1. Trench Warfare

2. Why was war fought from trenches?
Weapons of war had been developed that were so deadly … need to have cover.
Questions/Answers from ‘The Trenches’ handout:

3. Review Trench Diagrams

4. Purpose of trench features
2. a) What links the frontline and support trenches? Communication Trench b)What is the purpose of trench blocks? Slow down the enemy if they get into your trench system

5. c) Why are machine guns placed just behind the front line
c) Why are machine guns placed just behind the front line? Why are they so close to the bunkers (underground shelter and storage)?
Machine gun nests are placed above/behind the front line trench to have aim at the enemy (and if an enemy enters their trench system, the machine guns can take aim). Bunkers need to be close by to provide ammo
Why is the barbed wire angled to the front trench?

6. d) Again, barbed wire entanglements slow down the enemy if they get into the trench system. You want to protect machine gunners at all cost. e) It’s angled to ‘funnel’ the enemy right in front of the machine gun nests.

7. 3 a) If you were standing on a firing step (or trench board), what would prevent you from getting shot in the chest? Sandbags (parapet – facing the front of the trench/facing the enemy) b) What is the purpose of the sump? And what is placed over it? Drain/collect water in the bottom of the trench system. And a ‘duckboard’ or ‘trench grating’ was placed over the sump to keep soldiers feet dry. c) To slow the enemy down once they get passed the angled wires. Machine guns can reach that distance to ‘pick-off’ the enemy. There are also ‘wire breaks’ that our side would use to go over the top (and into No Man’s Land)

8. Extra Questions:
Where is the parapet? Front/facing the enemy
If you were instructed to go “over the top”, what must you do? Get out of the Frontline Trench (parapet) and charge into No Man’s Land
If you were ordered to “stand down”, what must you do? Don’t do anything.
What is the area between opposing trenches called? No Man’s Land
What are “wire breaks”? Maze of breaks in the barbed wire entanglement that let us through.

9. TRENCH WARFARE WEAPONS

10. Machine Gun
Machine guns of all armies were largely of the heavy variety and decidedly ill-suited to portability for use by rapidly advancing infantry troops.
The 1914 machine gun, usually positioned on a flat tripod, would require a
gun crew of four to six
operators.
Could fire small-
calibre rounds per minute
a figure that was to more
than double by the war's
end, with rounds fed via a
fabric belt or a metal strip.

11. Ross Rifle
The Ross had many faults in trench warfare, and after numerous complaints the replacement of all Ross rifles in the three Canadian Divisions by the Lee Enfield was ordered.
With its ten-cartridge magazine, the Lee Enfield was well suited to rapid fire; a suitably trained soldier could expect to fire twelve well-aimed shots a minute.
The Lee-Enfield proved so sturdy and reliable that its use continued into World War Two. 

12. Chlorine Gas
The debut of the first poison gas came on 22 April 1915, at the start of the Second Battle of Ypres.
The types of protection initially handed out to the troops around Ypres following the first use of chlorine in April 1915 were primitive in the extreme.  100,000 wads of cotton pads were quickly manufactured and made available.  These were dipped in a solution of bicarbonate of soda and held over the face.
Soldiers were also advised that holding a urine drenched cloth over their face would serve in an emergency to protect against the effects of chlorine.

13. Tanks
Tightly fitting 3 men inside, conditions for the tank crews were also far from ideal.  The heat generated inside the tank was tremendous and fumes often nearly choked the men inside. 
This first tank was given the nickname 'Little Willie' (soon followed by 'Big Willie') and, as with its predecessors, possessed a Daimler engine.  Weighing some 14 tons and bearing 12 feet long track frames.
Top speed was three miles per hour on level ground, two miles per hour on rough terrain
They often broke down and became ditched
- i.e. stuck in a muddy trench - more often
than anticipated
(ex. Passchendaele Battle)

14. Flamethrowers
The basic idea of a flamethrower is to spread fire by launching burning fuel (such as coal or sulphur).

15. Artillery (large calibre guns)
There were many different kinds of artillery (11) in WWI. For example, the German howitzer Big Bertha
could shoot 2,200lbs
shells over 9 miles!
She took a crew of 200
men over 6 hours to
assemble and
disassemble her.

16. Trench Mortar
A mortar is essentially a short, stumpy tube designed to fire a projectile at a steep angle (by definition higher than 45 degrees) so that it falls straight down on the enemy. Lighter more mobile than large artillery.
The Stokes mortar could fire as
many as 22 bombs per minute
and had a maximum range of
1,200 yards.