Big Bertha
In 1900 Alfred Krupp’s armaments factory at Essen, Germany, began building a 350-mm howitzer that could fire an 800 lb shell over 10,000 yards. In 1908 the German Army asked Gustav Krupp to build an improved version of this gun with the capability of destroying the heaviest fortification.
By 1912 Krupp had produced a 420mm weapon that fired a 2,100 lb shell over 16,000 yards. As it weighed 175 tons, it was designed to be transported in five sections by rail and assembled at the firing site. This concerned the German Army and they asked for it to be adapted to be moved by road. By 1914 company had produced a mobile howitzer called Big Bertha (named after Gustav Krupp’s wife). This 43 ton howitzer could fire a 2,200 lb shell over 9 miles. Transported by Daimler-Benz tractors, it took its 200-man crew, over six hours to re-assemble it on the site.
On the outbreak of the First World War, two Big Berthas and several Skoda 30.5 howitzers were erected outside the fortress of Liege in Belgium. The first shells were fired on 12th August at the ring of 12 forts around the city. By the 15th August all the forts had either been destroyed or had surrendered. News of the success of this new weapon at Liege encouraged other countries involved in the conflict to produce large mobile guns.
- How far could Big Bertha fire a 2,200 pound shell
- How many people were in the crew to assemble the Big Bertha?
- How long did it take to assemble?
- What country produced Big Bertha?
- In what country was Big Bertha first used?
Machine Gun
In 1884 Hiram Maxim invented the world's first automatic portable machine-gun. Maxim used the energy of each bullet's recoil force to eject the spent cartridge, insert the next and fire it. The machine-gun would therefore fire until the entire belt of bullets was used up.
The Maxim Gun was adopted by the British Army in 1889. It was first used by Britain`s colonial forces in the Matabele war in 1893-94. In one engagement, fifty police of the Rhodesian character company fought off 5,000 Matabele warriors with just four Maxim guns. The design was taken over by the Vickers Company and was used by the army for over seventy years.
The Maxim Gun could fire 400-600 rounds of small-calibre ammunition per minute. Each gun had the firepower of about 100 rifles. The German Army's Maschinengewehr and the Russian Pulemyot Maxima were both based on the same design. The American Army tended to use the Browning Machine-Gun whereas the French Army preferred the Hotchkiss.
Machine-guns were positioned all along the Western Front. The machine-guns in use in 1914 required a crew of three to six men and were positioned on a flat trajectory tripod. For added protection, German machine-guns were often housed inside concrete blockhouses.
Both sides also used smaller machine-gun posts. Germans built them in large numbers all along the line at Ypres and Messines. Machine-gunners were deeply hated by the infantry and they were more likely to be killed when captured than other soldiers.
- Who invented the first portable automatic machine gun?
- How many rounds of ammunition could a maxim gun fire a minute?
- In 1914, how many people did it take to operate a machine gun?
- Where did the Germans hide their machine-gunners?
- Often times, what would happen when a machine gunner was captured?
Flamethrower
The flamethrower, which brought terror to French and British soldiers when used by the German army in the early phases of the First World War in 1914 and 1915 (and which was quickly adopted by both) was by no means a particularly innovative weapon.
The basic idea of a flamethrower is to spread fire by launching burning fuel. The earliest flamethrowers date as far back as the 5th century B.C. These took the form of lengthy tubes filled with burning solids (such as coal or sulphur), and which were used in the same way as blow-guns: by blowing into one end of the tube the solid material inside would be propelled towards the operator's enemies.
The flamethrower was inevitably refined over the intervening centuries, although the models seen in the early days of World War One were developed at the turn of the 20th century. The German army tested two models of flamethrower - or Flammenwerfer in German - in the early 1900s, one large and one small, both developed by Richard Fiedler.
The first notable use of the Flammenwerfer came in a surprise attack launched by the Germans upon the British at Hooge in Flanders. Springing forward at 0315 on 30 July 1915 the Germans made effective use of the portable Flammenwerfer, with gas cylinders strapped to the back of the men responsible for using the instrument, a lit nozzle attached to each cylinder.
The effect of the dangerous nature of the surprise attack proved terrifying to the British opposition, although their line, initially pushed back, was stabilized later the same night. In two days of severe fighting the British lost 31 officers and 751 other ranks during the attack.
- Who developed the German flamethrower?
- Where did the Germans first use the flamethrower?
- Who did the Germans attack?
- How many people did the British lose in two days of fighting?
Zeppelins
Along with Germany's involvement in The Great War came the zeppelin. With this, the Count's dreams finally would be realized. His mammoth ships would carry their deadly cargo from far from behind the battles in France and bomb London itself. Initially, there was no defense to put against these raids. The zeppelins would leave Germany at dusk and arrive over England by the cover of night. Cities could be easily spotted by their street lights and the bombs would be dropped. The Zeppelins would then turn for home and arrive before dawn.
Often English pilots would pursue the zeppelins across the sky but they had little chance of catching them. The zeppelins would be at a considerable altitude and the zeppelin's cruising speed was often comparable to that of the aeroplane chasing it. To make matters worse, if a pilot did manage to catch up to the airship, the zeppelins were bristling with machine guns.
