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World War I - Western Front
A New Style of Warfare
American History
Unit II- Foreign Affairs
Chapter 21 Section 2
The Western Front
10th American History
Unit II- U.S. Foreign Affairs
Reading Quiz for Chapter 21 Sect. 2
1. What was life like in trench?
2. Name three new types of weapons of WWI.
3. What was Shell Shock?
4. Who was losing early in WWI?
5.Before the war was over soldiers killed on both
sides would number how many?
6. If Germany was winning in 1918, what
changed everything?
7. What is the AEF and who was its leader?
8. What was the bad mistake that German
generals and their emperor made?
Total War and Slaughter
Total War on the Western Front
In the spring of 1915 the trenches along the western front were
filled with millions of soldiers, at the average rate of one
soldier per four inches of trench. The job behind the front lines
was to keep the men fed, equipped and ready to continue the
fighting until the end came.
Since both sides targeted both civilians and military personnel,
and mobilized men and resources at an unprecedented rate,
the Great War was a "total war”.
This total war effected the lives of many different people:
–
in some communities unprecedented casualty rates especially
among young officers stripped young women of all their male
contemporaries;
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West African soldiers were shipped in from the colonies to fight in
the trenches;
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brave Englishwomen traded other jobs for more dangerous jobs in
weapons factories. Everyone was affected. T
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he first genocide of the 20th century -- the ultimate form of total
war against civilians -- was also part of this conflict. Over the next
two years the Armenian population of Ottoman Turkey was
uprooted and expelled to the desert regions of Mesopotamia. In the
process between 500,000 to one million Armenians where killed or
died of exposure or disease.
Slaughter on the Western Front
Impersonal killing- Hand to hand, sword, rifle, machine
gun, bomb and airplane
1914- each side lost a 1/2 million men
1915- British and French advance was less than 3 miles
anywhere. France lost 1.5 million men
In early 1916, the British had over 1 million men in
Belgium and France, while the French and German
armies had re-supplied their front line troops. The
stage was set for both sides to try to make the
breakthrough on the battlefield that would assure each
victory. By 1916’s end, both sides would lose nearly one
million men with very little change in position of the
front line trenches
1916 Battle of the Somme- 5 months. Germans lost over
600,000 men. 20,000 British soldiers died in one day.
Before the end of the war over 10 million men would die on
both sides. Another 10 million civilians from disease,
starvation, and revolutions.
1918- German trenches were 50 miles from Paris, the
German hope was to reach Paris and defeat the French
before the Americans came into the war.
American Expeditionary Force (AEF)
May 1918
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Doughboys-The name may have come from the
large brass buttons on the uniforms of Union
soldiers in the Civil War; they were said to
resemble doughboys, a flour dumpling cooked in
soup
2nd and 3rd Divisions fight at Belleau Wood and
Chateau-Thierry. Argonne Forest.
85,000 American help save Paris
General John J. (Black Jack) Pershing has an
army of 1/2 million on the Southern Front.
Oct. 1918- Battle of Sedan- American Victory.
British and French Lines begin to advance.
German mistake- Americans were late but made a
difference.
U.S. lost 50,280 men, and 25,000 to disease. 42,000
Black troop fought in French units.
Russia, England and France lost over 4 million
total. 1 million other countries.
Armistice- November 11, 1918- 11th hour, 11th day
of the 11th month.
Slaughter on the Western Front
The first Battle of the Marne took place between 5th •
and 11th September, 1914. The French 6th
Army came close to defeat and were only saved
by the use of Paris taxis to rush 6,000 reserve
troops to the front line. During the battle, the
French had around 250,000 casualties. Although
the Germans never published the figures, it is
believed that Geman losses were similar to those
of France. The BEF lost 12,733 men during the •
battle. The .
The second major battle close to the River Marne
took place during the summer of 1918. Over
85,000 American soldiers took part in the battle.
The German attack on the Marne was launched
on 15th July. The Germans failed to break
through. This included 24 divisions of the
French Army, and soldiers from the United
States, Britain and Italy. Allied casualties
•
during the 2nd Battle of the Marne were heavy:
French (95,000), British (13,000) and United
States (12,000). It is estimated that the German
Army suffered an estimated 168,000 casualties
and marked the last real attempt by the Central
Power to win WWI.
Battle of Verdun - 1916, became for the
French what Gettysburg is for Americans.
