TYPES OF WARFARE USED IN WWI

TRENCH WARFARE Gas and guns First time trenches used extensively in war Narrow zig-zags – one behind other 8 feet deep Duckboards to stop drowning Rats, lice, dead friends

Wet, cold, hungry and tired

GAS A Slow and painful death New weapons of WWI Mustard: faint smell. Yellowish – blistered and burned all exposed skin. Chlorine/Diphosgene: dissolved lungs by forming acid when in contact with moist areas (used in projector cannisters later in war) Tearing agents also used – like today’s mace.

Battling the Gases

GUNS - little ones Canadians get Ross Rifles - jam with mud. Steal Enfield Rifles from dead Brits. Bayonets? Useless in modern warfare Machine Guns Introduced – Britain - Vickers; German - Maxim German Maxim: Designed by an American. Killed 90% of casualties of first day of the Somme (more than 20,000 men)

AND BIG ONES (Artillery)  First big guns on boats – needed at Front and so converted to land use  Howitzers/Mortars – big guns on wheels/or rails – shells fired up and landed down.  Cannon – fires shells head on.  Weighed tons Best Howitzer could fire 70 miles in 170 seconds- but no accuracy.

Technology of killing British 60-lb Gun Howitzer: These siege guns were used by the Germans to soften forts. The shells they fired weighed 1,786 lbs and they could fire one every 6 minutes.

TANKS New in WWI Armed with big guns (shells) and machine guns (bullets) Weighed between 6 and 30 tonnes! Crews from 3-20 Many could go over trenches Made to move in the mud Canadians on a British Mark IV: Top speed 4 mph Good Armour Armed with either 2 6 lb. guns and 3 machine guns or 5 machine guns

NOISY & SLOW BUT DEADLY British Whippet: 8 mph, but less firepower. 3 man crew. Gas tank outside! German Sturmpanzerwagen A7V Sturm = Storm, Panzer = Amour, Wagen = Car Best armour, 1 main gun, 6 machine guns

War on the water Navy thought to be key to war - build-up Battleships armed to teeth – Dreadnaughts and Battle Cruisers German U-boats taking out British ships British stop sailing. Fleet sits! HMS Dreadnought – Built 1906 – More than 30 models followed before WWI!!!

U-BOATS 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 Took out supply ships too: Lusitania which brought U.S. into War. In 1917 there were 146 U- boats on patrol

BATTLE IN THE SKIES Zeppelins used by Germans to bomb civilians (only 557 died!) Barely 10 years after Wright’s first flight – planes used to wage war Hundreds of models were rushed off production lines German Zeppelin 56 mph; deadly bomb droppers

PLANES AND ACES I Sopwith Camel – most victorious model: Canadian aces loved this plane! Roy Brown took out Manfred von Richthofen flying this plane. Don McLaren shot down 54 planes in his Camel! Neiuport 17 - Flown by famous Billy Bishop: 25 victories in 12 days

Planes and aces II Fokker D. VII: The best German plane of the war: Richthofen’s (The Red Baron, with 80 victories) favorite. Albatross III : An improvement on two earlier models… but the wings kept breaking

And it all adds up to DEATH British: 1 million (Canada 60,000) France: 1.3 million Russia: 1.7 million Germany & Allies: 3.5 million Losses of life per day: More than 5,500 people!!!