W: Key Battles and Experiences

Question 1

Trench warfare

Answer 1

Believed that the war would be over by Christmas 1914 - rudimentary trenches.

However, stalemate called for extensive and effective trench system.

Established in a zig-zag pattern to add stability and lessen the impacts of shelling.

Question 2

Comparison of trenches

Answer 2

German: built up to 12 m, ensuring they could walk with their rifles on their shoulder. There were also rooms, and some officers were afforded luxury (electricity).

Allies: rudimentary and muddy, maintaining belief of its temporal nature (offensive). Sleeping in dugouts

Question 3

Lines of trenches

Answer 3

Stretched from the frontline
1. Front line: troops preparing for an attack, supported by observation posts and machine guns.
2. Reserve trenches and reinforcements.
3. First aid and supply depots.

• Trenches were given street names
• Soldiers worked by rotation from front line to reserve.

Question 4

No Man’s Land

Answer 4

• 50 m - 10 km
• Shelling craters, mud, heavy rain -> hard to walk through
• Nocturnal raids
  *

Question 5

Trench conditions

Answer 5

Human excretion, rats, lice, decomposing bodies, trench foot, disease

Question 6

Battle of Verdun

Answer 6

21 Feb - 18 Dec 1916, the longest and bloodiest conflict of WW1
To weaken the French front and gain access to Britain by a planned battle of attrition over the siege of Verdun - plan to “bleed France white”

Germany aimed to use artillery and less infantry to limit casualties:
* 2 million launched in opening bombardement.
* 40 - 60 million shells over the course of battle.
* 70% of casualties by artillery.
* However relatively equal casualties by the end (German constant change of command - confusion)
* Germany: 140 thousand deaths, France: 160 thousand deaths

Conditions
* It held symbolic importance for the French - committment of many forces for its defense.
* The mud was churned up by artillery, and lodged shells created dangerous terrain.
* Threat of gas attacks, close combat (hilly terrain and battles over fortresses)
* Severe shell shock.
* 800,000 casualties resulted in the French just reclaiming the land they had lost
* Stalemate (Fleury changed hands 16 times) - disillusionment/fruitlessness - losing faith/morale in war effort.

Question 7

Battle of the Somme

Answer 7

**1st of July 1916 - 18th of November 1916
**
To break the stalemate with General Douglas Haig’s “rapid advance”, relieving the pressure on the French and break the German line. Creeping barrages were developed at the Battle of the Somme, and first use of tanks by British.

Conditions:
* Artillery barrage had little impact on concrete dugouts and machine gun nests.
* Germans were killed by tanks (indestructable - equipped with machine guns, tearing through barbed wire), exacerbating extreme terror, causing confusion and panic - at times resulting in immediate surrender
* Allied tank operators: armour plate was burning from fire of German machine guns, and it was very noisy - danger of hearing loss, burns, blindness.
* An inclonclusive result, despite the high casualties (impacting morale) - 620,000 British and French + 450,000 German
* Torrential rain made the battlefield nearly impassable, worserned by shelling.

Question 8

Battle of Passchendaele

Answer 8

31 July - 6 November 1917
German forces were located on high ground, and the rain helped them defend their front line - “Most fortunate rain, out most effective ally”
* British used 4 million shells.

Conditions
* The low-lying ground became a swamp with rain and churned by shelling - some men and horses drowning.
* The mud jammed machine guns, and rifles
* Had to drag heavy machine guns as transportation by vehicles was nearly impossible over the terrain
* Shell shock
* Trench diseases
* Low morale for Allied forces

Resulted in:
275 000 Allied casualties, 220 000 German casualties for only 5 miles