The tank was invented by the British soldier and scholar Ernest Swinton, and first used in the Battle of the Somme, on the fifteenth of September 1916. Forty-seven tanks were available to the Allies, and the majority of them broke down. Nevertheless, they were very effective at traversing barbed wire, and the thick steel shell protected the crew from machine gun bullets. A lot of the tanks ran out of fuel because they were not fully refilled and did not have fuel gauges. The tanks could also drive straight over enemy trenches, but were, however, susceptible to anti-tank ditches which were very wide and which the tanks could not get out of. The first design of tank needed eight men to operate (modern tanks use only three or four) and the inside it was hot, loud and smelt of petrol fumes. The name arose from the cover used when developing the British prototype. In an endeavour to keep the project secret, the test model was described as a ‘water carrier for Mesopotamia’, from which it became known in the factory as ‘that tank thing’. They were labelled as ‘water tanks’ when they were first carried to France.
Heavy artillery was used for the first time by both sides in World War One, firing huge shells to blow up enemy positions. In order not to give the game away before an infantry attack by stopping firing, the creeping barrage was developed. This involved raising the guns as the troops advanced to keep firing on the enemy trenches as the infantry advanced over no-man’s-land, unheeded by stray shells. This gave the element of surprise before an attack took place, as the artillery would only stop firing a couple of minutes before the infantry reached their enemy’s trenches.
Gas was used in three major forms: chlorine, mustard gas, and phosgene. Phosgene caused more than eighty per cent of the gas casualties in the First World War: it did not take immediate effect, but after a few days caused acute inflammation of the lungs and those who felt quite healthy afterwards often died suddenly in the next couple of days. The German army first used chlorine; it destroyed the respiratory organs, and lead to a slow death by asphyxiation. One nurse watched the death of a soldier by chlorine: “He was sitting on the bed, fighting for breath, his lips plum coloured. He was a magnificent young Canadian past all hope in the asphyxia of chlorine. I shall never forget the look in his eyes as he turned to me and gasped: I can’t die! Is it possible that nothing can be done for me?” Gas masks were developed soon afterwards: the photograph below shows the crudeness of the first gas masks: just a piece of cotton wool soaked in urine, with goggles attached.
The ammonia in the urine neutralised the effect of the chlorine although it cannot have been terribly pleasant to have urine against your face, although undoubtedly more so than being killed by chlorine. The only real disadvantages of using gas was that if the wind was wrong, it could get blown back into the gasser’s trenches. This was fixed by firing gas shells, which took the gas straight where it was safely released. (At least from the point of view of the person who fired it.) Also, when attacking gassed trenches, gas masks had to be worn, restricting movement, vision, and breathing. On top of all that, the ammonia used in the gas masks was in fact poisonous, and used as a chemical weapon by the Germans the next year.
Mines were dug under enemy positions, filled with explosives, and blown up, causing major panic in the enemy trenches, whilst the infantry moved over no-mans-land to attack. Methods were developed by soldiers in the trenches to discover enemy mines. One of these was to drive a wooden stake into the ground, and hold the protruding end between the teeth to feel for any underground vibrations. Another was to sink a water-filled oil drum into the floor of the trench, and lowering an ear into the water to hear any noises of enemy digging. As the picture overleaf shows, opposing mines often were dug very close to each other, and sometimes met. Underground battles would then be fought. Usually, if an enemy mine was discovered and was empty of men, it would be blown up.
New technology was developing all the time, and although the first powered flight was made in 1903, planes were only just starting to be used in warfare. They were mainly used for reconnaissance, as they were not fitted with weapons. Often the pilot just fired a rifle from the cockpit at any opposing planes, as they were not built as weapons at the time. In fact, early WWI planes were made with a wooden frame covered in canvas held together with piano wire. They had very limited navigation, no radios, and no parachutes, which made being a pilot a very risky job.
Sea technology also improved a great deal during World War One. The Dreadnought battleship (shown below) was extremely fast compared to other ships of its time, and had enormous guns, which far outpowered anything else which had the misfortune to get in the way.
The range of guns on ships increased from 3.65km to 13km, and allowed ships to attack from greater distances, and so be safer. Torpedoes could hit a target up to eight kilometres away, and could be launched from ships, submarines, or the air, making attacking options much more flexible. Sea mines were developed to blow up enemy ships, and were very effective if not detected. Special ships known as minesweepers were invented to safely remove any intrusive mines from where the big battleships wanted to sail. Radio had a much longer range, and allowed contact between boats, planes, and HQ. Aircraft carriers were used to get planes closer to enemy ships for reconnaissance purposes, to get more precise coordinates of the enemy’s position, to allow the ship to get close enough to start firing without endangering itself. Submarines were used which made it very easy to hide from enemy ships, and to torpedo them.
In conclusion, I think that the Battle of the Somme provides an excellent opportunity to study the changing tactics and technology of World War One, since it used both old tactics and new ones, of which the cavalry proved to be rather ineffective, and although the use of tanks seemingly failed, they showed a great potential future usage. Although the Battle of the Somme did not include all of the new technologies mentioned above, (simply because aircraft carriers and battleships are not desperately practical on the battlefield) it did include a lot of them, and showed their strengths and weaknesses.