The goal of the German commander was not
territory, but to bleed his enemy to death.
The battle lasted nine months and in the end
the front lines were nearly the same, while
over 300,000 French and Germans were
killed and over 750,000 were wounded.
Battle of the Somme, where another million
died. The battle also saw the introduction of
the tank. 42 British tanks. The British fired
1.5 million rounds of artillery shells at the
Germans in the 5 month battle. The opening
barrage could be heard in England. For
every yard of the 18 mile front there were
two British casualties. 420,000 British
casualties and 1.3 million total in the battle.
As the slaughter continued with no
significant gains in territory by either side,
the men in the trenches kept their sanity by
using music, theater and trench newspapers
to replicate the world they left behind.
World War I Casualties
Allies
Central Powers
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Belgium 45,550
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Austria-Hungary 1,200,000
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British Empire 942,135
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Bulgaria 87,495
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France 1,368,000
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Germany 1,935,000
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Greece 23,098
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Ottoman Empire 725,000
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Italy 680,000
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Total Casualties
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Japan 1,344
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65 million mobilized both sides
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Montenegro 3,000
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8.5 million killed
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Portugal 8,145
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21 million wounded
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Romania 300,000
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7.7 million POW’s and missing
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Russia 1,700,000
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37million total casualties
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Serbia 45,000
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57% of all men mobilized
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United States 116,516
Weapons of World War I
Rifles
•
The main weapon used by British
soldiers in the trenches was the boltaction rifle. 15 rounds could be fired
in a minute and a person 1,400
meters away could be killed.
•
The single-shot, bigger-bore rifle
was the subject of extensive research
and development in the latter
portion of the nineteenth century,
with the result that the major
powers introduced new models that
were
small-bore,
bolt-action
weapons capable of firing multiple
rounds from a spring-loaded clip
inserted into a rifle magazine.
Rifles, Bayonets and Hand guns
•
Veterans of the Great War, when interviewed, tended to play
down the impact of the bayonet during the war. Many
remarked (partly in jest) that the bayonet was used
primarily as a splendid means of toasting bread, and for
opening cans, to scrape mud off uniforms, poking a trench
brazier or even to assist in the preparation of communal
latrines
•
In essence a bayonet is simply a simply a blade that is
attached to the barrel of a rifle for use in close combat.
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Most bayonets were of simple design, of the knife variety,
although variations existed. For example the French devised
a needle blade for use on Lebel rifles. Notoriously, the
German army produced a 'saw-back' blade that, as its name
suggests, gave the appearance of a saw with its double row
of teeth on the back edge.
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One advantage of using a bayonet in close crowded combat,
as opposed to a rifle or handgun, was its avoidance of risk in
injuring one's fellow soldiers. A bullet fired at close range
into an enemy could well pass through his body and enter a
friend standing (or fighting) behind him.
There was undeniably
psychological value to the
infantry in carrying a bayonet,
even if in practice it was seldom
used. Bayonets continued to be
commonly issued in the Second
World War.
Hand guns
•
The pistol, originally designed as a cavalry weapon, was
the staple weapon for a variety of personnel during
World War One (and beyond). Traditionally issued to
officers of all armies the pistol was also issued to military
police, airmen and tank operators.
•
•
Reasons for Pistol Use
French
For men involved in the latter professions the pistol was
essentially the only weapon that would serve under their
unique environments: the cramped conditions of both the
tank and aircraft dictated that the rifle - which was
otherwise issued to virtually all regular soldiers - was
impractical.
German
Luger
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Three Basic Types
When war began there were three types of pistol in
general use: revolvers, clip-loaded automatics and the socalled 'blow-back' models (where expanding propellant
gas caused the gun to reload by forcing the bolt back
when fired).
Colt 45
Machine Gun
• Machine guns, usually
positioned on a flat tripod,
would require a gun crew of
four to six operators. They had
the fire-power of 100 guns.
• The 1914 machine gun, in
theory, could fire 400-600
small-caliber rounds per
minute, a figure that was to
more than double by the war's
end, with rounds fed via a
fabric belt or a metal strip.
