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| World War 1 Sopwith Camel |
The first planes that participated in world war 1 flew as reconnaissance crafts looking down on enemy positions or to help direct artillery fire for more precision. Soon the aircraft's were equipped with guns, to shoot down enemy airplanes, leading to dogfights in the skies between highly skilled "aces".Specialized fighter planes, such as the Allied Sopwith Camel and the German Fokker line, were produced to participate in World War 1.
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World War 1 German Fokker |
The Sopwith Camel and the German Fokker were both much sturdier and better for dropping the bombs on enemy targets. The first bomb was literally dropped over the side of the craft by the pilot or another crew member. Soon the production of specialized bombers came along and the aircraft's were now equipped with more instruments to make bombing safer for the crew. The new planes were equipped with bombsites, bomb racks under the fuselage and release systems.
By the end of the war, the role of military aircraft had changed from being a minor help to a major and productive help in World War 1.
Warfare On The Water
The Allies has expected to rule and command the seas. The French navy was to watch the Mediterranean and the rest of the world's water was to be patrolled by the gigantic English Navy. This meant that it was up to British Ships to drive Germany out of the but, at the start of World War 1 that didn't happen.
At the biginning of the war, German cruisers Goeben and Brasilia were allowed to make their voyages to Turkey and the Black sea. So in that same month the Allies retaliated and sank the light cruisers Koln, Mainz and Ariadne, in addition to 1 destroyer. Unfortunately the tides turned again on the Allies though.
Life In The Trenches
For both sides soldiers would have eaten, slept and fought in trenches. During day , some men would be on guard duty when the enemy could be only 30 meters away, through no man's land. Other men would have done the necessary tasks like rebuild the collapsing walls. In the summer and spring soldiers would have to work in knee deep water, mud and sometimes the occasional dead troop. When the winter came around, soldiers were very cold of the snow and sleet. Meanwhile, the soldiers would have had to constantly control the height of there head so enemy's wouldn't shoot them.
In the night, soldiers would carefully climb over the trench walls to patrol no man's land and to string or repair barbed-wire barriers. Sometimes the occasional surprise attack would occur. Soldiers would creep out of trenches and cross no man's land to enemy's and attack with hand grenades and rifle bayonets. When the night gets broken by dawn, the larger and more common battles start. At the signal, troops would of started to climb out of trenches, charge threw cut barbed-wire, mud and shell craters. However most troops didn't make it and the dead, dying or wounded sometimes laid in no man's land for day's before getting rescued under gun fire.
After the soldiers stood in cold mud and water for awhile they would produce a condition called "trench foot". The foot would have swelled up and gone numb. When the swelling goes down the soldiers would expect severe pain. Also a soldier could have got gangrene. The troops who got gangrene would often get the limb amputated. Since soldiers didn't have the opportunity to change there cloths every day soldiers would get a condition called body lice and the limit to clean water would send more men to hospital than gun wounds.
The trenches of World War 1 were built in a unique way. From the front line, their would be dozens of support trenches connecting to communication trenches. Threw the support trenches the ammunition, supplies and any needed materials. The troops would of rotated between front line and support columns. Every 2 days the troops would have also got a short leave to get clean, dry and some rest.
When world War 1 was launched the trenches were bad enough but with the development of new weapons in 1915 the trenches were made even more dreadful. The Germans decided on putting Gas warfare into the action. When the winds were right, clouds of toxic chloride and later mustard gas was released from large cylinders. The deadly fumes be sent towards the Allied trenches causing death from choking gas burning and blistering of the lungs. Many died from the gases but sometimes the wind changed unexpectedly and wipe out the wrong team. The troops learned to protect themselves in different ways. Gas masks was one of those ways,The gas mask worked by putting charcoal in the end of the mask and it would detoxify the poisonous gas.
There was also many other weapons massed produced like the tanks. Britain produced these armour vehicles to cross no man's land, to crush down barbed-wire fences and to attack enemy lines. However in many cases, the wet and muddy ground would have got some tanks stuck and had to make them abandoned.
