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World War I

World War I. Trench Warfare & Weapons. "The Great War was without precedent ... never had so many nations taken up arms at a single time. Never had the battlefield been so vast… never had the fighting been so gruesome...“ (PBS – The Great War ). A New Kind of Warfare.

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World War I

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  1. World War I Trench Warfare & Weapons "The Great War was without precedent ... never had so many nations taken up arms at a single time. Never had the battlefield been so vast… never had the fighting been so gruesome...“ (PBS – The Great War)

  2. A New Kind of Warfare • Germans were 1st to dig trenches, but the Allies soon followed • By the war’s end in 1918, each side dug over 12,000 miles of trenches

  3. Types of Trenches: Allied Powers • Front-line trenches • Support trenches • Reserve trenches • Communication trenches

  4. No Man’s Land = Area between enemy trenches

  5. Going “Over the Top”

  6. Daily Life in the Trenches • 1 soldier for every 4” of trench • Daily losses of 7,000 men (killed, disabled, wounded)

  7. Daily Routine • Attacks took place just before dawn or at dawn • At sundown, soldiers left trench to conduct raids, investigate the terrain, eavesdrop on enemy troops, etc.

  8. Life in the Trenches • Rations of meat (canned beef), bread or biscuits, pea soup w/lumps of horsemeat • “Iron Rations” – emergency supply used only w/permission from officer • Contaminated H20 = dysentery Lunch in the trenches at Fort Oglethorpe

  9. Life in the Trenches • Waterlogged trenches  “duck-boards” • Infestations of rats, lice, frogs • Trench fever, trench foot

  10. The Trenches: Symbol of the StalemateSoldiers dug in on the Western Front, used dark humor to lighten the strain of living in a trench. I've a Little Wet Home in a TrenchI've a little wet home in a trenchWhere the rainstorms continually drench,There's a dead cow close byWith her feet in towards the skyAnd she gives off a terrible stench.Underneath, in the place of a floor,There's a mass of wet mud and some straw,But with shells dropping there,There's no place to compare,With my little wet home in the trench. Folklore song which originated from life in the trenches. Sung to the tune of My Little Grey Home in the West.

  11. War of Attrition • Wear down the enemy (through loss of troops or supplies) • Not one decisive battle to end war

  12. Trenches Today

  13. Weapons of WWI German egg grenade • Bayonets, Pistols, Grenades, Machine guns

  14. Weapons of WWI • Rifles • Tanks

  15. Trench Mortar Flamethrowers

  16. Poison Gas • French were 1st to use poisonous gas as weapon (tear-gas grenades) • Germans used chemical irritant (chlorine gas cylinders) – slow death by asphyxiation • Mornings were best for poison gas attacks  cold air, less wind British soldiers - victims of a poison gas attack A French soldier & early gas mask

  17. Germans were first to use mustard gas in 1917 – more lethal, odorless

  18. U-Boats (submarines)

  19. The Airplane “Squadron Over the Brenta”Max Edler von Poosch, 1917

  20. A Henri Farmen observation planesimilar to that flown by Lt. ReadHe called his "Henri" A German Taub observation plane

  21. The Zeppelin

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