TypeShell Wgt (lbs)

Range (yds)

Austrian 30.5cm howitzer 846 13,100

Austrian 38cm howitzer (1916) 1,320 16,700

French 155mm GPF 97 19,650

French model 1885 270mm mortar

204-384 8,800

French 370mm mortar 1,076 8,800

French model 1917 220mm Schneider

200 24,500

French 370mm howitzer 900-1,1208,900-11,500

German 21cm Morser 18410,280-11,150

German 42cm heavy howitzer 2,052 15,500

German 42cm light howitzer 900-1,75010,300-13,600

German 15cm L/40 approx 10014,000-19,000

German model 1916 15cm 28 23,500

German 17cm 140 30,000

German 21cm long morser 261 11,200

German 28cm howitzer 750 11,200

British 6in 100 17,700

British 9.2in howitzer 29010,000-12,700

There are basically two types of large artillery - the cannon and the howitzer (or mortar). A cannon fires a shell over a long arc and typically hits its target head-on. The howitzer (or mortar) lobs the shell over a high arc so it lands atop its target. Your choice of artillery depends upon the job at hand. Large guns, like handguns, are measured in caliber. This is the diameter of the barrel, and roughly, the shell it fires. Sometimes this measurement is given in inches, other times in centimeters or millimeters (thus a 42cm shell is equivalent to a 420mm or 16.5 inch shell).

Artillery- The Big Guns of WWI

XX

Howitzer Arc

Cannon Arc

Weapons and Technology of WWI

Targets

British Mark I Howitzer

Shell Shock

This howitzer was produced by the Skoda arms works in Austria. These siege guns were used by the Germans to soften the forts at Liege, Namur, and Maubeuge. The shells they fired weighed 1,786 pounds and they could fire one every 6 minutes.

French 75mm. Rapid firing and accurate. It was a common artillery piece among the allies. Note the spent casing in the air.

British 18-pounder being aimed by its crew.

British 60-pounder in Salonika.

German 42cm "Big Bertha", named for Bertha Krupp.

German 17cm railway gun. The recoil was allowed to push the car down the tracks in order to be dispersed.

Artillery Shells

Shells are the “bullets” of the artillery cannon

It is estimated that throughout the First World War the Allies used 5,000,000 tons of artillery shells against enemy positions. The Central Powers used a similar amount of shells in their effort to win the war.

There Soldiers subjected to continual exposure to shell-fire were in danger of developing shell-shock. Early symptoms included tiredness, irritability, giddiness, lack of concentration and headaches. Eventually the men suffered mental breakdowns making it impossible for them to remain in the front-line. Between 1914 and 1918 the British Army identified 80,000 men (2% of those who saw active service) as suffering from shell-shock.

First weight is gun weight followed by accessory type and weight. Thanks to Robert Segel for these numbers.

Water cooled British Vickers machine gun. Approx 500 rounds per minute. The gun could be broken down into two pieces for transport.

Machine Gun Group preparing for anti tank action.

Water cooled German Maxim machine gun. Same rpm as Vickers. This weapon accounted for 90% of the British casualties on the opening day of the Somme Offensive, 1-Jul-1916.

German Machineengewehr 08 (Maxim). Designed by American Hiram Maxim and manufactured in Spandau, Germany. The Germans had 12,500 of these killers in 1914 as compared to the several hundred Vickers of the British army. The Germans would produce over 100,000 Maxims during the war.

Machine Guns

Light German MG

Machine guns were the most popular, and effective weapon of WWI. They could kill large numbers of people from a great distance.

Trench Warfare

The front near Auchy-les-Labassee. No-man's-land is the white, blown out area in the middle. The German trenches are towards the upper right. The less intricate British trenches are on the lower left.

Map of Trenches on the Western Front

Virtually no land was lost or gained in 4 years of war once the trenches were dug. The stalemate continued until tanks were invented. Only tanks

could exist in the deadly environment between the trenches.

When the French finally stopped the German advance in 1914, the two sides were equally matched. The Germans couldn’t push forward. The French couldn’t push them out. So the two sides dug in and built trenches with a blasted wasteland between. This was the birth of Trench Warfare.

