World War 1 Weapons PDF

When it came to weapons in the air, airplanes and zeppelins were commonly used. This would mark the first time that countries would use large air-based carriers for bombs on a grand scale, and led to much of the casualties that occurred on a civilian level. The zeppelins especially were used to drop...

When it came to weapons in the air, airplanes and zeppelins were commonly used. This would mark the first time that countries would use large air-based carriers for bombs on a grand scale, and led to much of the casualties that occurred on a civilian level. The zeppelins especially were used to drop bombs and to scout out enemy territories.  The Battle of Tannenberg in 1914 was an important victory for the Germans. They stopped the Russian army from advancing into German-controlled territory. Prior to the outbreak of fighting, both sides sent airplanes to gather details about their enemy. The Russian commander made a costly mistake by ignoring the warnings provided by his pilots. After tremendous losses at Tannen-berg, the Russians did not make the same mistake again. Airplane missions were an important source of information for both sides throughout the war. Rifles had been used in wars for quite some time before the start of the Great War in the 1900s. However, improvements in design meant that rifles now could shoot with more accuracy and at a further range than in the past. This meant that troops did not have to be particularly close to their target to inflict damage upon them. Rifles were by far the most commonly used weapon of the war. The standard British rifle was the Short Magazine Lee Enfield Rifle Mk III. It had a maximum range of 2,280 meters, but an effective killing range of 550. A well-trained infantryman could fire 15 rounds a minute. In August 1914, the Germans mistook the speed and precision of the British rifle fire for machine guns.  The Short Magazine Lee Enfield was usually fitted with a bayonet which gave the 'Tommy' a one-meter reach in hand-to-hand combat. A rifle fitted with a bayonet could prove unwieldy in a confined trench so many soldiers preferred to use improvised trench clubs instead. But the bayonet was still a handy tool that soldiers also used for cooking and eating! Artillery was the most destructive weapon on the Western Front. Guns could rain down high explosive shells, shrapnel and poison gas on the enemy and heavy fire could destroy troop concentrations, wire, and fortified positions. here was no denying the deadly impact of artillery: more soldiers were killed by exploding shells and shrapnel than any other weapon of the Great War. At the Battle of the Somme in 1916, almost 1.8 million shells were fired on German lines in the space of a week. The largest single artillery piece was the German-built 'Paris gun', used to shell the French capital from 120 kilometers away. Artillery is still used today and still inflict heavy death tolls and destruction. Artillery was used heavily in the series of battles known as Isonzo. Isonzo was a series of battles that began in 1915 and took place along a river between Austria-Hungary and Italy. It seemed as if Italy, which had many more soldiers, would have an easy victory. However, although Austria-Hungary had fewer men, it had more heavy artillery. Also known as "big guns," this artillery was loaded with highly explosive shells containing dozens of small lead balls. With each battle, the Italians suffered more casualties from the artillery bombardment. After these early setbacks, the Italian commander realized that big guns were important both before and during successful army advances. The Battle of Verdun, which began in February 1916 and lasted nearly ten months, is considered to be the longest battle of World War I. Flamethrowers were used throughout this lengthy battle, but namely by the Germans, the first to pioneer this weapon. Flamethrowers played a considerable role in the high death toll. Early in this battle, the Germans introduced a new kind of flamethrower that consisted of a gas canister strapped on the back of a soldier. Attached to the canister was a nozzle that was lit on fire and that sprayed burning fuel on its victims. The Germans used this weapon to clear the area of enemy soldiers before the main army advanced. This weapon was dangerous not only to the enemy but also to the soldier operating it, because it was highly explosive. Even with this weapon, the Germans still suffered heavy casualties. The machine-gun was one of the deadliest weapons of the Western Front, causing thousands of casualties. It was a relatively new weapon at the start of the war, but British and German forces soon realized its potential as a killing machine, especially when fired from a fixed defensive position. The Vickers machine-gun (above) was famed for its reliability and could fire over 600 rounds per minute and had a range of 4,500 yards. With proper handling, it could sustain a rate of fire for hours. This was providing that a necessary supply of belted ammunition, spare barrels and cooling water was available. When there was no water to hand, soldiers would urinate in the water jacket to keep the gun cool! The Lewis Gun was the British Army's most widely used machine-gun. It required a team of two gunners to operate it, one to fire and one to carry ammunition and reload. The Battle of the Somme in 1916 was a disastrous attempt by the British to attack the Germans in their trenches. The British created a plan that relied on bombardment by large, heavy artillery to weaken German defenses before the army advanced. Unfortunately, this plan did not go as hoped. The advancing British army was an easy target for the German machine guns, which could fire 400 to 600 rounds per minute, spraying the approaching enemy with a massive amount of bullets. In the first day alone, the British lost an estimated 58,000 soldiers. Grenades were ideal weapons for trench warfare, they could be thrown into enemy positions before troops entered them. But they were risky