Military Technology and Tactics of World War I

New Weapons of World War I

• Infantry Armament: In 1914, an infantry regiment maintained a 12:1 ratio of rifles to machine guns.
• Close-Quarters Combat: Bayonets were standard for hand-to-hand stabbing.
• Grenades: Hand-thrown explosives included the British Mills bomb and the German stick grenade.
• Mortars: These small artillery weapons were highly effective for lobbing bombs directly into enemy trenches.
• Artillery Evolution: Pre-1914 artillery fired two types of shells:
  • Timed-fused shells: Exploded in the air to spray shrapnel; effective against troops in the open but useless against trenches and barbed wire.
  • High-explosive shells: Designed to penetrate defenses, though they often failed to clear barbed wire.
• British Fuse 106: A sensitive percussion device that caused shells to explode sideways upon impact rather than burying into the mud; it was also capable of creating smokescreens.

Poison Gas Warfare

• Introduction: Chemical weapons were first deployed on the Western Front by the Germans in April 1915, using 6,000 canisters of chlorine gas.
• Countermeasures: By June 1915, the first gas masks were issued to Allied troops, notably used by the British at the Battle of Loos.
• Phosgene Gas: Six times more toxic than chlorine, it caused 80% of all gas-related casualties.
• Mustard Gas: Introduced by the Germans in July 1917, it caused severe lung damage, skin blistering, and blindness.
• Impact: While gas caused relatively few deaths (approximately 8,000 in British Empire forces), leading some to claim it was more "humane," its tactical effectiveness diminished over time.

Strategic Situation in 1914

• Flash Spotting: A technique used to judge the distance of enemy artillery by observing the flash of an exploding shell.
• Aerial Reconnaissance: Aeroplanes flew over enemy lines to spot shell impacts and relay coordinates to gunners. Early communication was primitive until spotter planes were equipped with wireless technology.
• French Tactics (Fire and Move): One group of soldiers would rush forward under covering fire from supporting units. These groups would switch roles, requiring high levels of training and focusing on attacks across a narrow front.
• British Tactics (Wave and Flow): Attacks were conducted on mile-wide fronts with hundreds of men advancing in waves from the trenches.
• Artillery Preparation: Bombardments preceding an attack were intended to blast holes in enemy wire. Each wave typically advanced in four lines.