More Trenches

French document describing German trench building techniques.

Diagram of a dug-out as being used by the Australians in the photo above.

Australians resting up in a dug-out are sheltered from shelling 15 feet

underground during the Battle of the Somme, July 1916.

The Lancashire Fusiliers fix bayonets as they

prepare to go "over the top" in the Battle of the

Somme, July 1916.

Men of the Border Regiment in scrape holes near Thiepval Wood, July 1916.

No Man’s Land and then the Enemy Trench here

Trench Foot- Many soldiers fighting in the First World War suffered from trench foot. This was an infection of the feet caused by cold, wet and unsanitary conditions. In the trenches men stood for hours on end in waterlogged trenches without being able to remove wet socks or boots. The feet would gradually go numb and the skin would turn red or blue. If untreated, trench foot could turn gangrenous and result in amputation. Trench foot was a particular problem in the early stages of the war. For example, during the winter of 1914-15 over 20,000 men in the British Army were treated for trench foot.

Gas Warfare"[The] vapor settled to the ground like a swamp mist and drifted toward the French trenches on a brisk wind. Its effect on the French was a violent nausea and faintness, followed by an utter collapse. It is believed that the Germans, who charged in behind the vapor, met no resistance at all, the French at their front being virtually paralyzed."

The horrors of gas warfare had never been seen on a battlefield until 1915. The Germans have been credited with the first use, but the French and English were not far behind. Gas was a nuisance, a crippling nuisance, often only wounding and causing widespread panic instead of outright killing. Add a gas mask to the already surreal atmosphere of an offensive's rolling bombardments and heavy machine gun fire, and what you got must have been close to hell.

Gas was available in three basic varieties:

Lachrymator (tearing agent) Much like today's tear gas and mace, this gas caused temporary blindness and greatly inflamed the nose and throat of the victim. A gas mask offered very good protection from this type of gas. xylyl bromide was a popular tearing agent since it was easily brewed. Asphyxiant These are the poisonous gases. This class includes chlorine, phosgene and diphosgene. Chlorine inflicts damage by forming hydrochloric acid when coming in contact with moisture such as found in the lungs and eyes. It is lethal at a mix of 1:5000 (gas/air) whereas phosgene is deadly at 1:10,000 (gas/air) - twice as toxic! Diphosgene, first used by the Germans at Verdun on 22-Jun-1916, was deadlier still and could not be effectively filtered by standard issue gas masks. Blistering Agent Dichlorethylsulphide: the most dreaded of all chemical weapons in World War I - mustard gas. Unlike the other gases which attack the respiratory system, this gas acts on any exposed, moist skin. This includes, but is not limited to, the eyes, lungs, armpits and groin. A gas mask could offer very little protection. The oily agent would produce large burn-like blisters wherever it came in contact with skin. It also had a nasty way of hanging about in low areas for hours, even days, after being dispersed. A soldier jumping into a shell crater to seek cover could find himself blinded, with skin blistering and lungs bleeding.

Gas masks

British soldiers blinded by a gas attack.

An aerial view of the beginning of a gas attack. Large gas cylinders were brought up to the front where the gas would be released under favorable wind conditions. On more than one occasion the wind would change direction and blow the gas back into the attacker's trenches.

Gas was invented (and very successfully used) as a terror weapon meant to instill confusion and panic among the enemy prior to an offensive. It was a sort of physiological weapon with the non-lethal tearing agents inflicting as much panic as the dreaded mustard gas.

Canadians get a lift on a British Mark IV. They wont get where they're going fast - this tank's top speed was 4 mph.

