Notes 4: Weapons and Technology

Developments of World War One

World Wars - WWIMs. Hamer

February 14, 2011

Beginning of Modern Warfare

• While some weapons, such as the submarine and machine gun, had seen limited use before World War I, this war marked the change to modern warfare and weapons.

• Switch from offensive weapons and strategy to defensive

• War was spent figuring out how to best use weapons

War in the Trenches

Bolt Action Rifle• Previous improvements: “rifling” –>

grooves in the gun to make the bullet spin upon exit; faster, further, more accurate

• New improvements: bolt action –> load a clip of multiple cartridges to fire more rapidly

• Best: British Lee-Enfield (SMLE) – 10 cartridge clip = 15 rounds a minute; short enough to handle from the back of a horse

Light Artillery

• Previous improvements: Breech loaded; gunpowder already in shell

• New Improvements: Recoil was a huge problem, the solution was to set the gun on a cradle

• Best: French “75” –> 75 mm gun that could be reloaded rapidly and was therefore quite lethal

The 75mm Light Artillery Gun

Heavy Artillery

• Harder to move than light, but could fire much further

• Allies relied on light while Germans had heavy

Machine Gun• Previous Issues: First used in US Civil War, hand

cranked, often overheated, cumbersome and heavy

• Solution: Maxim Machine Gun (British version was called Vickers)– could fire 600 shots per minute– water jacket kept it cool– recoil of gun dropped the spent shell and loaded the

next

• Use in WWI: Initially Europeans thought this a dishonorable weapon for war and just used against colonial populations. Didn’t know how to use it offensively. Became great defensive weapon

Machine GunsOriginal Maxim Design

1889British Vickers Gun in

WWI

Grenades• Previous issues:

– unreliable, fuses not of same length, often wouldn’t detonate or would detonate on you

– too cumbersome to throw easily– production was so slow that troops crafted

their own

• Improvements: – more reliable and less likely to kill you– easier to throw (grooves to grip and smaller)– rapid production by 1916– some were rifle launched and could travel 600

feet

Progression of Grenades in WWI

Jam Tin Bomb Mills Bomb

Poison Gas• Germans first used chlorine gas at

Ypres on April 22, 1915• Released 168 tons• 15,000 Allied troops dead within

minutes• Allies called this diabolical and

monstrous, yet worked to produce their own

Chlorine Gas• Only poisonous gas at first• Yellow in color; heavier than air and

would sink into trenches• Seared windpipe and lungs, caused

choking and coughing, skin turned shiny gray-black– If enough gas was inhaled, lungs

secreted a thick yellowish goo that was impossible to cough up

• Highly fatal

Protection against Gas• At first used cloth or sock soaked in urine

over the mouth and nose – worked if gas did not get around it– Then maxipads dipped in bicarbonate of soda were

manufactured by the army

• Eventually an actual gas mask that covered the eyes and had a filter box connected to the mask by a tube because earlier models did not work against phosgene. – First ones didn’t fit well so a nose clip closed off

nostrils and your mouth clamped on the tube.– Ones for horses did not cover eyes and were loose

fitting, so only worked sometimes

WWI Gas Masks

Phosgene Gas

• Developed by Allies• 18 times more deadly than chlorine• Invisible (as opposed to the clouds

of yellow for chlorine gas)• Smelled good like fresh cut grass• Trauma did not come until a few

hours after exposure so those hit with it did not realize what was happening at first

Mustard Gas• Effects not detected until a

few hours after exposure• Caused blisters on the skin,

eyes, throat, and lungs• Gas masks prevented internal

injuries, but the gas could penetrate clothes and cause external burns

• Only needed a little amount so it could be added to shells

• Contaminated soil stayed that way for weeks

Trickier Gas and Effects

• Combination of phosgene and chloropicrin– Chloropicrin got through the gas masks and

caused a soldier to throw up - they would remove their mask to do this and inhale the phosgene

• By the end of the war, more than 50 different chemicals were being used, 100,000 tons used in the 4 years of the war

• Not as effective as hoped because it was only a surprise at Ypres and the Germans did not use their advantage there

Poison Gas Casualties of WWI

Nation Gas casualties (estimated)Fatal Non-fatal

Russia 50,000 400,000Germany 10,000 190,000France 8,000 182,000Britain 8,000 181,000Austria-Hungary 3,000 97,000USA 1,500 71,500Italy 4,500 55,000Total 85,000 (3% of

combat deaths)1,176,500

The Tank• First used Autumn 1916 by the Allies• Designed to cross No Man’s Land and

trenches• British designed the Mark I

– Male and Female designs (Big Willie and Mother)• Male had heavy artillery• Female had machine guns

• Called tank because the original name, “landship” was easy to figure out

• Problems: crew suffered from fumes and the intense volume; treads were made thicker and deeper because they had to carry wood to get out of mud

The Tank• Freaked out the

Germans at the Somme on September 15, 1916– Germans woke up and

saw giant metal beasts rolling towards them and screamed “The devil is coming!”

