World War 1 Tactics Essay, Research Paper

Tactics Being Deployed in The Great War

In this Great war there are many different tactics and artillery being used. There is a lot of speculation as to what is being used at the present time. I have done a lot of research in the last few months to uncover the true weapons being used. I hope the following clears up anything you were wondering about what is being used in The Great War.

The Tank

The idea of the tank was first designed by Leonardo De Vinci, in 1482. The French attempted to create the armored vehicles of which daVinci spoke, but it was the British who developed the first track-laying armored vehicles during The Great War. On September 16, 1916, forty nine tanks were used at the battle of Somme near Courcelette, France, with negative results. A year later, in November 1917, 400 tanks penetrated the Hindenberg line near Cambrai on the Eastern Front. This attack captured 8000 enemy soldiers and 100 enemy guns.

Chemical warfare

This particularly horrific method of warfare is based on releasing toxins or incapacitating chemicals into enemy lines in order to cause mass death or at least incapacitate the enemy.

In The Great War there are several different types of gases being used to break the deadlock of trench warfare. Tear gas, a gas causing excessive tearing when it comes into contact with the victim s eyes. Chlorine gas and phosgene were two of the more common lung irritants used by the armies. Also widely used was mustard gas, which caused whoever it came into contact with to break out in severe burns. Mustard gas was often used in conjunction with the flame-thrower.

Flame-thrower

This was a military weapon used to project flames toward the enemy. A flame-thrower consists of a fuel container filled with oil, a cylinder containing a gas propellant under a high pressure, a discharge tube with an adjustable nozzle and an ignition device. In The Great War, two styles of flame-throwers have been used thus far: A heavy one mounted on a tank and a light, portable, hand carried one. The flame-thrower has great psychological impact during the war because it succeeds in inflicting fear into the enemy. However, as a weapon it is limited by its short range and unpredictable aim. The flame-throwers being used in The Great War consume great amounts of fuel.

Machine Gun

The machine gun is a type of gun in which the operations of loading, extraction, and firing are performed automatically. This enables the machine gun to maintain a constant fire. Before The Great War practically all machine guns used the same caliber ammunition as infantry rifles. During the war, they have become divided into different types, each designed for its specific use. The lighter weight designed guns are suited to firing short, compact bursts of bullets. The heavier models are developed to be situated in one place and give off a constant barrage of fire. These have come into use due to the trench warfare that is taking place during The Great War. Machine guns are also developed for mounting in tanks and in airplanes.

Air warfare

Airplanes

As the threat of Germany using zeppelins for military purposes during the war grows, many leading nations have begun to look critically at the potentiality of military aviation. When conflict began in 1914, both the Allies and the Germans each had about 200 aircraft on the Western Front. These were primarily used for reconnaissance or scouting out land areas, and were extremely vulnerable to antiaircraft fire due to their slow speeds. Then, in 1915, Dutch designer Anthony Fokker developed an interpreter gear, which allowed a machine gun, mounted on a plane to fire through the propellers without damaging the blades.