Trench Warfare + Weapons Flashcards
Trenches
Long, narrow cut of ground 2 metres deep in a zig-zag pattern
Trench Warfare
Two opposing sides of trenches with no-man’s land in between. Often, one side would pummel artillery on the other side and then rush them to try and gain land.
‘Going over the Top’
Soldiers going out of their trench and into no-man’s land to try and gain land (to advance). Soldiers often died due to being out in the open and vulnerable to attack.
Ross Rifle
- Highly accurate, highly unreliable (due to getting jammed in dirt. ex. trenches)
- Discontinued general use in 1916, but snipers continued to use it
Bayonets
- Knife attached to end of rifle
- Used for close combat
Machine Guns
- Up to 600 rounds per min
- Takes 4-6 people to use it
Artillery
- Bombardment before attacks to soften defense
- Shells create shrapnel
Creeping/Rolling Barrage
- Moving bombardment followed by soldiers advancing/attacking
Poison gas (three types).
- Comes from cylinders or special artillery shells
Chlorine gas:
- Green smoke, pepper/pineapple smell
- Reacts with water to form acid in lungs
- Stopped by wet rag
Phosgene gas:
- Colourless, odourless
- Liquifies internal organs
Mustard gas
- Yellow fog
- Skin blistering, internal bleeding, eye burning
- Slow/painful death
- Can’t be stopped by gas masks
Tanks
- Originally called ‘landships’
- Used to plow through barbed wire/obstacles, and as spearhead
- Slow and unreliable
War at Air vs. Sea
Air:
- Outside WW1, Canada had no planes/pilots, so people had to go to Britain to train
- Lifespan of pilot was 3 weeks due to no parachute and dogfights (being shot down by another plane)
Sea:
- Outside WW1, at beginning only 2 ships, at end 100.
- Main style of boat = U-boat
- Canada shipped food/weapons to Triple Entente
Ex. German navy = submarines, British navy = convoys (grouped ships)