weapons in the confined space of trenches, especially when not handled correctly. Soldiers disliked the Mark 1 Grenade because it was liable to detonate if knocked against something when being thrown. As the war developed, the army also used rifle grenades, which were fired from a rifle, rather than thrown by hand, greatly increasing their range. These were later modified to carry smoke, incendiary devices, flares and anti-tank warheads, as well as high explosive. Tanks were another of World War I's legacies to modern warfare. These large armoured carriers, impervious to rifle and machine-gun fire, were initially called 'landships'. Tanks were developed by the British Army as a mechanical solution to the trench warfare stalemate. When the first prototypes were being developed, the British military's cover story was that they were building 'mobile water tanks', hence the name. The first British tank, the Mark I, was rushed into battle at the Somme and proved susceptible to breakdown and immobility. But designers and operators soon learned from these problems, and by late 1917 the tank was proving a most useful offensive weapon -- though none of them could move faster than just a few kilometers per hour. One of the few ways that tanks were effective during the war, was that they were capable of crossing barbed wire defenses, although their tracks were still at risk of becoming entangled. The tank was first used effectively in combat during the Battle of Cambrai in 1917. At Cambrai, British tanks were able to cross the area between the British and German trenches. The tank's protective metal kept the men inside from falling victim to the onslaught of enemy machine guns. The heavy tank crushed everything in sight, including the dangerous barbed wire guarding the trenches. Some 8,000 German prisoners and 100 guns were taken. One of the deadliest and most remembered weapons in WWI were chemical weapons, or poisonous gases. The scope of WWI\'s chemical weapons was unlike anything seen on the battlefield before. Over the course of the war --- which lasted from July 28, 1914, to Nov. 11, 1918 --- about 3,000 chemicals were investigated for military use, and 50 toxic agents were deployed on battlefields across Europe, killing an estimated 90,000 to 100,000 people and leaving 1.3 million people injured, reported Chemical & Engineering News (CEN), the magazine of the American Chemical Society. Following WWI, nations have agreed that the use of chemical weapons is strictly prohibited and constitutes as a war crime with severe punishments. While this is now known as one of the ultimate war crimes, it has not stopped its use in modern times-though it is rare. The introduction of gas warfare in 1915 created an urgent need for protective equipment to counter its effects. Rattles, horns and whistles were also soon adopted as means of warning troops and giving them time to put on protective equipment during gas attacks. The British Army soon developed a range of gas helmets based on fabric bags and hoods that had been treated with anti-gas chemicals. These were later replaced by a small box filter respirator which provided greater protection.  Despite this, the British Empire suffered over 180,000 gas casualties during the war.  The first notable use of poison gas was during the Second Battle at Ypres in 1915. One evening, the French and Algerian troops noticed a strange, yellow-green cloud moving their way. They thought it was an attempt by the Germans to cover an advancing attack. Instead, the cloud was full of chlorine gas, which caused severe choking. By the end of the war, both sides were experimenting with different types of poison gas and different ways of getting it into enemy trenches. At the Third Battle of Ypres (also known as Passchendaele), the Germans used mustard gas, which caused chemical burns that left lifelong injuries---both internal and external. Thick belts of barbed wire were placed in front of the trenches on the Western Front. They were placed far enough from the trenches to prevent the enemy from approaching close enough to throw grenades in. Sometimes barbed-wire entanglements were designed to channel attacking infantry and cavalry into machine-gun and artillery fields of fire. Even though it was an agricultural invention, barbed wire made an effective defense. It was cheap, easy to erect and ensnared enemies. It was also somewhat resistant to artillery fire, tangling together further to become more impassable, or being simply replaced if it was damaged. The Germans used submarines, which they called U-boats, throughout the war. The Germans, with a navy significantly smaller than that of the UK, kicked off the modern era of submarine warfare by sending U-boats into the North Sea to improve its odds at sea. The vessels quickly proved their might, sinking HMS Pathfinder and HMS Formidable, among others. The sinking of the *Lusitania* and other non-military ships by German U-boats eventually brought the United States into the war. The Allies also used submarines. During the campaign at Gallipoli that began in 1915, the Allies used submarines to stop Turkish sea traffic and to bombard the shore. This activity was an important support to the land attack, though the Allies ultimately lost the campaign. New, stronger battleships, ships only intended to be use in military conquests, were utilized in WWI. The United States provided many battleships to aid the British in the war effort.  In a specific example, battleships played a key role in Jutland. The Battle of Jutland in 1916 was one of the largest naval battles in history. The British had a fleet of 151 battleships, while the Germans had only 99 battleships. A battleship would speed around, trying to trick the enemy ship into coming closer. Once the enemy ship was close enough, the battleship would fire its big guns. If effective, the attack would cause the enemy ship to sink. At Jutland, the British lost more ships than the Germans did, but many of the remaining German ships were seriously damaged.