War and Weapons Flashcards
What was the benefit Enfield rifle
It could be reloaded lying on the ground. They fired a bullet every 3 to 4 seconds
What did every soldier have
2 grenades-before men captured a trench they threw a Grenade to make sure everyone on the other side was dead
Bayonet-a blade or dagger attached to the top of a soldiers rifle. Soldiers had to carries these at all times and it was there last resort if they ran out of ammunition
Describe machine guns
Machine guns weed important for defending the trenches. They had been invented near the end of the 19th century but the British did not use them much. General Haig only allowed two machine guns per battalion. The Germans used them more and often built a block house of concrete to put the machine gun inside
What were some of the main weapons used in war
Rifles and pistols
Machine guns
Artillery
Bayonets
Torpedoes
Flamethrowers
Mustard and chlorine gas
Smokeless gunpowder
What is artillery
The word used to describe large calibre mounted field guns
Why did the bayonet become old fashioned weapon
Because of the rapid development of repeating firearms
Why did chlorine gas need certain weather conditions
Chlorine gas needed to be dispersed by the wind in the atmosphere so the wind needed to blow in the right direction so they blow back at them in their faces and then they would die not the enemy
Describe chlorine gas
Smelt of a mixture of pepper and pineapple
Caused chest pains and burning sensation in your throat-destroyed the lungs by reacting with water in the lungs with the Hydrochloric acid of the gas.
Took affect immediately
Death by suffocation over 30 minutes
First, used in 1915 at Ypres
Required specific weather conditions
Describe mustard gas
Odourless
Targeted the lungs also caused skin blisters, eyes sores, vomiting, internal bleeding
12 hours to take affect
Five weeks to die
First use the 1917
Remain active for several weeks in the soil
What did men do before gas masks
Take a cloth soaked in their own urine and cover their mouths and noses
Who were the first tanks used by and why
The first tanks were by the British during World War I as a way of attacking the enemy trenches
Why were tanks called tanks
To trick the Germans into thinking they were water carriers for areas where water was hard to move or find in larger ones
What was the RFC
The Royal flying corpse was created in May 1912. During the World War I, the Royal flying corpse became the eyes of the British army directing artillery gunfire taking photographs for intelligence analysis and taking part in day fights with the German air service
