New Technology on the Western Front

Question 1

Tanks

Answer 1

*First used in 1916 (scared the Germans)
*Armour plated with thick tracks
*Offered troops inside protection
*Could crush machine gun nests
*Slow (broke down often)
*Difficult conditions (hot, noisy, cramped)

Question 2

Planes

Answer 2

*Observation purposes (plan attacks)
*Machine guns could be mounted
*Some were able to drop small bombs
*Caused civilian casualties & damage

Question 3

Machine Guns

Answer 3

*600 bullets p/m
*Estimated to have caused 40% of all wounds in WWI
* Not as accurate as rifles
* Needed 2 people to use them
* Could not run with them
*Had to be operated on a tripod

Question 4

Heavy Artillery

Answer 4

*Could shoot 900kg shells over 18km
*Bombard enemy trenches for hours
*Shrapnel exploded and could cut an enemy to pieces
*Killed more than rifles/machine guns
*Caused shell shock
*Left craters

Question 5

Chlorine Gas

Answer 5

*Green or yellow gas
*Suffocated victims
*Was first used in Battle of Loos (1915) by Britain
*Relied on wind to blow it across No Man’s Land
*Canisters sometimes faulty

Question 6

Phosgene Gas

Answer 6

*Destroyed soldiers’ lungs
*Invisible

Question 7

Mustard Gas

Answer 7

*Burned/rotted the body from inside out
*Most dreaded

Question 8

Rifle

Answer 8

*Every soldier had one
*Powerful; could penetrate a half inch of steel at close range or could cut through brick at 200 yards
*Professional soldier could shoot 15 rounds per minute; Successfully used by snipers