Trenches and Weapons Flashcards
What are infantry?
Soldiers marching or fighting on foot; foot soldiers collectively
What was a parados?
A mound of earth or sandbags that raised the height of the back of the trench which was designed to protect soldiers from shell explosions behind the trench
What were lined along the floors in wet areas of trenches?
Duckboards
What were Duckboards?
Boards consisting of a number of wooden slats joined together, placed so as to form a path over muddy ground or in a trench
What is a parapet?
Similar to a parados but on the front side of a trench. It was meant to be bulletproof and was lined with sandbags, wooden planks or netting
Why were trenches designed in traverses?
So that it would be harder to hit soldiers, stopping enemy infantry from firing along the trenches
What were the main weapons used in WW1?
Rifles, Artillery, Shrapnel and Machine Guns
What were the main parts of a trench system?
- The front line (contains the firing trench and the supervision trench) - Communication trenches - Support trenches - Reserve trenches - Saps
What was the purpose of the fire and supervision trench?
The fire trench faced the enemy allowing the soldiers to peer over their side into no mans land
The supervision trench was used to move along the line behind the fire trench
What were “Saps”?
Small trenches that pushed out into no man’s land
What were support trenches?
Trenches around 60-90 metres from the front trench to protect it from shell bombardment, primarily made for reinforcements, and connected to the front trench via communication trenches so soldiers could retreat to it
What were communication trenches?
Trenches that connected the trench lines to each other and to local roads and army depots behind the lines
How many lines were there in an ideal trench system?
3
What were reserve trenches?
Trenches around 350-550 metres behind the front line that were made of dugouts or lines of trenches. Reinforcements waited here so they could counter enemy attacks
What were dugouts?
Shelters that protected 4 to 6 soldiers
What Artillery weapon was developed by the British which could send 900kg shells over 12 miles?
The Howitzer
What was the Howitzer?
An artillery weapon developed by the British which could send 900kg shells over 12 miles
After what year did all rifles have automatic rapid fire?
1889
Bullets also started to have a more pointed shape to drive deeper into the skin
Purpose of FANY
what does it stand for
- Moved injured soldiers through the “evacuation chain”
- Ran ambulance services called CONVOYS which transported soldiers back to boats or
trains where the seriously ill could get away - women were trained in first aid, veterinary skills, signalling and driving
- mainly worked as field ambulances moving wounded men between base hospitals, trauns
(First Aid Nursing Yeomanry Corps)
How did trench warfare affect transport networks?
Shelling and entrenchment damaged roads and terrains. The British used horse drawn and motor vehicles to move supplies, but the muddy and shell damaged terrain was often hard to navigate
The inadequacy of motor transport was cruelly exposed during the Somme campaign from July 1916 onwards. The combination of heavy rainfall, inadequately built roads and the pounding caused by large numbers of heavy lorries on narrow, solid-rubber tyres caused the supply lines literally to bog down in the mud
However, as the war ground down into static trench warfare it became easier for armies to support their troops with the use of the railway, especially for the artillery. This made the transportation of supplies easier and quicker to get from the factories to the front line.
what were breastworks and how did they protect soldiers
sandbags full of clay
