Trench Warfare Flashcards
Why did the war last much longer than had been anticipated?
Armies on Western front became static (stalemate) due to the use of new techniques and tech
Why did trench warfare happen?
Improved artillery and machine guns meant armies were confined to trenches (defence was better than offence)
What was the German plan of attack called, what did it aim to do and how?
- Schlieffen Plan
- Defeat France first in 6 weeks
- By tying them down along Alsace-Lorraine border while main German force attacked in West
Why did the Schlieffen Plan fail? (2)
- Based on the assumption that Russia would take a long time to mobilise
- However, Russia attacked within 3 wks
Initially, what role did Britain take and where were their forces positioned?
- Defensive
- Mons in Belgium
What was an issue with planned movement in the Schlieffen Plan? (2)
- Plan required German 1st Army to cover at least 15 miles/day for first 3 weeks
- Too fast
What was one consequence of the rapid movement of the Schlieffen Plan?
- Troops pushed too far ahead of railway-supply system
- Men and animals went hungry
What other issues were there with the advance?
- Both sides had poor communication and lack of intelligence
- New technology was not properly understood by military
- Hardly any aerial reconnaissance
By 29 August, how many casualties had the French lost and why?
Advanced into full force of modern firepower in Ardennes forest region
When did trench warfare officially begin and how?
- Both armies attempted to outflank each other in a series of battles known as ‘the race to the sea’
- Germans tried to push British out of Belgian town of Ypres
- Ended in stalemate
As winter closed in 1914, what did both sides do?
- Dug in defensively
- Trench lines stretched from North Sea to French/Switzerland border
What infrastructure did the trenches have? (3)
- Field kitchens
- Casualty clearing stations (medical post behind frontline for emergency treatment)
- Telegraph lines
Explain the layout of trench systems: (5)
- Fire trenches (to shoot from) ran in one direction, communication ones crossed across
- Forward trench was the front line attack point
- Then support trench, then reserve trench (men rotated between 3 trenches)
- Miles of barbed wire lay in front of it
- Between two sides is open ground (No Man’s Land)
What transport methods were used to deliver supplies to the trenches?
- Trenches, mules and horses rather than motor vehicles
What techniques was used to prevent trench foot? (2)
- Wooden duckboards as temporary roads to walk on
- Soldiers ordered to change socks 3x a day
Because of trench warfare, how long did battles last and how does this compare to earlier wars?
Weeks even months compared to a few days of earlier wars
What kind of life did the soldiers live in the trenches?
- Lived part-nocturnal life as they were being watched by aircraft
- Often hungry, exhausted, bored and dirty
Give one example to show the poor sanitary conditions in the trenches:
Rats everywhere
How were fighting tactics adjusted to ensure that the soldiers were not shot at when emerging from the trenches?
- Stood on firestep to rest rifle on edge to shoot
- Used periscope
In order to stop troops becoming passive, what initiative was launched?
Raiding party would sneak into enemy trenches to hurl grenades/take prisoners
Who were sappers?
Engineers who dug tunnels to collapse enemy trenches
What communication methods were there in the trenches? (4)
- Shouting, horns etc
- Feedback from aerial reconnaissance
- Runners (who risked being shot at)
- Buried telephone lines
Give two necessary adaptations of trench warfare:
- Issued metal helmets to soldiers
- All soldiers now wore khaki/grey
Why was the technique of cavalry rushing between gaps in enemy line created by artillery and infantry now void?
- Horses were large targets for machine guns
- Barbed wire and trenches meant no cavalry advances
What new technique was adopted since cavalry, infantry and artillery could not be used in the same way?
Dismounting cavalry to fight infantry
What was the most common firearm used by infantry and give features:
- 15 rounds/min
- Could hit 800 yds
- Smokeless powder
- Shot from trenches
By 1916, the ‘fire and move’ tactic was used b the French. What was this?
1 grp of soldiers would rush forward under covering fire by supporting grps (required high levels of training)
What tactic did the British prefer and what was this ?
- ‘Wave and flow’
1. Artillery bombardment intending to blast holes in barbed wire
2. Hundreds of men advanced in 4 lines (each wave was made of many companies and each company had 500 men)
3. Once German trenches are reached, first wave holds them until next wave arrives
4. Second wave pushes through to capture next trench, hence allowing a steady attack in waves
Features of machine gun:
- Required less skill (60 rounds/min)
- Greater killing power
- Sited in pairs/ batteries of 4-8
- Hidden in dugouts/pillboxes
What are the 2 types of machine guns and how many gunners were required to use each?
