WW1 Trenches and Tech Flashcards
what did a war of entrenchment include?
constant construction and reconstruction
how many hours did it take to move 250 yards?
6 hours
what did the first trenches look like?
they were shallow
they would easily collapsed
by 1916, what did the trenches look like?
they were deep trench systems
contained a lot infrastructure
what infrastructure were found in the deep trenches?
field kitchens
first-aid posts
casualty clearing stations
hospitals
command posts
telephone/telegraph lines
what is a casualty clearing station?
a medical post behind the front line designed to either provide emergency care or send men to mikitary hospitals
what were the 3 levels lf trenching?
forward - front line attack point
support - back up
reserve - back up
what was the rotation of troops like at the trenches?
men would serve at the front line for 2 weeks
then they would be sent to the support or reserve trenches
what was a major reason why moblisiation to the trenches was so fast?
the use of the railways to get men to the front line
why were horses used instead of motor vehicles to move men?
motor vehicles often broke down over long stretches of land so were unreliable
they also would get stuck in the mud
what was trench warfare composed of?
attacks
and
counter-attacks
how deep were the trenches?
2 m
what did high command look to do to prevent troops becoming passive?
they ordered trench raids between major offensives:
either to blow stuff up
or
to take prisoners and get intel
what trench tactic was used to great effect to destroy German trences?
digging tunnels underneath a trench and then placing explosives to blow the trench up
how did officers in the treches communicate?
by buried telephone lines
or by using runners
what was the role of a runner?
to run between trenches to get a message across between officers
they were often shot at and targets for enemy snipers
why were battle plans formulated by Generals so poor?
they had little idea of what was happening at the trenches
they did not no the level of progress being made so would plan for every posible event
when was there a breakthrough in the technology used in warfare in WW1?
1915
what changes were made to a soldier’s uniform?
metal helmets were introduced
French disbanded coloured uniforms…instead opted for khaki or grey
what changes were made to the use of cavalry?
use of cavalry sword and lance was completely removed
entrenchment meant that horses were ineffective against defensive machine gun positions
what replaced cavalry in warfare?
instead of cavalry charges, the cavalrymen would dismount and act as infantry once closer to enemy lines
mechanised cavalry started to be implemented late into the war
what was the intended use of mechanised infantry?
to act as shock weapons
what was the limiting factor when it came to the use of mechanised cavalry?
the generals were obsessed with frontal infantry attacks
they ignored major developments in mechanised warfare
a rifle in 1914 could fire…
15 rounds per minute
how was smokeless powder beneficial to snipers?
it meant that their position would not be given away when shooting
what happened to the tactic of firing volleys in a line?
it was no longer effective in trench warfare
instead, men would simply fire from trenches or potholes created by artillery
what other lethal equipment were used in trench warfare?
grenades
knives
revolvers (by officers)
what trench tactics did the French use?
fire and move
what was ‘fire and move’?
an attack group would push forward with covering fire and take the adjacent trench
the support group provided this covering fire
these roles would be reversed
led to a narrow front
what trench tactics did the British use?
wave and flow
what was ‘wave and flow’?
artillery bombardement would precede the attack to destroy barbed wire
the first wave would capture the adjacent trench and then wait for the second wave to arrive
the second wave would move up with the first wave
the second wave then capture the next trench and then wait for the first wave to move up too
process would be repeated with multiple waves
why was ‘wave and flow’ slow?
the terrain was awful due to the artillery bombardment
each soldier had a very heavy load of equipment
why did the machine gun require less training to fire?
you simply had to feed the bullets through and spray the bullets at an arc
what was the fire rate of a machine gun?
60 rounds per minute
how were machine guns positioned?
they were sat in pairs
they were housed in dugouts or a pillbox
what was a pillbox?
concrete fortification used to conceal a machine gun
what machine guns did the British use in WW1?
lewis gun
vickers gun
ratio of rifle to machine gun in 1914?
12:1
ratio of rifle to machine gun in 1917?
2:1
what impact did machine guns have on warfare?
- made cavalry obsolete
- made infantry attacks on open ground useless
what did troops use for hand-to-hand combat?
bayonets
knives
what grenades were used by the British?
British Mills Bomb
when was the flamethrower first used?
1915
why was the flamethrower difficult to use?
it was heavy and bulky
what was the British mortar used in WW1?
Stokes trench mortar
how many bombs could the Stokes trench mortar fire a minute?
25
what was the aim of using artillery in WW1?
destroy trenches
flatten barbed wire
demoralise enemy troops
