This animation is for the Mill's Grenade, developed in 1915 by William Mills.
http://www.inert-ord.net/brit/mills/grenade-delay.swf
Thursday, November 8, 2012
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.
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).
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.
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.
Propaganda: Germany
Although this is obviously not all the propaganda in Germany during WWI, we see a blatant absence of propaganda relating to rationing or buying war bonds.
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Propaganda: Britain
Propaganda in Britain was used for a number of reasons. It was used to get men to enlist and join the army, anti-German propaganda, but there was also some about rationing, or about saving food and canning.
Propaganda: USA
Despite only being in the war for the last 27 months, America turned out a surprising amount of war propaganda, ranging from enlisting campaigns to war bonds to rationing ads. Rationing ads were a bit less prominent, but there were sill plenty.
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