WW1 Trenches and Tech

Question 1

what did a war of entrenchment include?

Answer 1

constant construction and reconstruction

Question 2

how many hours did it take to move 250 yards?

Answer 2

6 hours

Question 3

what did the first trenches look like?

Answer 3

they were shallow
they would easily collapsed

Question 4

by 1916, what did the trenches look like?

Answer 4

they were deep trench systems
contained a lot infrastructure

Question 5

what infrastructure were found in the deep trenches?

Answer 5

field kitchens
first-aid posts
casualty clearing stations
hospitals
command posts
telephone/telegraph lines

Question 6

what is a casualty clearing station?

Answer 6

a medical post behind the front line designed to either provide emergency care or send men to mikitary hospitals

Question 7

what were the 3 levels lf trenching?

Answer 7

forward - front line attack point
support - back up
reserve - back up

Question 8

what was the rotation of troops like at the trenches?

Answer 8

men would serve at the front line for 2 weeks
then they would be sent to the support or reserve trenches

Question 9

what was a major reason why moblisiation to the trenches was so fast?

Answer 9

the use of the railways to get men to the front line

Question 10

why were horses used instead of motor vehicles to move men?

Answer 10

motor vehicles often broke down over long stretches of land so were unreliable
they also would get stuck in the mud

Question 11

what was trench warfare composed of?

Answer 11

attacks
and
counter-attacks

Question 12

how deep were the trenches?

Answer 12

2 m

Question 13

what did high command look to do to prevent troops becoming passive?

Answer 13

they ordered trench raids between major offensives:
either to blow stuff up
or
to take prisoners and get intel

Question 14

what trench tactic was used to great effect to destroy German trences?

Answer 14

digging tunnels underneath a trench and then placing explosives to blow the trench up

Question 15

how did officers in the treches communicate?

Answer 15

by buried telephone lines
or by using runners

Question 16

what was the role of a runner?

Answer 16

to run between trenches to get a message across between officers
they were often shot at and targets for enemy snipers

Question 17

why were battle plans formulated by Generals so poor?

Answer 17

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

Question 18

when was there a breakthrough in the technology used in warfare in WW1?

Answer 18

1915

Question 19

what changes were made to a soldier’s uniform?

Answer 19

metal helmets were introduced
French disbanded coloured uniforms…instead opted for khaki or grey

Question 20

what changes were made to the use of cavalry?

Answer 20

use of cavalry sword and lance was completely removed
entrenchment meant that horses were ineffective against defensive machine gun positions

Question 21

what replaced cavalry in warfare?

Answer 21

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

Question 22

what was the intended use of mechanised infantry?

Answer 22

to act as shock weapons

Question 23

what was the limiting factor when it came to the use of mechanised cavalry?

Answer 23

the generals were obsessed with frontal infantry attacks
they ignored major developments in mechanised warfare

Question 24

a rifle in 1914 could fire…

Answer 24

15 rounds per minute

Question 25

how was smokeless powder beneficial to snipers?

Answer 25

it meant that their position would not be given away when shooting

Question 26

what happened to the tactic of firing volleys in a line?

Answer 26

it was no longer effective in trench warfare
instead, men would simply fire from trenches or potholes created by artillery

Question 27

what other lethal equipment were used in trench warfare?

Answer 27

grenades
knives
revolvers (by officers)

Question 28

what trench tactics did the French use?

Answer 28

fire and move

Question 29

what was ‘fire and move’?

Answer 29

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

Question 30

what trench tactics did the British use?

Answer 30

wave and flow

Question 31

what was ‘wave and flow’?

Answer 31

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

Question 32

why was ‘wave and flow’ slow?

Answer 32

the terrain was awful due to the artillery bombardment
each soldier had a very heavy load of equipment

Question 33

why did the machine gun require less training to fire?

Answer 33

you simply had to feed the bullets through and spray the bullets at an arc

Question 34

what was the fire rate of a machine gun?

Answer 34

60 rounds per minute

Question 35

how were machine guns positioned?

Answer 35

they were sat in pairs
they were housed in dugouts or a pillbox

Question 36

what was a pillbox?

Answer 36

concrete fortification used to conceal a machine gun

Question 37

what machine guns did the British use in WW1?

Answer 37

lewis gun
vickers gun

Question 38

ratio of rifle to machine gun in 1914?

Answer 38

12:1

Question 39

ratio of rifle to machine gun in 1917?

Answer 39

2:1

Question 40

what impact did machine guns have on warfare?

Answer 40

• made cavalry obsolete
• made infantry attacks on open ground useless

Question 41

what did troops use for hand-to-hand combat?

Answer 41

bayonets
knives

Question 42

what grenades were used by the British?

Answer 42

British Mills Bomb

Question 43

when was the flamethrower first used?

Answer 43

1915

Question 44

why was the flamethrower difficult to use?

Answer 44

it was heavy and bulky

Question 45

what was the British mortar used in WW1?

Answer 45

Stokes trench mortar

Question 46

how many bombs could the Stokes trench mortar fire a minute?

Answer 46

25

Question 47

what was the aim of using artillery in WW1?

Answer 47

destroy trenches
flatten barbed wire
demoralise enemy troops