The British army supplied only two machine guns per battalion and could only operated by up to eight men. This was a problem because the more men you use setting up a gun, because they are all together in a short area trying to set up a weapon, they would be an easy target for the enemy. Also, if one of the eight men got shot, it would take much longer for it to be put together and therefore longer to take out the enemy.
The Germans however were much better off at the start of the war during fighting of the winter of 1914/1915. They had more ammunition, more trench mortars and more machine guns. The Germans also picked up on how much of an asset the machine gun was to them. As all they had to do was defend their line, they just had to stop the British advance. That’s why at the Battle of the Somme they practised putting their guns together quicker.
By the end of the war hand held machine guns were made and thousands were used on each side. By 1918, the Germans had one machine gun in 28 men in their army and the British had 1 in 66. This is a huge degree of change for the British because in 1914 there were only 1 in 500 machine guns.
Grenades were used in both the French and Germans armies. The British were slower to develop them. By 1915 they had only 48 mills bombs in service. The grenades were developed to throw shrapnel 50n yards. This wasn’t an asset because most soldiers could only throw them 40 yards, which meant they ended up killing or injuring their own men.
Gas was the newest innovation of the First World War. This caught the allies by surprise and caused panic in the trenches. At first it was used by the Germans to drive the British back at Ypres. They waited for the wind to turn the right direction and then release the gas. The British tried this but ended up killing their own men because the wind changed direction. So the Germans created a new more precise method of poisoning, in liquid shells. By 1917 they even developed mustard gas. By the end on the war, they had developed 48 different types of poison gas. This shows rapid change from the once cylinder gas in 1914. Also, the Germans were always the ones developing the gas, with the British copying the Germans. This is strange because gas would have been ideal to force the Germans back from their front line. The Germans are theoretically meant to be defending.
Counter measures were developed slowly. When gas was first used, British soldiers were told to urinate on their handkerchiefs. By 1915 masks soaked in chemicals were developed and by 1917 moulded facemasks with goggled were developed. This was a slow change, especially when the ultimate counter measure was finally made when only a year of fighting is left. But moulded facemasks from urinating on handkerchiefs are quite a development. Gas was mainly ineffective by 1917 because most soldiers wore protective masks.
The tank was developed in 1916 and was used during the battle of the Somme by the British. They were not affected by machine gun fire and could go straight over trenches. However, after The Battle of the Somme, they were deemed mechanically unreliable. In the battle of Passchendaele they spearheaded the mission with tanks. However, a huge artillery bombardment came first and then the rain began. There was terrible mud and the tank got stuck or even sank. The tank was only useful on firm flat ground.
By November 1917, the tanks were used at Cambrai on firm, dry, flat land and the Germans were pushed back 6 miles in 10 hours, which was great considering at Passchendaele it took 3 months to capture almost the same amount of land. By 1918, the Mark 1, which was used at the Somme, was replaced by The French Renault that was capable of moving at 8mph with a crew of 8 and the British Mark 4.
The Germans for a change were slow to realise the tank, mainly due to their defence in depth tactic, believing that the tank was an offensive weapon.
The Cavalry was thought as the best method of attack before the First World War. The Germans used it at Ypres, as did the British at the Somme. However, the both sides realised soon enough that this method was useless. Cavalry was mainly used to surprise the enemy, but with barbed wire in the way they couldn’t jump over. They were also easy targets for machine gun fire. The use of cavalry was minimum throughout the war, and therefore and example of continuity.
Aerial warfare began as a method of spying on the enemy and finding their positions. In 1914, the Germans had 240 aircraft, the French 150 and the British had 60. The plane was often made of wood, with no guns, an unprotected cockpit, no radio or parachute. These led to fighting planes like the Fokker Triplane.
The British were slow to pick up the fact that planes could be useful as an offensive weapon. In 1915, German Zeppelins were used to bomb civilians of England. There were 130 in service. These were the earliest of bombing machines but they were slow and vulnerable to anti-aircraft fire, which was developed as both armies realised that for the first time; civilians were at risk from the bombing. By 1917, both sides were bombing each other; the allies dropped over 600 tons of bombs on Germany. This was a huge change in tactics by both sides because before this time it was not seen as essential to bomb civilians.
