Trench Warfare:
Trench Warfare is a form of a field barrier, which is made up of parallel rows of trenches.
They started appearing by the late 1914’s during WW1. Trenches soon became home to millions of soldiers. The trenches ran from the Belgium border to the Swiss Border on the western front.
The front line usually faced the enemy, which was between 200-800 meters away. It was protected by barbed wire, which was secretly put up during the night. The space in between the front lines of defenders and attackerswas known as the ‘No Man’s Land’ The second line, also known as the ‘ReservedTrenches’ or ‘Support Trenches’ sat behind the front line. The second line isthe line of defense and was a backup plan, if the first trench was captured bythe enemy. There was sometimes even a third line, called the ‘CommunicationTrenches’ which ran over 1 km for safety. New troops, food, water, mail, andammunition had to use these lines. Injured soldiers went in the other directionfor hospitals.
All trenches were deep enough for a soldier to stand up straight, and not be seen by the enemy. But sometimes, when they weren’t deep enough, men had to crawl all day long. The trenches were not formed in straightlines, but in zigzags. This would prevent attackers from shooting straight downthe trench and helped reduced effects of blast s from shells. Barbed wire doorsSandbags and parapet, mud that was dug out from the trench piled up in frontprotected them from bullets. Barbed wire doors were common on slowing down theprocess of enemies taking over the trenches. They fitted into gaps on the sideof the trench, but when closed were very lethal.
Flat planks of wood called duckboards were laid end to end along the ground when it rained. They soon became a common sight in British trenches.
Weapons:
One of the main weapons the British used was the bolt-action rifle. Was mostly used in trenches. 15 rounds could be fired in one minute. A person 1,400 meters away could be killed.
Zeppelin:
A Zeppelin was an airship, also called a blimp that was used during the early part of the war. Used for bombing raids by the Germans. They were abandoned because they were easy to shoot out of the sky, and would carrybombs and machine guns.
Machine Gun:
The machine gun needed 4-6 six men to work it. It had the fire-power of 100 guns and had to be on a flat surface (sounds like a hassle to me).
Tank:
The first time use of the tank was during the First World War at the Battle of the Somme. They were made to deal with the conditions on the Western Front. The first tankwas called ‘Little Willie’. Its maximum speed was 3 mph. Its crew consisted ofthree men and it could not cross over trenches.
Gases:
One gas, mustard gas, was the most deadly weapon used. It’s colorless and takes about 12 hours to go off. Mustard gas was fired into trenches in shells, and some of the effects from it are: vomiting, sore eyes,blistering skin, internal and external bleeding. Deaths from it can take up tofive weeks.
Torpedoes:
Torpedoes were shot out of submarines. The Germans used these to blow up ships carrying supplies from America to Britain. On May 1st, 1915, the Germanstorpedoed a passenger liner, the Lusitania,which sank and had 1,195 people die. The Americans were so mad they joined thewar in 1917 on the side of allies.
Planes:
Planes, like the tanks, were used for the first time too. They were first to transport and deliver bombs and to spy, but then later became a fighter aircraft, armed with machine guns, sometimes cannons andbombs. Fight between two planes in flight were known as ‘dogfights’.
Sources:
http://www.harris-academy.com/departments/history/Trenches/Joanna/joanna1.htm
http://www.historyonthenet.com/WW1/weapons.htm
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