WWI Weaponry: Gas

Gas 

Tear Gas
The French were actually the first to use gas, throwing grenades of tear-gas at the Germans. Tear gas is just an irritant and is not actually fatal. A few months later, the Germans fired gas at the French that made them sneeze.In the winter of 1914, the Germans attempted to use liquid tear gas on the Russians, but instead of vaporizing, it froze.

Poison Gas
In April of 1915, the Germans launched chlorine gas at the British and French. They thought that the gas was suppose to mask an attack by the Germans and ordered the soldiers to get ready for an attack. The chlorine gas burns the lungs, throat, nose and mouth causing the victims to suffocate and choke. The chlorine also mixes with the water in the lungs to make hydrochloric acid, which is corrosive to the skin and very damaging to inner organs. If the wind was blowing the wrong way, then the gas would be blown right back at the attacker. Chlorine gas is also very easily avoided. It is only fatal if it is inhaled and is can be smelled and seen very easily. A simple wet cloth blocking the mouth and nose from the gas was effective enough.


Phosgene was the next gas to be used. Phosgene was discovered in 1812 by John Davy. It was used in WWI chemical warfare in 1915 by the French. Phosgene is colorless and is not as easily detected. It can't be smelled very easily and it works slower. A healthy soldier might not show symptoms for another two days. Phosgene has a very similar effect of Chlorine. It causes the victims to choke and cough, just Phosgene is slower and not as violent. This made it difficult to treat because soldiers often didn't know they were poisoned with it. Phosgene was also easy to avoid, as long as you knew you were getting attacked with it, because it also needed to be inhaled to have an effect.


Mustard gas was developed by the Germans and first thrown at the Russians. Mustard gas has little smell, and is colorless when not mixed with other chemicals. But Mustard gas does not need to be inhaled to have an effect on the victims. Mustard gas causes external blistering on exposed areas and on the eyes. Muster gas also caused internal and external bleeding and vomiting. In the lungs, mustard gas stripped the mucous membrane off the bronchial tubes, making it painful and difficult to breathe. The blisters caused the victims throats to close up and many died of suffocation. Despite all of this damage, it often took four or more
weeks to for the victims to die.
 

The British and French copied the Germans in the use of Mustard gas against them and both sides had planned on having 30-50% of their shells filled with gas, but the war ended before that ever happened. Mustard gas can contaminate the ground for weeks or months at a time, making it difficult or pointless to take over a new area they just gassed. Clothing could also get contaminated, spreading it from soldier to soldier by the touch.

By the end of the war, Germans won the contest for throwing the most gas, using a total of 68,000 tons of gas. The French used 36,000 tons and the British fired 25,000 tons of gas.

The Gas Mask

The British hypo-mask were simply a cloth with glass eye pieces. The cloth was dipped in sodium hyposulphite, washing soda, glycerine and water to help resist gas.

 In 1915, American inventor James B Garner invented a gas mask after he heard about the gas attacks in Europe. He correctly identified the gas as Chlorine and used activated charcoal as an absorbent. In 1916, the British issued a canister-gas mask which has a small respirator to clean the air before it is inhaled.


"These first minutes with the mask decide between life and death: is it air-tight? I remember the awful sights in the hospital: the gas patients who in day-long suffocation cough up their burnt lungs in clots" (Remarque 68).

WWI Weaponry: Machine Guns

Machine Gun

The machine gun in 1914 could shoot 400-600 rounds a minute, operated by four to six men, had the fire power of 80 riflemen and often overheated too quickly and would jam. Water jackets and air vents helped with cooling. Even with the water jackets, some times the machine guns would over heat in just two minutes, so lots of water had to be on hand to keep the gun cool.

The first self-powered machine gun was invented by Hiram Maxim in 1885. It used the recoil of the last bullet to fire the next one. Prior to the war, the British rejected the Maxim gun, saying it was improper. Later, the British company Vickers bought Maxim and improved the Maxim gun to make it lighter and the British Army used this version instead. The Vickers Machine Gun fired .303 inch rounds, fed on cloth belts of 250 rounds. It could fire between 450 and 600 rounds a minute and was mounted on a tripod. The British did not use the machine gun very much in WWI. A few machine guns would be with each infantry battalion until late 1915, when Machine Gun Corps was formed.