Machine Gun
•
The reality however was that these early machine guns would
rapidly overheat and become inoperative without the aid of
cooling mechanisms; they were consequently fired in short
rather than sustained bursts. Cooling generally took one of two
forms: water cooled and, increasingly as the war developed, air
cooled. Water jackets would be provided for the former (which
held around one gallon of liquid) and air vents would be built
into the machine gun for the latter
•
Water cooled machine guns would still overheat relatively
quickly (sometimes within two minutes), with the consequence
that large supplies of water would need to be on hand in the
heat of a battle - and, when these ran out, it was not unknown
for a machine gun crew to solve the problem by urinating into
the jacket.
•
Whether air or water cooled, machine guns still jammed
frequently, especially in hot conditions or when used by
inexperienced operators. Consequently machine guns would
often be grouped together to maintain a constant defensive
position.
Poison Gas
•
Considered uncivilized prior to World
War One, the development and use of
poison gas was necessitated by the
requirement of wartime armies to find
new ways of overcoming the stalemate of
unexpected trench warfare.
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First Use by the French
•
Although it is popularly believed that the
German army was the first to use gas it
was in fact initially deployed by the
French. In the first month of the war,
August 1914, they fired tear-gas grenades
(xylyl bromide) against the Germans.
Nevertheless the German army was the
first to give serious study to the
development of chemical weapons and
the first to use it on a large scale
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Country
Austria-Hungary
British Empire
France
Germany
Italy
Russia
USA
Others
Casualties
100,000
188,706
190,000
200,000
60,000
419,340
72,807
10,000
Deaths
3,000
8,109
8,000
9,000
4,627
56,000
1,462
1,000
Poison Gas
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The German army were the first to use chlorine gas
at the battle of Ypres in 1915. Chlorine gas causes a
burning sensation in the throat and chest pains.
Death is painful – you suffocate! The problem with
chlorine gas is that the weather must be right. If the
wind is in the wrong direction it could end up
killing your own troops rather than the enemy.
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In consequence experiments were undertaken to
deliver the gas payload in artillery shells. This
provided the additional benefits of increasing the
target range as well as the variety of gases released.
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Phosgene
Following on the heels of chlorine gas came the use
of phosgene. Phosgene as a weapon was more
potent than chlorine in that while the latter was
potentially deadly it caused the victim to violently
cough and choke.
Poison Gas
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Mustard Gas
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Mustard gas was the most deadly weapon used. It was fired
into the trenches in shells. It is colorless and takes 12 hours to
take effect. Effects include – blistering skin, vomiting, sore
eyes, internal and external bleeding. Death can take up to 5
weeks.
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Remaining consistently ahead in terms of gas warfare
development, Germany unveiled an enhanced form of gas
weaponry against the Russians at Riga in September 1917:
mustard gas (or Yperite) contained in artillery shells.
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Mustard gas, an almost odorless chemical, was distinguished
by the serious blisters it caused both internally and
externally, brought on several hours after exposure.
Protection against mustard gas proved more difficult than
against either chlorine or phosgene gas.
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The use of mustard gas - sometimes referred to as Yperite also proved to have mixed benefits. While inflicting serious
injury upon the enemy the chemical remained potent in soil
for weeks after release: making capture of infected trenches a
dangerous undertaking.
Poison Gas- Mustard Gas effects
Tanks
• Tanks were used for the first
time in the First World War at
the Battle of the Somme. They
were developed to cope with the
conditions on the Western Front.
The first tank was called ‘Little
Willie’ and needed a crew of 3.
Its maximum speed was 3mph
and it could not cross trenches
• The more modern tank was not
developed until just before the
end of the war. It could carry 10
men, had a revolving turret and
could reach 4 mph
Tanks
• By the time the war drew
to a close the British, the
first to use them, had
produced
some
2,636
tanks.
The
French
produced rather more,
3,870. The Germans, never
convinced of its merits, and
despite their record for
technological innovation,
produced just 20.
Flame-throwers
•
The basic idea of a flame-thrower is to spread fire
by launching burning fuel. The earliest flamethrowers date as far back as the 5th century B.C.
These took the form of lengthy tubes filled with
burning solids (such as coal or sulfur), and which
were used in the same way as blow-guns: by
blowing into one end of the tube the solid material
inside would be propelled towards the operator's
enemies.
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Quite aside from the worries of handling the
device - it was entirely feasible that the cylinder
carrying the fuel might unexpectedly explode they were marked men; the British and French
poured rifle-fire into the area of attack where
Flammenwerfers were used, and their operators
could expect no mercy should they be taken
prisoner. Their life expectancy was therefore
short.
