Killing technology of World War 1

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Killing technology of World War 1

• By Chris Naidu

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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