 The Germans quickly copied the Maxim gun to their own version, the Maschinengewehr 08. The MG 08 used belts of 250 7.9mm bullets and was usually mounted on a sledge mount. The German Armies had Machine Gun companies to assist the infantrymen.


The French saw the machine gun as too defensive and wanted to put their money towards offensive attacks instead.

A lighter machine gun was a concept that never went as planned in WWI. It was planned to be an offensive, mobile and portable machine gun. A machine gun that was light enough to be manned by a single person on the run was not ever reached. They were always too heavy. In 1914, the Lewis Light Machine Gun was developed by the British, but it was too heavy and attempts to mount it on some type of transportation was too slow. In 1918, the Germans made the Bergmann MP 18 which proved useful. The only problem was maintaining enough ammunition. Light Machine Guns were later mounted on tanks and truck In 1915, the light machine gun was mounted onto air planes and later the Vickers combined with German interrupter equipment allowed for a machine gun to shoot through the propeller of the plane.

WWI Weaponry: Tanks

Tanks:

"but these tanks are machines, their caterpillars run on as endless as the war, they are annihilation, they roll without feeling into the craters, and climb up again without stopping, a fleet of roaring, smoke-belching armour-clads invulnerable steel beasts squashing the dead and the wounded-we shrivel up in our thin skin before them, against their colossal weight our arms are sticks of straw our hand-grenades matches" (Remarque 282)

The tank was a concept that started in the eighteenth century. In 1770, Richard Edgeworth developed the caterpillar track. Steampowered tractors with caterpillar tracks were used in the Crimean War. In 1885, Holt company made a caterpillar track tractor that had an internal combustion engine. In 1899, Frederick Simms developed a tractor with caterpillar tracks, a bullet proof cased engine and two revolving Maxim machine guns. The British Army rejected it as a "pretty mechanical toy".

A need for a tank appeared on December 26, 1914 when Secretary of the Committee for Imperial Defence Maurice Hankey wrote a memo about tanks. Colonel Ernest Swinton set up a demonstration of the Killen-Strait tractor. The tractor could cut through barbed wire, which got Churchill and Lloyd George convinced. The new machine was to be called the Landship and Churchill sponsored the construction of it.

The Landship had to be capable of the following jobs:

• minimum speed of 4 miles per hour
• climb a 5 foot high mound
• span a 5 foot wide trench
• small-arms fire bullet proof
• 2 machine guns
• range of 20 miles
• maintained by 10 men

In December of 1915, Lieutenant Walter Wilson and William Tritton produced the first landship, codenamed "tank". It did not meet the criterea set out by Swinton, but it was impresssive enough.

• Carry 3 people, hardly
• top speed 3 miles per hour, 2 mph on rought terrain
• could not cross trenches

This monster weighted 14 tons and had 12 foot long track frames.

In June 1916, the tank was actually war-ready. And on September 15,1916 the British rolled out in their tanks. However, the tanks often got stuck and the men had to escape, running back from the middle of No Man's Land. Also, the heat generated by the tanks was unbearable and the fumes sometimes choked them to death.

The French heard of the Britsh's tank plans and developed their own before the British but did not put them to action until April of 1917. They also were a disappointment.

On the 20 of November, 1917, the British Tank Corps fought in the Battle of Cambrai. They broke through 12 miles of the German front, capturing10,000 POW, 123 guns and 281 machine guns.

On 24 April, 1918, three British Mark IV fought three German A7Vs south og Villers Bretonneux. The British tanks won, pushing back the German tanks.


On August 8, 1918, British tanks advanced 20 miles on the Western Front.

By the end of the war, Britian tank production was out done by the French, who produced 3,870 tanks, against Britian's 2,636. Germany only produced 20 and the US only 84.

WWI Weaponry: Grenades

Grenades:
Grenades are simply a small, hand held explosive that release shrapnel into the enemy. Normally, the shrapnel is it's own casing, but sometimes there is additional metal inside to make more fragments.


In 1908, modern grenades were invented by the British. They were long-handled impact grenades. As the name implies, the grenades exploded when they hit the ground. The problem is, of course, that can be accidentally set off if they are dropped or jostled.

