Tanks in World War I

Tanks in World War I

A British Mark V (Male) tank

The development of tanks in World War I began as a solution to the stalemate which trench warfare had brought to the western front. The first prototype of the Mark I tank was tested for the British Army on September 8th 1915. Although initially termed "land ships" by the British Army, initial vehicles were referred to as "water-carriers" (then shortened to "tanks") to preserve secrecy.

While the British took the lead in tank development, the French were not far behind and fielded their first tanks in 1917. The Germans, on the other hand, were slower to develop tanks, concentrating on anti-tank weapons.

Initial results were mixed with reliability. There were problems that caused considerable attrition rates during combat deployment and transit. The heavily bombed-out terrain was impassable to conventional vehicles, and only highly mobile tanks such as the Mark and FTs performed reasonably well. The Mark I's rhomboid shape meant it could navigate larger obstacles, especially long trenches, better than many armoured fighting vehicles.

Along with the tank, the first self-propelled gun and the first armoured personnel carrier were also introduced in World War I (the Mark V* tank was built with space inside for a small squad of infantry).

U-Boats

German submarine U-9 (1910).

The first submarine built in Germany was the two man submarine Brandtaucher, which sank to the bottom of Kiel harbor during its first test dive.[1] The vessel was designed in 1850 by the inventor and engineer Wilhelm Bauer and built by Schweffel & Howaldt in Kiel for the German Navy. Brandtaucher was later rediscovered during dredging operations in 1887, and subsequently raised sixteen years later and placed into a museum in Germany, where it rests today.

At the start of World War I, Germany had twenty-nine U-boats; in the first ten weeks, five British cruisers had been lost to them. On 5 September 1914, HMS Pathfinder was sunk by U-21, the first ship to have been sunk by a submarine using a self-propelled torpedo. On 22 September, U-9 sank the obsolete British warships HMS Aboukir,

In the Gallipoli Campaign in the spring of 1915 in the eastern Mediterranean, German U-boats, notably the U-21, prevented close support of allied troops by 18 pre-Dreadnought battleships by sinking two of them.

On 7 May 1915, U-20 sank the liner RMS Lusitania with a single torpedo hit, although it is debated whether a second explosion was due to flammable cargo or another torpedo. The sinking claimed 1,198 lives, 128 of them American civilians. The sinking deeply shocked the Allies and their sympathizers because an unarmed civilian merchant and passenger vessel was attacked. According to the ship's manifest, Lusitania was carrying military cargo. After further investigations, it has been confirmed that the Lusitania was in fact carrying ammunition for the allies to use against the Germans. However, this was not known at the time and the Lusitania was mistaken for a troopship.

Zeppelin Raids

Count Ferdinand Zeppelin, a German army officer, began developing his ideas on airships in 1897. The first Zeppelin flew on 2nd July 1900. The LZ-3 Zeppelin was accepted into army service in March 1909. By the start of the First World War the German Army had seven military Zeppelins.
The Zeppelin developed in 1914 could reach a maximum speed of 136 kph and reach a height of 4,250 metres. The Zeppelin had five machine-guns and could carry 2,000 kg (4,400 lbs) of bombs.
In January 1915, two Zeppelin navel airships 190 metres long, flew over the east coast of England and bombed great Yarmouth and King's Lynn. The first Zeppelin raid on London took place on 31st May 1915. The raid killed 28 people and injured 60 more.

By the end of May 1916 at least 550 British civilians had been killed by German Zeppelins.
Zeppelins could deliver successful long-range bombing attacks, but were extremely vulnerable to attack and bad weather. British fighter pilots and anti-aircraft gunners became very good at bringing down Zeppelins. A total of 115 Zeppelins were used by the German military, of which, 77 were either destroyed or so damaged they could not be used again. In June 1917 the German military stopped used Zeppelins for bombing raids over Britain.

Chlorine Gas

The German Army first used chlorine gas cylinders in April 1915 against the French Army at Ypres. French soldiers reported seeing yellow-green clouds drifting slowly towards the Allied trenches. They also noticed its distinctive smell which was like a mixture of pineapple and pepper. At first the French officers assumed that the German infantry were advancing behind a smoke screen and orders were given to prepare for an armed attack. When the gas arrived at the Allied front-trenches soldiers began to complain about pains in the chests and a burning sensation in their throats.
Chlorine gas destroyed the respiratory organs of its victims and this led to a slow death by asphyxiation. It was a horrible death, but as hard as they tried, doctors were unable to find a way of successfully treating chlorine gas poisoning.
It was important to have the right weather conditions before a gas attack could be made. When the British Army launched a gas attack on 25th September in 1915, the wind blew it back into the faces of the advancing troops. This problem was solved in 1916 when gas shells were produced for use with heavy artillery. This increased the army's range of attack and helped to protect their own troops when weather conditions were not completely ideal.
After the first German chlorine gas attacks, Allied troops were supplied with masks of cotton pads that had been soaked in urine. It was found that the ammonia in the pad neutralized the chlorine. These pads were held over the face until the soldiers could escape from the poisonous fumes. By July 1915 soldiers were given efficient gas masks and anti-asphyxiation respirators.

Otto Dix, A German Gas Attack (1924)

Airplanes

Color Autochrome Lumière of a Nieuport Fighter in Aisne, France 1917

World War I was the first war in which aircraft were deployed on a large scale. Aeroplanes were just coming into military use at the outset of the war. Initially, they were used mostly for reconnaissance. Pilots and engineers learned from experience, leading to the development of many specialized types, including fighters, bombers, and ground-attack aeroplanes.

Ace fighter pilots were portrayed as modern knights, and many became popular heroes. While the impact of aircraft on the course of war was limited, many of the lessons learned would be applied in future wars.

First Airplane to Shoot down another Airplane

Gabriel Voisin was of the most productive aircraft designers of the First World War. On 5th October, 1914 the Voisin III, became the first Allied plane to shoot down an enemy aircraft.
Voisin became the standard Allied bomber in the early years of the war. Successive models were more powerful and over 800 were purchased by the French Army Air Service. The Royal Flying Corps and the Russian and Belgian airforces also used them in the war. The Voisin V first appeared in 1915. It was the first bomber to be armed with a cannon instead of a machine-gun.