- British Lewis gun –> Only carried out by 1 man
- Vickers gun –> 3 or more gunners
How did the ratio of rifles to machine guns change from 1914 to 1917?
- Initially, 12:1 rifles to machine guns
- Then became 2:1
What weaponry was used for hand-to-hand combat?
- Grenades eg British Mills bomb
- Bayonet
- Mortars eg Stoke trench mortar 25 bombs/min
What was artillery intended to do?
- Destroy trenches
- Flatten barbed wire
- Demoralise enemy troops
Give 2 examples of artillery guns:
- Heavy gun (Howitzer)
- Quick-firing field guns (British 18 pounder)
How had gun accuracy improved?
- Flash-spotting (judging distance from flash of exploding shell)
- Aerial reconnaissance
Creeping barrage:
Artillery tactic where artillery would move behind the infantry whilst firing continuously
What problems did the creeping barrage bring about?
- If artillery fell short, it risked hitting its own troops
- If it fell too far ahead, barrage did little to support advance
Prior to 1914, what were the 2 types of artillery shells and what are they?
- Time-fused shell = Exploded in air, spraying shrapnel (not useful for barbed wire)
- High explosive shell = Meant to penetrate defences before exploding (still useless for wire)
Give one example of a battle where the creeping barrage failed to work:
- 1916 –> Battle of Somme
- British encountered German barbed wire defences too deep to be destroyed, despite firing 1.5 mil shells in 1st week of July
- Seemed that German positions were obliterated when, in reality, their deep dugouts survived and they could use British shell holes as extra cover
What artillery shell was created, what was it and how was it effective?
- British fuse 106
- Sensitive percussion device causing shells to explode sideways rather than burying themselves in mud
- Could create smokescreen (clouds of dense smoke to hide from enemy)
When was Fuse 106 widely used and in which battle was it very effective?
Battle of Arras, as there started to be a shell shortage
When was chemical weaponry first used on the front, by who, how much did they use and of what?
- April 1915
- Germans
- 6000 canisters of chlorine gas
What other gases were used, besides chlorine and how damaging are they?
- Phosgene –> 6x more toxic than chlorine
- Mustard –> Causes lung damage and skin cancer
When was phosgene and mustard gas used for the first time?
- Dec 1915 –> phosgene
- Jul 1917 –> mustard
Initially what had gas masks been made from and how did this change?
- Primitive fabric helmets
- Respirator masks w/ goggles and canister filter
In comparison to other tactics, how many deaths did gas cause?
Relatively few deaths
Specifically what did tanks improve on the battlefield?
Fighting became more mobile; they were able to advance further
On the whole, were people supportive/unsupportive of war?
Supportive
Give examples of people who opposed war:
- Quakers, who were pacifists
- Conscientious objectors (otherwise known as cowards), who refused to take part due to moral, religious or political reasons
Who were conscientious objectors assessed by and what work did they do instead (except one type of CO, which is….)?
- Tribunals
- Non-combatant work eg medical service
- Absolutists, who refused to take part in any war work, were sent to jail
Did the British gov control direct war reporting?
- Yes
- Used censors at the frontline and agreed with newspapers
In order to relieve annoyance about the restraints on reporting, what did the War Office begin doing, but why did it fail?
- Issuing its own reports headlined ‘Eyewitness’, written by Colonel Swinton
- Too technical for most readers
What was the name of the office dealing with propaganda that was set up in 1914?
War Propaganda Bureau
Give features of British propaganda:
- Patriotic
- Focus on war aims
- Social reforms
- Relatively truthful
Which 2 newspapers were strongly anti-German?
- The Times
- The Daily Mail
Against the wishes of most generals, what action had to be taken and why?
- Gov allowed war correspondents to frontline
- Due to criticism of one-sided accounts from War Office
What did correspondents wear, whose control were they under and what were they allowed to tour?
- Green armband
- Army press officers
- Rear of the frontline only
What was the process of writing a report in a newspaper? (3)
- Despatches went to censors, who would delete sensitive material
- By telephone to War Office
- Passed onto newspapers
Press restrictions were eventually eased in 1915. Why?
