Trench Warfare

WEAPONS

During World War One, millions of shells were fired, grenades thrown and guns shot. As a result millions died but there were a couple of breakthroughs where weapons were concerned.

All along the Western Front sat thousands of machine guns that could fire hundreds of shots a minute. In 1889 the British Army adopted the Maxim Gun. It was the world's first automatic portable machine gun. It could fire 400-600 rounds per minute and had the power of roughly 100 rifles. In 1914 each gun needed a team of 3 to 6 men. They were placed on a flat tripod for extra protection. The opposing sides also used smaller machine guns.

The German Army's Maschinengewehr and the Russian Pulemyot Maxima both used the same design. Machine gunners were a hated group and were more likely to be killed if captured by other soldiers.

The deadlock caused by the trench system resulted in the military commanders demanding long-range heavy field guns and heavy guns, both of which they got.

TANKS

Tanks were one of the reasons why the First World War was eventually ended. Although it took them a couple of years before they used them. Gottlieb Daimler patented the modern tank in 1885. Those in authority failed to see the military potential of this new invention.

But it took until June 1915 for people in authority to start to take an interest in these machines. It was a young Winston Churchill, who at this time was the navy minister, who was first persuaded to set up a committee to look into the possibilities of building a unique war machine. The Landships Committee agreed with the proposals and started to build a landship in the greatest secrecy, which was given the code name tank.

It was 1917 before these "landships" were used to their best effect. Many of the first tanks could not reach speeds of over 5 miles per hour; they would also get stuck in the mud on the battlefield. But when they were used efficiently they provided the British troops with protection while crossing No Man's Land. In the Battle of Cambrai, the Allies captured 10 000 Germans and a lot of ground. However they did not follow up on this success and lost the ground and a number of their tanks. Ironically the first tanks that were used against the British Army were some of their own.

GRENADES

Although grenades had been in use since the 16th century improvements were made and the British in front-line trenches started to use a safer version in 1915, called the Mills Bomb. But at the same time it created the maximum impact on the enemy. When the grenade went off, its cast iron case shattered, showering the victim with metal fragments. From 1915 till the end of the war the British troops used more than 33 million Mills Bombs. It also became possible for them to be fired by a rifle so as they could be fired over 600 feet. The German grenade was very different, it was structured like a stick.

CONCLUSION

The First World War can be called a war of attrition. A war of attrition is one in which one side gradually wins by wearing the other side down with repeated attacks.

The First World War was a war in which both sides tried to last for longer than the other side. Both sides had accepted that this war was very different than previous wars and had started to use methods previously considered uncivilised (for example poisonous gases). In this war it was as if the countries were having a competition to see which side could produce and replace the most men. Generals carried on with already failing tactics in the hope of eventually wearing down the other side into admitting defeat. Again and again they sent countless numbers of men 'over the top' only to have no success and only a very few returned. This frame of mind contributed to the death toll. It is very easy to think of the vast numbers of those who died and accept it but you have to remember that each man lost was someone's father, son or husband.

The stalemate caused by trench warfare which lasted until the summer of 1918 also dramatically affected the death toll. The conditions in the waterlogged trenches led to the death of many thousands of soldiers who died from diseases caught from the rats, lice and untreated water and the close proximity of others. Many soldiers went mad under such desperate conditions and took their own lives.

Trench warfare too, meant that new weapons had to be produced and tried in order to break the deadlock. Gas warfare caused many deaths and the new weapons like the tank and the machine gun were capable of killing or maiming large numbers of men.

If this "war to end all wars" had been fought in the way of previous wars and had not lasted so long, then perhaps the loss of human life would have been less. However, the five long years of trench warfare, meant that the casualty and death lists at the end of the war were huge.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The First World War, Ed. Stewart Ross (Pub. Wayland)

The First World War, R.Prior + T.Wilson (Pub. Cassell & Co.)

The World War 1 Source Book, P.Haythornthwaite

1914-1918 Voices and Images of the Great War, Lyn Macdonald

A History of the 20th Century, Martin Gilbert

Encarta 2000 CD rom