Tanks

Tank Comparison TableType Arms Armour (max) Tons Speed Crew

British Marks I-IV male 2x6-pounders, 4 MG 12mm 28 3.7 8

British Marks I-III female 5 MG 12mm 27 3.7 8

British Mark IV female 6 MG 12mm 27 3.7 8

British Mark V male 2x6-pounders, 4 MG 14mm 29 4.6 8

British Mark V female 6 MG 14mm 28 4.6 8

British Mark A (Whippet) 3 MG 14mm 14 8.3 3

British Mark B 4 MG 14mm 18 7.9 4

French Schneider 1x75mm, 2 MG 11.4-17.0mm 14.5 5 6

French St. Chamond 1x75mm, 4 MG 11mm 25 5 9

French Renault FT17 1 MG (later 37mm) 16mm 6.5 5-6 2

German A7V 1x57mm, 6 MG 30mm 32 8 16

Tanks were the only effective weapon to use in trench warfare. Only tanks could cross the rugged terrain of No Man’s Land with its bombed out craters and barbed wire. Only tanks could take machine gun fire and small artillery shells undamaged. Only tanks could crush the enemy’s tunnels and trenches. Until tanks were invented and built in large enough numbers the war was at a standstill on the Western Front. Neither side could advance or make the other side retreat.

Zeppelins-Blimps of WarWhile the Germans had the capability to bomb Britain using Zeppelins from the start of the war, the Kaiser had banned this since he considered Britain as another "Christian nation" and viewed the bombing of civilians as less than gentlemanly. Under constant pressure from his military staff, he finally gave in and permitted a raid on the docks of the lower Thames, outside of London.

On 19-Jan-1915, three German navy Zeppelins headed for Britain. The L 6 suffered a mechanical malfunction and returned to base. The L 3 and L 4 made it to their general target area but managed to inflict little military damage. Both returned to base undamaged.

The most successful raid was one made on London by the Zeppelin L 13, under command of 32 year old airship ace, Lieutenant Heinrich Mathy. The raid took place on 8-Sep-1915 and killed 22 people and caused one half million pounds of property damage. This one raid would eventually account for nearly two thirds of all Zeppelin damage inflicted on Britain during the airship campaign. Lieutenant Mathy was killed during a raid on London 1-Oct-1916 when his L 31 was brought down by a British fighter.

1915 was a good year for the German Zeppelins. Not a single raider was lost to enemy fire. Several were lost due to mishaps and the highly explosive nature of the hydrogen that kept them aloft. The rigid airship's ability to come in at high-altitudes, 10,000 feet, kept them safely out of range of enemy fighters and ground based artillery. The British countered the threat of Zeppelins with the invention of incendiary bullets which were meant to ignite the hydrogen bags inside the hull of the airship. The Germans countered this with a new type of airship known as a height-climber. These stripped down rigids were capable of reaching altitudes in excess of 20,000 feet. The extreme cold and need for bottled oxygen at this altitude made conditions miserable for their crews. Parachutes were considered excess weight and, therefore, not carried. This was unfortunate since the lightened frame was exposed to more severe atmospheric conditions and caused the breakup of several ships.

Zeppelin L 13 takes to the air.

Zeppelin bomb damage at Yarmouth,

England, 1915.

Zeppelin, flieg,Hilf uns im krieg,Flieg nach England,England wird abgebrannt,Zeppelin, flieg.

Zeppelin, fly,Help us win the war,Fly against England,England will be burned,Zeppelin, fly.

German Song

The U-boat campaign can be broken into two distinct phases. The first was aimed at allied surface warships; The second, and ultimately more successful, was targeted towards allied shipping - using the U-boat as a tool to enforce the economic isolation of Germany's enemies. On 22-Sep-1914 the U 9 under command of Kapitanleutnant Otto Weddigen sank the British light cruisers Abourkir, Hogue and Cressy in the English Channel. The problem here is that both sides soon refused to put their warships at risk by cruising the high seas. The great naval build-up of the last decade may have been one of the most monumental wastes of money of all time - both fleets spending the majority of the war at their home bases with the notable exception of Jutland. Instead, U-boats sank merchant ships carrying weapons and other supplies.

On 4-Feb-1915 the Germans began their first campaign of submarine warfare aimed at allied and neutral merchant vessels in the waters surrounding the UK. At this point the practice of allowing the crew to disembark before the vessel was sunk (usually by deck gun since torpedoes were conserved if at all possible) was still generally, but not always, followed.