During the war the Germans
launched in excess of 650
flame-thrower attacks; no
numbers exist for British or
French attacks.
Grenades
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The British bombing team usually consisted of
nine men at a time: an NCO, two throwers, two
carriers, two bayonet-men to defend the team and
two 'spare' men for use when casualties were
incurred.
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As an attack or raid reached an enemy trench the
grenadiers would be responsible for racing down
the trench and throwing grenades into each
dugout they passed: this invariably succeeded in
purging dugouts of their human occupants in an
attempt at surrender (often not accepted as they
were promptly shot or stabbed).
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Grenades - either hand or rifle driven - were
detonated in one of two ways. They were either
detonated on impact (percussion) or via a timed
fuse.
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Generally speaking, infantrymen preferred timed
fuses (of whatever amount of time) to percussion
devices, since there remained the constant risk of
accidentally jolting a grenade while in a trench
and setting off an explosion.
Mortars and Artillery
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Large field guns had a long range and could deliver
devastating blows to the enemy but needed up to 12
men to work them. They fired shells which exploded on
impact.
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mortar is essentially a short, stumpy tube designed to
fire a projectile at a steep angle (by definition higher
than 45 degrees) so that it falls straight down on the
enemy.
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The chief advantage of the mortar was that it could be
fired from the (relative) safety of the trench, avoiding
exposure of the mortar crews to the enemy.
Furthermore, it was notably lighter and more mobile
than other, larger artillery pieces. And, of course, the
very fact that the mortar bomb fell almost straight
down meant that it would (with luck) land smack in the
enemy trench.
•
Mortars were variously used to take out enemy
machine gun posts, suspected sniper posts or other
designated features. Larger mortars were occasionally
used to cut enemy barbed wire, generally in situations
were field artillery could not be used.
Trenches
•
The Allies used four "types" of trenches.
The first, the front-line trench (or firingand-attack trench), was located from 50
yards to 1 mile from the German's front
trench. Several hundred yards behind the
front-line trench was the support trench,
with men and supplies that could
immediately assist those on the front line.
The reserve trench was dug several
hundred yards further back and
contained men and supplies that were
available in emergencies should the first
trenches be overrun.
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Connecting these trenches were
communication trenches, which allowed
movement of messages, supplies, and men
among the trenches. Some underground
networks connected gun emplacements
and bunkers with the communication
trenches.
Trench Facts
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Each battalion had its own supply of
rum that it distributed to its
soldiers. Each division of 20,000 men
received 300 gallon.
Every soldier carried iron rations -emergency food that consisted of a
can of bully bee, biscuits and a tin of
tea and sugar.
•
A single pair of rats could produced
up to 880 offspring in a year.
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A total of 3,894 men in the British
Army were convicted of selfinflicted wounds. A firing-squad
offense -- none were executed, but
all served prison terms.
•
The British Army treated 20,000
soldiers for trench foot during
the winter of 1914-15.
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One-third of all casualties on the
Western Front may have been
killed or wounded in a trench.
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A lit candle was fairly effective in
removing lice, but the skill of
burning the lice without setting
yourself on fire was difficult to
learn.
Soldiers in the trenches
often depended on impure water
collected from shell-holes or
other cavities, causing dysentery
Trenches
•
Trenches were not built in straight lines. This was
so that if the enemy managed to get into the front
line trench they would not have a straight firing
line along the trench. Trenches were therefore
built with alternating straight and angled lines.
The traverse was the name given to the angled
parts of the trench.
•
The typical front-line trench was about 6 to 8 feet
deep and wide enough for two men to pass.
Dugouts in the sides of the trenches protected
men during enemy fire. Barbed wire helped
protect the firing trench from surprise attacks.
•
Between the enemy lines lay a stretch of ground
called "no man's land." Soldiers generally served
at the front line from a few days to a week and
then rotated to the rear for a rest
•
Every soldier carried iron rations -- emergency
food that consisted of a can of bully beef, biscuits
and a tin of tea and sugar.
Except during an attack, life fell into a dull routine. Some soldiers stood guard. Others repaired
the trenches, kept telephone lines in order, brought food from behind the battle lines, or did other
jobs. At night, patrols fixed the barbed wire and tried to get information about the enemy.