By 1915, Fokker invented a machine gun that could fire forward through the propeller, which was a major advantage to Germany. By 1915, most aircraft carried fixed machine guns. By 1917, the German Gotha IV was invented, as much better bomber. However, the allies responded with squadrons for destroying aircraft behind enemy lines.
The Germans seem to be leading the way in development of aircraft, but by 1918 the British had the largest air force with 22,170 aircraft, a significant increase to the 60 in service in 1914. This was a major example of change and development.
Artillery was the key weapon of the war and developed rapidly between 1914 and 1918. This was because it caused massive casualties, which weakened the lines. They had a range of about 6 kilometres in 1914, but by 1916 the Germans could fire shells 35 kilometres and by 1918 “Big Bertha” could shell Paris 120 Kms away. This is an example of change because it could only go 6 Kms in 1914.The Germans were described as being “a war ahead of the British” in terms of the use of artillery. The Germans have certainly developed the weapon faster than the British because the German generals found them more of an asset, whereas the British General Haig was slow to pick up new tactics. In the fighting of the winter 1914/15 they had plenty of ammunition whereas the British were short. In 1917, they developed clip-on nose cones, which helped to increase the range and effectiveness, as it doubled the range of some guns. Artillery was the most effective if the tactics were right.
In 1914 there were only two different types of shell in use, but by 1916 the British developed the 106 fuse that cut wire without cutting up the ground, which was an advantage because of the outcome of Passchendaele meant the artillery turned the ground to almost liquid mud. Artillery was used throughout the war and changed a great deal as an example of change.
Tactics were different on both sides from the very start of the war. The Germans were defending the land they had already taken and the British had to force the Germans back, so they were offensive. Cavalry was thought as the only method to breakthrough the enemy lines, but this could be described as an almost medieval tactic.
The British were guilty of continuity of tactics throughout the war due to General Haig’ s narrow mindedness. The Battle of Neuve Chappelle fixed Haig’s thinking until 1917. Start with an artillery bombardment to kill the enemy and then send in the troops. It had limited success.
The Germans on the other hand picked up on ideas much faster, realising they needed to defend to win the war, creating the Hindenburg line.
At the third battle of Ypres, Passchendaele, Haig did change his tactics for the first time. He had a huge artillery bombardment with a creeping barrage, then the troops attacked with light machine guns; spearheaded by tanks. This looks good on paper, but he took the wrong battle at the wrong place at the wrong time and the battlefield turned to a mud bath. Colonel Fuller realises this and succeeded with the battle of Cambrai, where the ground was flat and firm. However, they were pushed back because there were no reserves to help.
At the Somme, French got their tactics fine. They used a creeping barrage, armed their men to attack in small groups with light machine guns and attacked at night. However, they suffered heavy casualties in Verdun, so they were unable to gain an advantage despite good tactics. At the Somme the British attacked in large groups. This made them easy to be caught by machine gun fire.
Tactics were able to develop because the technology was developing rapidly so air attacks were authorised more often as generals began to realise how useful planes were, Gas was used to cause panic, Machine guns were developed as were German zeppelins were used against British civilians.
The bombing of civilians was a major landmark. Before, both sides would never have dreamed of bombing the innocent. But this unwritten rule was breached when Zeppelins bombed Britain. Britain was even planning a massive bombing of Berlin. This was too late because the war ended.
Before the Americans arrived and before the German people ran out of food, the Germans tried one last tactical attack. Operation Michael. They shelled more shells in 24 hours than Britain in the Battle of the Somme and used Stormtroopers to seal off enemy trenches. It failed because they ran out of ammunition. This shows change from the realisation in 1915 that all they had to do was defend to a massive offensive, called the Ludendorff Offensive. This took the British by surprise. Then Haig ordered a change of tactic. He had to defend with the “backs to the wall” tactic. Germany’s gamble of all out attack failed. They consequently lost the war.