By 1917 the situation was getting difficult for Germany. While the U-boat enforced embargo was proving to be an effective weapon, it also seemed that it would bring America into the war against Germany, especially after the sinking of the Lusitania. The only hope now, it appeared, was to increase U-boat activity in an attempt for victory over Great Britain before America could get into the European picture. On 1-Feb-1917 Germany declares unrestricted submarine warfare for the third time. This action causes the United States to break off relations on 3-Feb-1917. U-boat activity intensified greatly in the first half of 1917 with British losses at 300,000 tons in Feb-1917, climbing to half a million by Jun-1917. This period marked the zenith for U-boats. The coming of the convoy system and other anti-submarine tactics would curtail British losses (never to rise beyond 100,000 tons per month) and would transform the predator into prey.

Submarines

UC 44 Class U-boat: 1) Aft torpedo tubes 2) Electric motor 3) Main engine 4) Control room 5) Mine tubes 6) Forward torpedo tubes 7) Crew quarters

View from the deck as two U-boats are about to pass on patrol.

U-boats lined up at the docks. Pens were

not required since there was no chance

of air attack.

Inside the cramped control room. The clean shaven crew is an indication that this photo was taken dockside and not at sea.

The story behind the sinking of the Cunard passenger liner Lusitania has been enveloped in controversy since the day of its occurrence. The story is an interesting one.

The Lusitania was launched 7-Jun-1906. The luxurious liner was 760 feet long with a beam of 87.5 feet and had a displacement of 45,000 tons. It had a cruising speed of 25.88 knots. On its first run in Sep-1907, it recaptured the coveted Blue Riband (fastest Atlantic crossing) from the German liner Kaiser Wilhelm II. One of its design innovations was to store 6,600 tons of coal required for a crossing, in longitudinal bulkheads between the inner and outer hulls. It was originally thought that this would provide protection should the ship ever come under attack, a concept that would later prove to be very wrong.

In 1913 the Lusitania was dry-docked and outfitted with twelve 6-in guns. This was done as a precaution should there be a war with Germany. When it sailed in Sep-1914 it was registered as an auxiliary cruiser. In addition to this it also violated international law by carrying munitions on all but its first wartime crossing.

When it embarked for England on 1-May-1915 its cargo included: 51 tons of shrapnel shells, 10.5 tons of .303 caliber rifle bullets, and an indeterminate amount of guncotton, an explosive that detonates upon contact with water. It also picked up some 200 tons of additional ammunition from the Queen Margaret who was undergoing mechanical difficulties. Despite a printed warning from the German Embassy, only one passenger changed his travel plans.

At 1:35 pm GMT on 7-May-1915 off the coast of Ireland Captain Schweiger, commanding the U 20, fired his last torpedo at the Lusitania. He didn't expect the single torpedo to sink the liner, he just wanted to see how much damage it would do. The G-type torpedo hit just forward of the bridge on the starboard side. The initial explosion of the torpedo warhead was followed by a much larger one that shook the entire ship. Eighteen minutes later the giant liner was gone. 1,198 people perished, among them 124 Americans.

The Germans justified this action by claiming that the Lusitania was far from an unarmed merchant ship, and while deploring the loss of life, claimed the U 20 was acting in self-defense. In an attempt to placate the United States government the Germans accepted liability for the incident in Feb-1916 and agreed to pay reparations.

Notice!Travellers intending to embark on the Atlantic voyage are reminded that a state of war exists between Germany and her allies and Great Britain and her allies; that the zone of war includes the waters adjacent to the British Isles; that, in accordance with formal notice given by the Imperial German Government, vessels flying the flag of Great Britain, or any of her allies, are liable to destruction in those waters and that travellers sailing in the war zone on ships of Great Britain or her allies do so at their own risk.

Imperial German EmbassyWashington, D. C., April 22, 1915

The Lusitania

Artillery attacks- Before and after

Before After

Effects of Artillery attacks

Effects of Machine guns and tanks

Enemy Trench

Effects of Poison Gas