    The British added a pin ad the end of the handle to stick grenades so that they were not so easily set off. Because of the handle, they would fall nose down when thrown, which set off the explosion.This model, the Mark 1 (1914) was unsafe because they were fragile and would explode if they came in contact with anything while being thrown (Imagine your hand hitting the side of the trench while throwing it).

   
     In late 1915, the British issued the No 15 grenade. These were ignited by taking off the covering that protects the fuse and lighting like a match against a matchhead igniter. These were mass produced at rates of more that 200,000 a week. There were problems with these though. The No 15 had a very high explosion which resulted in smaller fragments, which were not as effective. Also, the No 15 were not very weather- resistant. This made them very unpopular.

     The British soldiers reverted to making their own "jam tin" grenades which were simply a can filled with dynamite, scrap metal, or stones with a fuse. The fuses had a 1.25 second delay for each inch of fuse.

 
     Probably the most popular and recognized grenade is Mill's bomb or the 'pineapple' grenade. It is named after it's creator, William Mills. The grooves giving it the nickname of 'pineapple' was originally there for grip, but it also helped with fragmentation. In fact, these grenades have a danger range farther than the throwing range, so the thrower has to take cover quickly. The Mill's bomb has a strong spring to drive the striker, which is held back by the safety lever, which is held back by the pin. The striker hits the fuse, giving it the delay and detonation.These were so popular, that over 70 million were shipped out to the front to be thrown at the Germans.

Rifle grenades were used in WWI to help the grenades travel farther. The rod launcher had a grenade on the end of a rod which was placed down inside the barrel of a rifle. The soldiers would put their rifles on the ground for leverage. They pulled the pin and shot a blank, sending the grenade high and far. However, the rods damaged the barrels of the rifles and if you took too long or the fuse was too short, the grenade could detonate in your face.

     The cup rifle grenade was more popularly used by the French and British. The cup launcher attached to barrel of the rifle and could launch either a standard grenade or a specialized grenade designed for the cup launcher.The safety pin was pulled before the a blank round was shot.

     The British and French improved the cup launcher to fire 400 meters compared to the original average of 190 meters. The Germans stopped using the cup launcher in 1916 to attempt to revised it and they didn't start using it again until 1918.
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The Germans had many types of grenades as well.They had stick grenades that were on a delay, unlike the impact stick grenades that were so dangerous. Impact stick grenades are not unheard of, they were just not as popularly used because of the risk. They also had disc grenades, or 'turtle' grenades.

These grenades are very cool. When thrown, the four pins would be drawn out by centrifugal force. On impact, one or two of the pins would be pressed into the strikers, detonating the grenade. The Germans also had grenades that would explode with hardly any delay so that the enemy had no time to take cover.The egg grenade had a throwing distance of 50 yards, making it popular among the soldiers.

Cool Grenade Animation

This animation is for the Mill's Grenade, developed in 1915 by William Mills.

http://www.inert-ord.net/brit/mills/grenade-delay.swf

WWI Weaponry: Flamethrower

Flamethrower



The flamethrower was used by the Germans. The main point of the flamethrower was to burn anything. People, supplies, food, or buildings. But they were normally used for a fear factor. Once the enemy got over the fear of the sight of the fire, they would continue to fight as normal. There were two main types, the Kleinflammenwerfer and the GroBflammenwerfer. 



The Kleinflammenwerfer is smaller and can be carried by a single person. Small units of flamethrowers were sent in groups of six or so to fight off the defenders and open the way for the attacking Germans. The Kleinflammaenwerfer uses pressurized air and either carbon dioxide or nitrogen to shoot burning oil as far as 18 meters. Another portable version had canisters of gas on the flamethrower's back and a hose with a lit nozzle on the end to ignite the gas. Two cylinder versions have propellant in one tank, and flammable liquid in the other. The fuel is shot through the tube and ignited at the end of the nozzle.The GroBflammenwerfer is larger and could shoot about 36 meters. It was could sustain flame for 40 seconds and needed more men to operate it.



The French and British developed their own flamethrowers, both designing ones better than the Germans. The British found that besides clearing trenches, the flamethrowers were pointless, so they stopped using them almost immediately. The French made one for trench attacks that the Germans used to base a new flamethrower off of.



