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Paul von Hindenbrug

Was named commander of the German eight Army in August 1914

Weaponry

Battle of Ypres

Douglas Haig

Was commander in chief of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) from late 1915 when he replaced John French until the end of the war

The Rifle

  • has been used since 1902
  • could hold up to 10 bullets
  • a trained warrior could fire up to 15 shots per minute

Barbed Wire

  • snagged on equipment and clothing
  • slowed attackers

Once Again...Weaponry

There were in fact three battles fought around the Ypres salient during the War. The first, in 1914 was an attempt by the BEF to halt the rapid advances made by the Germans. The second, in 1915, was notable for the first use of poison gas by the Germans. However, it is the long-planned offensive of July 31, 1917, that holds the most significance. Here, a combination of over-ambitious aims, appalling weather conditions, and misguided persistence by Haig led to horrific losses. By the time the offensive was called off total casualties for both sides had been approximately 250,000. The horrors of the battle, in which men drowned in liquid mud has become synonymous with the images of the War. One of the central objectives, the village of Passchendale (eventually taken on November 6 by the Canadians), lent its name to the whole conflict.

Weaponry Again

U-Boats:

  • submarines were used to blow up ships

Q-Ships:

  • merchant vessel with concealed guns
  • open fire on any surfaced submarines (destroying it)

Aircraft:

  • intended to be used as aerial scouts
  • dropping grenades
  • carry pistols

Tanks:

  • "land battleships" or "thingum-a-jig"
  • developed to break the trench warfare
  • armoured with machine guns and there tracks would be able to cross trenches and barbed wire

Battle of Messines

Battle of Cambrai

Weaponry Continued

  • Germans felt imminent danger at 2:50, silence prevailed for the following twenty minutes until, 3:10, the order was given to detonate the mines, (600 tons of explosives,
  • 19 out of 21 mines exploded.
  • It has been as that this battle was the most successful local operation of the war, certainly of the Western Front.
  • Messines was carried out by General Herbert Plumer's second army, the battle launched on the 7th of June, 1917 with the detonation of 10 underground mines on the Messines Ridge.
  • In preporation of the battle Herbert authorized the laying of 22 mine shafts along the ridge.
  • On November 20, 1917, the British launched the first full-scale offensive that was designed exclusively to accommodate the British secret weapon, the tank.
  • A surprise artillery barrage started the offensive and 476 tanks, packed tightly for a mass attack moved against the German lines.

Machine Gun:

  • could fire 400 shots per minute

Poison Gases:

  • Chlorine gas was first used by the Germans
  • Phosgene and Mustard gas which blinded those who came in contact with it
  • Supported by infantry the gains were dramatic, breaching the almost impregnable Hindenberg line to depths of 4-5 miles in some places.
  • However, these gains seemed to surprise British High Command equally as much as the Germans, and the following cavalry failed to take advantage. Nevertheless, Cambrai demonstrated how a well-thought out attack, combining tanks en masse with surprise, could be used to break the trench deadlock.

Battles of Marne

  • On September 4, 1914, the rapid advances of the German army through Belgium and northern France caused panic in the French army and troops were rushed from Paris in taxis to halt the advance. Combined with the BEF (British Expeditionary Force) the Germans were eventually halted and the War settled into the familiar defensive series of entrenchment's.

  • Ironically, by the end of May, 1918, the Germans had again reached the Marne after the enormous successes of Ludendorff's offensives of that year. The intervening four years had cost hundreds of thousands of lives and the armies were still, literally, exactly where they had started.

Aleksei Brusilov

World War I Generals

Was the commander of the Russian Eight Army and one of the the most innovative World War I general

Trench Warfare

Trench

Warfare Continued

World War 1 was battled using trenches. Trenches were long, narrow ditches dug into the ground where soldiers lived all day and night. On one side, there were lines of German trenches and on the other side was the line of Allied trenches. In the middle was "no-man's land." This was where soldiers would go if they were going to attack the other side.

Soldiers would fire from these trenches while being significantly protected by the trench walls. They were also protected from assault by barbed wire.

Although protected by trench walls and barbed wire, life in the trenches was very unpleasant.

Unpleasant Life in the Trenches

John J. Pershing

Soldiers were put through a lot. Not only did they deal with the loss of their fellow soldiers, but they dealt with many disgusting diseases. One of the worst was known as "Trench-Foot" which is a painful condition in the feet caused by standing for a long time in cold water or mud. The feet blacken and the surface of the feet peel and die.

General of the United States Army and led the American Expeditionary Forces to victory over Germany

Casualties of the war

Many soldiers were wounded and left disfigured. Plastic surgery was just beginning to start as the war was raging on. surgeons pretty much experimented on some patients to save what they could of bodies that had been torn up or even blow off

There are over 37 million deaths in world war one. 11 million soldiers, 7 million civilians, 6 million went missing and are now presumed dead, 2 million died to disease.

Turning Points of WWI

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