Killing technology of World War 1

By Chris Naidu

Tanks

• The British Mark1tank was first used in September 1916, the Battle of the Somme

• The Germans fled in terror when they saw the Tanks approaching

• The battle revealed the tanks limitations• They had a speed of four miles an hour• They carried bundles of logs which were dropped

in to trenches to form a bridge, yet the tanks frequently stuck in mud or toppled over

Tanks continued

• The men inside were cramped, hot and suffocating in engine fumes

• The main problem was the tanks were mechanically unreliable

• In 1917 at Cambrai, 65 of 378 tanks used in battle were destroyed by enemy fire

• But 114 were lost through breakdown or accidents

Tanks continued

• At the Battle of Amien 1918, allied commanders had 342 tanks available the first day

• 145 on the second• 85 on the third• 38 on the fourth• 6 on the last day!• Tanks were not yet the war winning weapon allied

generals hoped they would be

Gas

• The Germans were the first to use Chlorine gas at Ypres in 1915

• Chlorine gas is a lung irritant• The symptoms of gas poisoning are bright red lips,

and a blue face• People affected die a slow death by suffocation• Decades later men who thought they had survived

the war died from lung diseases such as Emphysema

Gas continued

• In 1915 the Germans added phosgene, a more suffocating gas

• Wilfrid Owen describes the effects of this in one of his poems called Dulce et Decorum Est:” …the blood … the gargling from the froth corrupted lungs.”

• In 1917 the Germans used mustard gas: it had no smell and its effect were not noticed for 9-12hours

• It temporarily blinded its victims,burnt the skin, and ripped out the lining of their lungs

Gas continued

• It was so painful that people who were effected by mustard gas often had to strapped to their hospital beds “screaming to die, the entire layer of skin burnt from the face and body”.

• Although the use of gas was denounced by the allies as “terrorist war” by 1915 they too were using gas

• After the development of gas masks, gas killed few men

Gas continued

• 93% of gas cases were eventually returned to duty and in 1917 it was reported that “the majority of casualties were more frightened than hurt.”

• Both sides used gas to unsettle defenders during an attack