"Two fellows with a flamethrower are seen, one carries the tin on his back, the other has the hose in his hands from whcih the fire spouts. If they get so near that they can reach us we are done for, we cannot retreat yet" (Remarque 283).

Being a flamethrower is very dangerous. Having a tank strapped to your back is not exactly going to make it any easier to run. If you run out of fuel, then you are stranded with no weapon, so flamethrowers had to be careful and not waste their fuel. Also, you are very visible, especially at night, making you a huge, glowing target. If flamethrowers were captured, they were rarely taken as prisoner and were more often killed.

Near the end of the war, flamethrowers were attached to tanks.

WWI Weaponry: Bayonets

Bayonet

Among all of the technological advances, the primitive bayonet was still used in World War I. The bayonet is simply a long knife attached to the end of the rifle. Bayonets were useful in the close-quarters combat in the trenches. Bayonets often were given to the soldiers whose job it was to protected the grenadiers. Even in close combat, the bayonet saw little usage as hand knifes, spades, or clubs were often used by the soldiers instead:

"But the bayonet has practically lost its importance. It is usually the fashion now to charge with bombs and spades only. The sharpened spade is a more handy and many-sided weapon; not only can it be used for jabbing a man under the chin, but it is much better for striking with because of its greater weight; and if one hits between the neck and shoulder it easily cleaves as far down as the chest" (Remarque 104).

 One problem that the bayonet caused was that it was often difficult to remove the blade from the victim, so the attacker was struggling to free their weapons so they could keep fighting:

 "a man has to kick hard on the other fellow's belly to pull it out again; and in the interval he may easily get one himself" (Remarque 104).

     The French made very slender bayonets, or 'needle' bayonets.
     The Germans made bayonets with a saw edge on one side. It would cut smoothly in, but the serrated edge would widen the wound on the way out. Or the other way around, depending on the blade.

"We overhaul the bayonets...that have a saw on the blunt edge. If the fellows over there catch a man with one of those, he's killed at sight" (Remarque 103).


This saw-back bayonet was a big deal to the propaganda aspect of the war, because of the image of sharp, jagged teeth and the idea of being sawed to death was so brutal. The saw-back bayonets were actually helpful in Anti-German propaganda.


The Germans also made an adapter that would attach enemy bayonets to German rifles, so captured bayonets could be used. In the picture above, the German's have Russian bayonets on their rifles.
  

WWI Weaponry: Rifles

Rifles
 

The German Gewehr 98 Mauser was designed by Peter Mauser in 1898. It was advanced with magazine or clip technology but could only hold 5 rounds of 7.9mm bullets in a magazine. The Gewehr could not handle rapid-fire. In early 1915, telescopic sights were put on the Gerwehr 98, although the bolt action had to be modified.

The British Lee Enfield was designed in 1907 by American, James Lee. Enfield is the manufacturer. It was issued to almost all the British troops in WWI. The Lee-Enfield could handle rapid fire and could hold a 10 round magazine of .303 inch bullets. The Lee-Enfield was used in World War 2 as well.

The French originally issued the Lebel, made in 1886. It fired 8mm bullets. The Lebel's magazine was loaded eight cartridges horizontally instead of vertically and was placed under the barrel. This meant that that front of one bullet could hit back of the bullet in front of it, causing small explosion. This could be avoided if the riflemen loaded slowly, but that just caused more problems.



In 1916, the Berthier was issued. The Berthier was more up to date like the other rifles of the time. It was vertically clip loaded and was a bolt action. The original Berthier only had three round clips, but the one issued in 1916 had six.


The Austria Hungarian rifle of choice was the Steyr-Mannlicher 1895, designed in 1895 by Ferdinand Ritter Von Mannlicher. Unlike the other bolt action rifles in this era, it was a straight-pull back instead of a rotating bolt action. It fired 8mm bullets and could fire 35 rounds a minute, which is a lot for this time in history.
 

The American M1903 Springfield is a bolt action, 5 round clip loaded rifle.


But when America entered the war, there was a shortage of M1903 Springfield rifles, so instead of resetting the factories to produce Springfields, they adapted the British Enfield to for American cartridges. The magazine, rifling dimensions, chamber and bolt face were altered and the sights adjusted. And thus, the M1917 Enfield was born. The M1917 Enfield was much better than the Springfield and most of the troops were issued an Enfield.