trench warfare in the first world war
DESCRIPTION
Felix Schaber. Trench warfare in the first world war. Outline. The beginning of Trench Warfare Weapons of Trench Warfare Life in the Trenches Strategies to break through the enemy lines and defend their own Facts and figures. The beginning of Trench Warfare. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
TRENCH WARFARE IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR
Felix Schaber
Outline The beginning of Trench Warfare Weapons of Trench Warfare Life in the Trenches Strategies to break through the enemy
lines and defend their own Facts and figures
The beginning of Trench Warfare 3rd August, 1914, German troops crossed the Belgian border in the narrow gap
between Holland and France. Germans are quickly victorious over the Belgians The French an British are defeated at Sambre (22nd August) and Mons (23rd
August). The German army marches for Paris but is unable to break through due to a
French counterattack (Battle of the Marne 4th to 10th September) The German commander, General Erich von Falkenhayn, decided that his troops
must hold onto those parts of France and Belgium that Germany still occupied. Falkenhayn ordered his men to dig trenches that would provide them with
protection from the advancing French and British troops. The Allies soon realized that they could not break through this line and they also
began to dig trenches. After a few months these trenches had spread from the North Sea to the Swiss
Frontier. For the next three years neither side advanced more than a few miles along this
line that became known as the Western Front.
Weapons of Trench Warfare
Infantry At the beginning improvised weapons Rifle Bayonet Shotgun Hand grenades Flamethrowers
Machine guns British:
Vickers machine guns Later changed to Lewis Gun
German: Maschinengewehr 08
Mostly used to defend Heavy machine guns
Tanks British innovation First use: Battle of Somme At first it was very ineffective Later became essential
Artillery Essential for any attack Shaped the landscape at the Western
Front Fragmentation, highly explosive and gas
shells German 420 mm howitzer:
Weight: 20 tonsCould fire a one-ton shell over 10 km
Gas Mustard gas Chlorine Phosgene
85% of the 100,000 deaths caused by chemical weapons during World War I
Gas masks:Urinating over a handkerchiefLater developed
Not very effective due to countermeasures
Life in the Trenches
Water in the Trenches Germans had the higher and therefore
better positions Water would be found 2-3 feet below
surface Rain would collect in the trenches Caused trench foot
Trench Foot Infection of the feet Caused by:
ColdWetUnsanitary conditions
Sometimes feet had to be amputated
Food Caned food Nothing fresh Rats ate some Rations got lower and lower over the
course of the war
Self Inflicted Wounds Hoped to be released home Mostly shot themselves in the arm or
foot Could be sentenced with execution
Strategies to break through the enemy lines and defend their own
Barb Wire In front of the trenches in the No-Mans-
Land Worsened with the artillery fire Redone at night
Cavalry High place value at the beginning Equipped with:
SwordRifleLance
Massacred by machine gun fire
Miners Specialist Miners-Not soldiers! Objective:
Blow up the trenches from belowThen start a quick attack
Other side tried to hear them Could take a year to dig
Facts and Figures
Battle Year Allies German
1st Marne 263,000 220,000
1st Ypres 1914 126,921 - 161,921 134,315
Verdun 1916 400,000 - 542,000 355,000 - 434,000
Somme 1916 623,907 465,000 - 595,294
2nd Aisne 1917 118,000 40,000
3rd Ypres 1917 200,000 - 448,000 260,000 - 400,000
Spring Offensive 1918 851,374 688,341
Hundred Days Offensive 1918 1,069,636 785,733
Total Casualties from Major Western Front Battles
1914-1918 3,619,838 - 4,077,838 2,948,389 - 3,297,683
1914
Over 450,000 civilian deaths
Bibliography Information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poison_gas_in_World_War_I http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trench_warfare http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWtrench.htm
Pictures: http://mgb-home.de/Zar-Beginn-Erster-Weltkrieg.jpg http://serbien.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/04.jpg?w=450 http://de.academic.ru/pictures/dewiki/66/British_tank_crossing_a_trench.jpg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/Passchendaele_aerial_view.jpg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/Various_gas_masks_WWI.jpg http://www.worldwar1.com/foto/fww2352.jpg http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWfoot.jpg http://military.brucemuseum.ca/d/14299-1/A95-01%2307+-+No+Man_s+Land.jpg http://einestages.spiegel.de/hund-images/2008/04/22/51/00ec5247681886e9cc9c295488a2e97d
_image_document_large_featured_borderless.jpg