TRENCH WARFARE IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR

Felix Schaber

Outline The beginning of the Trench Warfare Weapons of the Trench Warfare Life in the Trenches Strategies to break through the enemy

lines and defend the own Facts and numbers

The beginning of the Trench Warfare 3rd August, 1914, German troops crossed the Belgian border in the narrow gap

between Holland and France. Germans are quickly victorious over the Belgians The French an British are defeated at Sambre (22nd August) and Mons (23rd

August). The German army marches for Paris but is unable to break through due to a

French counterattack (Battle of the Marne 4th to 10th September) The German commander, General Erich von Falkenhayn, decided that his troops

must hold onto those parts of France and Belgium that Germany still occupied. Falkenhayn ordered his men to dig trenches that would provide them with

protection from the advancing French and British troops. The Allies soon realized that they could not break through this line and they also

began to dig trenches. After a few months these trenches had spread from the North Sea to the Swiss

Frontier. For the next three years neither side advanced more than a few miles along this

line that became known as the Western Front.

Weapons of the Trench Warfare

Infantry At the beginning improvised weapons Rifle Bayonet Shotgun Hand grenades Flamethrowers

Machine guns British:

Vickers machine guns Later changed to Lewis Gun

German: Maschinengewehr 08

Mostly used to defend Heavy machine guns

Tanks British innovation First use: Battle of Somme Firstly very ineffective Later became essential

Artillery Essential for any attack Shaped the landscape at the Western

Front Fragmentation, high explosive and gas

shells German 420 mm howitzer:

Weight: 20 tonsCould fire a one-ton shell over 10 km

Gas Mustard gas Chlorine Phosgene

85% of the 100,000 deaths caused by chemical weapons during World War I

Gas masks:Urinating over a handkerchiefLater developed

Not very effective due to countermeasures

Life in the Trenches

Water in the Trenches Germans had the higher and therefore

better positions Water would be found 2-3 feet below

surface Rain would collect in the trenches Caused trench foor

Trench Foot Infection of the feet Caused by:

ColdWetInsanitary conditions

Sometimes feet had to be amputated

Food Can food Nothing fresh Rats ate some Rations got lower and lower over the

war

Self Inflicted Wounds Hoped to be released home Mostly shot themselves in the arm or

foot Could be sentenced with execution

Strategies to break through the enemy lines and defend the own

Barb Wire In front of the trenches in the No-Mans-

Land Worsened with the artillery fire Redone at night

Cavalry High place value at the beginning Equipped with:

SwordRifleLance

Massacred by machine gun fire

Miners Specialist Miners-Not soldiers! Objective:

Blow up the trenches from belowThen start a quick attack

Other side tried to hear them Could take a year to dig

Facts and Numbers

Battle Year Allies German

1st Marne 263,000 220,000

1st Ypres 1914 126,921 - 161,921 134,315

Verdun 1916 400,000 - 542,000 355,000 - 434,000

Somme 1916 623,907 465,000 - 595,294

2nd Aisne 1917 118,000 40,000

3rd Ypres 1917 200,000 - 448,000 260,000 - 400,000

Spring Offensive 1918 851,374 688,341

Hundred Days Offensive 1918 1,069,636 785,733

Total Casualties from Major Western Front Battles

1914-1918 3,619,838 - 4,077,838 2,948,389 - 3,297,683

1914

Over 450,000 civilian deaths

Bibliography Information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poison_gas_in_World_War_I http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trench_warfare http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWtrench.htm

Pictures: http://mgb-home.de/Zar-Beginn-Erster-Weltkrieg.jpg http://serbien.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/04.jpg?w=450 http://de.academic.ru/pictures/dewiki/66/British_tank_crossing_a_trench.jpg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/Passchendaele_aerial_view.jpg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/Various_gas_masks_WWI.jpg http://www.worldwar1.com/foto/fww2352.jpg http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWfoot.jpg http://military.brucemuseum.ca/d/14299-1/A95-01%2307+-+No+Man_s+Land.jpg http://

einestages.spiegel.de/hund-images/2008/04/22/51/00ec5247681886e9cc9c295488a2e97d_image_document_large_featured_borderless.jpg