normal fields and forests into the lunar landscape often associated with WW1, with demolished buildings, destroyed forests and water filled shell holes. They also caused shell shock among the soldiers.

An "iron harvest" of over 500 shells is still ploughed up by French and Belgian farmers each year. Some are still live and cause death and injury when they explode.

Trench Mortars

Trench mortars were similar to shells but more specialised. They added greatly to the misery of the soldiers in the trenches. Also, they were not a new weapon. They were a short metal tube used to fire steel drums packed with explosive and shrapnel high into the air. It dropped on to enemy lines. Soldiers could see them coming, because they were slower than shells, and hear their distinctive noise. Their German name was "minenwerfer" - mine thrower. The English name was "moaning minnies".

Concrete and Barbed Wire

Concrete was another development that was quite new, from the 1900's. It was used more by the Germans than the British and French, mainly for their concrete dug-outs.

Changes in the manufacture of iron and steel in the late 19th century meant that barbed wire could be made. This was used by both sides as a defence for their trenches from raiding enemy troops.

Poisonous Gas

Germany introduced all the new developments with poison gas. Gas samples were collected by the British and copied. There were two main types of gas:

•    Chlorine gas: this was brought to the front in cylinders and released when the wind was in the right direction. When it was breathed in it dissolved in the fluid of the lungs and formed concentrated hydrochloric acid, which burns the lungs.

Because it caused such horrific injuries, gas masks developed very quickly. The masks were uncomfortable but necessary.

Poison gas at first seemed to be the weapon that would win the war but it was not used as much as expected, probably because both sides had defences against it. 90,000 of 9,000,000 men were killed by gas, and most of those were Russians, as they couldn't afford gas masks.