- Times military correspondent reported on ‘shells scandal’ (shortage), which led to foreign correspondents wanting access to front line
- Former US president said that not allowing them this access was harming their standing in US
How did the gov’s approach to the press change in 1917 and give one example of this:
- Decided to keep them on their side rather tahn restraining it
- Times stopped giving casualty lists, as they were demoralising
How was the War Propaganda Bureau divided to manage publicity?
- Cinema Division
- Political Intelligence Division
- News Division
Give examples of 2 portable cameras used at the time:
- Box Brownie
- Vest Pocket Kodak
When was taking pictures, sending pictures and letters to the newspapers banned?
By March 1915
Were magazine illustrations realistic?
No, they often avoided the stark realities of the trenches
Who was the first British official war photographer, when did this happen and how many were there by the end of the war ?
- 1916 –> Ernest Brooks
- 16 cameramen
Who else did BEF take to the frontline and what did they try doing, with not much success?
- Official war artists
- Control what artists painted (unsuccessful so much more realistic)
What was commissioned in 1915 by the head of War Propaganda Bureau (Masterman)?
Official war history in the form of a monthly magazine written by John Buchan
What is the name of the newspaper produced by soldiers on the frontline and what was it like?
- Wipers Times
- Cheery, satirical, dark humour
Give 2 examples of notable war poets:
- Wilfred Owen
- Rupert Brooke
Give one example of a reflective memoir written in 1930
Siegfried Sassoon’s Memoirs of an Infantry Officer
Who were the 2 leaders of the BEF throughout WW1 and why did they change?
- Sir John French until his resignation in Sep 1915 following Battle of Loos, where reserves were not committed promptly so offensive failed
- Sir Douglas Haig
Give characteristics of Haig:
- Unimaginative
- Insensitive –> orders more attacks despite increasing casualties
- Responsive to new ideas
What was Sir John French criticised for?
Indecision and argumentativeness w/ Haig
Initially what type of army was the British Army, how did this change and when?
- Volunteer army
- 1916 –> Conscription introduced
How did the number of infantry divisions change between 1914 and 1916?
Increased from 4 to 56
Why did the joint British- French offensive at Somme begin?
To relieve pressure at Verdun, where more than 300,000 were killed/wounded
When was the Battle of Somme?
1916
Give 3 reasons why British attack failed at the Somme:
- Germans were too well entrenched, which British were unaware of
- British had not enough big guns and about 1/3 of shells did not explode
- German troops survived the creeping barrage
What 4 tactics were used at the Somme?
- ‘Fire and move’ doctrine
- First sight of tanks
- Better use of aircraft
- Creeping barrage
In total how many British casualties were lost?
420,000
When did USA enter the war and at this point, who had superiority over Germany in arms supply?
- 1917
- Britain
What was the aim of the Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendale)
To drive Germans out of Belgium
How did the battle begin and why did the offensive stall?
- Tunnel mines used to blow up German defences
- Heavy rains turned ground into deep mud and German artillery was better than expected
Who was General Gough, whose army got bogged down in mud, replaced by and what was his approach?
- Plumer
- ‘Bite and hold’ technique –> Tactic of infantry to advance only as far as artillery fire could reach, holding what was gained
What was the key issue with Haig’s approach to war?
He stuck by continuous offensive no matter what
How many tanks were used in Cambrai in Nov 1917 to travel how far and under what condition are tanks of value?
- 380 for 5 miles (significant advance)
- Used in large numbers
What were 2 disadvantages and advantages of Mark V tank?
+ Possible breakthrough for stalemate as you can advance far
+ Psychological impact on German morale
- Walking pace
- Easy targets for German guns
What was the opening battle of the Hundred Days’ Offensive and when was it?
- Battle of Amiens
- Aug to Nov 1918
At the Battle of Amiens in 1918, how many tanks did Haig deploy in secret and how did he hide them from the enemy?
- 500
- Used aircraft to drown out tank engines
During the Hundred Days’ Offensive, whose army was more well equipped and give 3 examples to show this:
- British army
- RFC w/ FRA and US planes outnumbered Germans
- 6500 new guns and howitzers in 1917
- Superior intelligence through aerial reconnaissance and sound-ranging
Sound-ranging:
Using microphones to detect ripples in air caused by gunfire
What percentage of German guns were identified and hit by artillery?
95%
Who won the Hundred Days’ Offensive?
Britain