Only later in the war did the tide turn against the zeppelins. New planes with more powerful engines were built that could catch the midnight marauders. These new planes also carried a new weapon that would exploit the zeppelins Achilles' heel: incendiary ammunition. Bullets laced with phosphorus would burn with a hot flame that could easily set the massive volume of hydrogen aflame. When a zeppelin burned, eye witnesses said that it would light the night sky.
The Germans tried to counter this by making new high-flying, super light weight zeppelins called "Height Climbers" and by painting the undersides black. The idea was that if a zeppelin could fly high enough, it could exceed the operational altitude of the British planes and its black underside would be less likely to be spotted against the night sky. These were both good ideas, but by then, the time of the zeppelin as a military front-line weapon was over.
- What city the Germans bomb with their zeppelins?
- How did the speed of zeppelins compare with the speed of airplanes?
- What weapon was used to defeat zeppelins?
- What gas was the zeppelin filled with? Any problems with this?
- The Germans thought of making a “Super Zeppelin”. What would it have been called?
Tanks
During World War I (1914-1918) the British developed and used the first armored track-laying vehicles in an attempt to break the deadlock of trench warfare on the Western Front. To maintain secrecy, the vehicles were shipped to the battle zone in crates marked “tanks,” hence the origin of the name.
The tank had no single inventor. The Royal Naval Air Service, which operated some armored cars, originated ideas for “landships.” Simultaneously, British colonel Ernest Swinton proposed the military use of track-laying tractors. Both suggestions came to the attention of the First Lord of the Admiralty, Sir Winston Churchill. He set up a Landships Committee that laid down specifications.
By the end of 1915 British engineers had built a prototype landship, nicknamed “mother.” The first battle in which these tanks were employed was the Battle of the Somme, on September 15, 1916, when the British used 49 tanks with disappointing results. Although the military impact was limited, the psychological and propaganda impact was huge.
As the war progressed, armored protection and engines were improved. In November 1917, at the Battle of Cambrai, about 400 British tanks achieved a notable success in breaking through the German lines, helping capture 8,000 of the enemy and 100 guns. In 1918 tanks formed an important element of many attacks during the Allied advances that preceded the armistice ending World War I. The French army had introduced its own tanks in 1917, but the Germans had produced only a handful before the end of the war.
The slowness and unreliability of early tanks prevented them from being a decisive weapon in their own right. With the exception of the French Renault light tank, early tanks deployed their armament in their hulls rather than in a rotating turret. However, they achieved enough success to secure their place on the battlefield, and development continued following World War I.
- Where did the term “tanks” come from?
- What battle were tanks first used at?
- How many tanks did the British use at this battle?
- How many tanks did the British use at the Battle of Cambrai?
Airplanes
A typical British aircraft at the outbreak of the war was the general purpose BE2c, with a top speed of 116 km/h (72 mph). Powered by a 90 hp engine, it could remain aloft for over three hours. By the end of the war aircraft were designed for specific tasks. Built for speed and maneuverability, the SE5a fighter of 1917 was powered by a 200 hp engine and had a top speed of 222 km/h (138 mph).
Britain's most famous bomber, the Handley-Page O/400, could carry a bomb load of 900kg (2000 lb) at a top speed of 156 km/h (97mph) for flights lasting eight hours. It was powered by two 360 hp engines.
In 1914 it was important that aircraft be easy to fly, as the amount of training that pilots received was minimal, to say the least. Louis Strange, an innovative pilot from the opening stages of the war, was an early graduate of the RFC (Royal Flying Corps) flight school. He began flying combat missions having completed only three and a half hours of actual flying time. For this reason aircraft were designed for stability. By the end of the war stability had given way to maneuverability. The famous Sopwith Camel was a difficult aircraft to fly, but supremely agile.
Not only did aircraft become faster, more maneuverable and more powerful, but a number of technologies that were common at the start of the war had almost disappeared by the end of it. Many of the aircraft in 1914 were of "pusher" layout. This is the same configuration that the Wright brothers used, where the propeller faced backwards and pushed the aircraft forward.
The alternative layout, where the propeller faces forwards and pulls the aircraft, was called a "tractor" design. It provided better performance, but in 1914 visibility was deemed more important than speed. World War One marked the end of pusher aircraft.
Another technology that scarcely survived the war was the rotary engine. In this type of engine the pistons were arranged in a circle around the crankshaft. When the engine ran, the crankshaft itself remained stationary while the pistons rotated around it. The propeller was fixed to the pistons and so rotated with them. Rotary engines were air cooled, and thus very light. They provided an excellent power-to-weight ratio, but they could not provide the same power that the heavier in-line water cooled engines could. Although they remained in use throughout the war, by 1918 Sopwith remained the last major manufacturer still using them.
- At the beginning of a war, how fast could an airplane go?
- By 1917, how fast could an airplane go?
- How much could Britain’s most famous bomber carry in terms of bombs?
- What two individuals invented the “Pusher” layout?