• November 1917 Battle of Cambrai, Allies gained 7 miles on Germans in just hours with 400 tanks

Lack of Weapons

• Both sides expected war to end quickly and did not have enough weapons to sustain a war in the beginning, especially ammunition

• Russia was especially bad:– Could turn out 50,000 rifles/month, but

had 1.5 million troops– In some battles, 1/3 of the men had no

rifles and had to wait for their comrades to be shot down to take their guns

The Air War

Airplanes• Initial problems:

– Many models (1 set of wings or 2, engine in the front or rear)

– Flimsy (plywood and cloth held together with bailing wire)

– No brakes and couldn’t go above 50mph– Often victims of friendly fire

• Benefits: more maneuverable than balloons and could cover more ground – originally used for reconnaissance

• Improvements: painting of country flags prevented a lot of friendly fire

Airplanes in WWI

Monoplane Biplane

Dogfights• Initial plane to plane weapons were throwing

knives, revolvers, and bricks!• Machine guns were soon used, but were

difficult to load and use (Vickers guns were easier to load)

• Allied pilot, Garros, put deflectors on his propellers to have a front mounted machine gun

• Germans found out, but improved it with the Fokker designed interrupter gear– Fokker’s plane could also fly 80 mph – first real

fighter plane

Fighter Planes

The Red Baron’s Fokker Tri Plane

•Dogfight Panorama

Aces

• Average age : 20• Were trained to fly since few had even

been in a plane before• 60% of Allied air deaths occurred during

training• After training life expectancy was 3-5

weeks• Were seen as modern knights and heroes

– More eccentric then other soldiers

The Flying Aces of World War I

Eddie Rickenbacher, US

FrancescoBarraco, It.

Rene PaukFonck, Fr.

Manfred vonRichtoffen, Ger.

[The “RedBaron”]

Willy Coppens deHolthust, Belg.

Eddie “Mick”Mannoch, Br.

Zeppelins

• Initially used by the Germans – had 26 at start of war

• 500 feet long, aluminum frame, propellers and crew of 20 were supported by the gondola that suspended beneath

• Dropped bombs on London at night• First constant attack of civilians in

European warfare• Bomber planes were developed by Allies

– Faster planes that could carry a ton of bombs and fly farther than fighters

Anti-Zeppelin Measures• Zeppelins could fly

much higher (6,000 feet with load compared to 1500 feet for planes)

• Anti-aircraft 13 pound gun (later 18 pound) + searchlights

• Faster aircraft – British Martinsyde-Scout + incendiary weapons like bullets with phosphorous

• Air horns to warn civilians

Airplanes vs. Balloons

• Balloons were initially better for reconnaissance than airplanes because you could get a longer and more steady look

• Improvements to the aerial camera allowed it to be mounted to the plane and automatically take a picture every few seconds

War at Sea

Ships• Ironsides after US Civil War• British Dreadnought built in 1906 – faster,

more and bigger guns, oil instead of coal– Both England and Germany had these by the

start of the war– Were so expensive that there weren’t really

any battles between these except

• Battle of Jutland May 31, 1916 – Germans sunk 3 British Dreadnoughts, 2 through a design flaw that left the shell magazine exposed and would set the ship on fire

From Top Left, clockwise:British Grand Fleet sailing in 1914; HMS Indefatigable sinking; Battle of Jutland Maps

HMS Dreadnought 1906

Battle of Jutland May 31 – June 1

1916• Only major naval battle

Allied Losses Central Losses

6,094 killed 2,551 killed

510 wounded 507 wounded

177 captured 1 pre-dreadnought

3 battlecruisers 1 battlecruiser

3 armoured cruisers 4 light cruisers

8 destroyers 5 Destroyers

(113,300 tons sunk) (62,300 tons sunk)

Submarine / U-Boat• Initial models were seen in both the

American Revolution and Civil War• Pre WWI Models were larger – about 500

tons and could travel on the surface at the same speed as merchant ships

• Had controlled ballast and most could stay underwater for up to 24 hours as well as fire underwater missiles (torpedoes)

• Germans improved the U-Boat with more stability on the surface

U-Boat

Use of Submarines

• British thought they would just be defensive

• Germans immediately began attacking British ships

• Unrestricted submarine warfare – Germans began attacking merchant ships headed to England

Anti-Submarine Measures

• Seagulls and seals did not work…• Hydrophone could hear it

– Groups of three listening ships could determine direction and speed

• Depth charge– Did not have to directly hit a sub – shock waves were

enough to spring leaks and break fuel lines

• Q-Ship– Military ship pretending to be a merchant ship would fire

on a U-Boat when they surfaced

• Dazzle Camouflage– Made it hard to determine size, direction, and speed of

ship

• American made mines with 35’ long “antennae”– Mined the German entrance to the North Sea in 1917

Depth Charge Exploding

Hydrophone

Dazzle Camouflage

WWI Movie Clip

• Original US footage – weaponry

• Begin 1:43