Trenches- Trench Foot
•
Much of the land where the trenches
were dug was either clay or sand. The
water could not pass through the clay
and because the sand was on top, the
trenches became waterlogged when it
rained. The trenches were hard to dig
and kept on collapsing in the
waterlogged sand. As well as trenches the
shells from the guns and bombs made big
craters in the ground. The rain filled up
the craters and then poured into the
trenches
•
Soldiers who spent prolonged periods of
time standing in waterlogged trenches
were liable to suffer from frostbite and/or
trench foot. To prevent trench foot,
soldiers were instructed to change their
socks frequently, wear waterproof
footwear and to cover their feet with
whale oil.
Trenches- Rats, Lice and Trench Fever
•
Many men killed in the trenches were buried almost where they fell. If a trench
subsided, or new trenches or dugouts were needed, large numbers of decomposing
bodies would be found just below the surface. These corpses, as well as the food
scraps that littered the trenches, attracted rats. One pair of rats can produce 880
offspring in a year and so the trenches were soon swarming with them.
•
Men in the trenches suffered from lice. Various methods were used to remove the
lice. A lighted candle was fairly effective but the skill of burning the lice without
burning your clothes was only learnt with practice. Where possible the army
arranged for the men to have baths in huge vats of hot water while their clothes
were being put through delousing machines. Unfortunately, this rarely worked. A
fair proportion of the eggs remained in the clothes and within two or three hours of
the clothes being put on again a man's body heat had hatched them out.
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As well as causing frenzied scratching, lice also carried disease. This was known as
pyrexia or trench fever. The first symptoms were shooting pains in the shins and
was followed by a very high fever. Although the disease did not kill, it did stop
soldiers from fighting and accounted for about 15% of all cases of sickness in the
British Army.
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Soldiers in the trenches often depended on impure water collected from shell-holes
or other cavities, causing dysentery.
Trenches- Self Inflicted wounds + Shell Shock
•
Faced with the prospect of being killed or permanently
disabled, soldiers sometimes hoped that they would
receive what was known as a blighty wound, and be sent
back home. There were some cases where soldiers shot
themselves in an attempt to end their time on the
frontline. Self-inflicted wounds (SIW) was a capital
offence and if discovered, a man found guilty of this
faced execution by firing-squad. A total of 3,894 men in
the British Army were convicted of SIW. None of these
men were executed but they all served periods in prison.
•
By 1914 British doctors working in military hospitals
noticed patients suffering from "shell shock". Early
symptoms included tiredness, irritability, giddiness, lack
of concentration and headaches. Eventually the men
suffered mental breakdowns making it impossible for
them to remain in the front-line. Some came to the
conclusion that the soldiers condition was caused by the
enemy's heavy artillery. These doctors argued that a
bursting shell creates a vacuum, and when the air rushes
into this vacuum it disturbs the cerebra-spinal fluid and
this can upset the working of the brain.
Blimps
• The Zeppelin, also
known as blimp was an
airship that was used
during the early part of
the war in bombing raids
by the Germans. They
carried machine guns
and bombs. However,
they were abandoned
because they were easy
to shoot out of the sky.
Airplanes
•
Planes were also used for the first
time. At first they were used to
deliver bombs and for spying work
but became fighter aircraft armed
with machine guns, bombs and some
times cannons. Fights between two
planes in the sky became known as
‘dogfights’
•
Light machine guns were adopted
too for incorporation into aircraft
from 1915 onwards, for example the
Vickers, particularly with the
German adoption of interrupter
equipment, which enabled the pilot
to fire the gun through the aircraft's
propeller blades.
Submarines - U-Boats
•
Torpedoes were used by submarines.
The Germans used torpedoes to blow
up ships carrying supplies from
America to Britain.
•
In February 1915 the German
government announced its solution to
the problem -- unrestricted submarine
warfare. The Germans realized they
didn't have to capture a merchant ship,
just sink it - crew and all. They
declared a war zone around the British
Isles within which they would sink any
allied merchant vessel on sight.
•
The Germans torpedoed the passenger
liner Lusitania on May 1st 1915 which
sank with a loss of 1,195 lives.
Americans were outraged and joined
the war in 1917 on the side of the allies.
World War I Disabilities
• Over 1.65 million men in the
British Army were wounded
during the First World War.
Of these, around 240,000
British soldiers suffered
total or partial leg or arm
amputations as a result of
war wounds. Most of these
men were fitted with
artificial limbs.