airplane in his hand, representative of those which were used in the WWII battles between Nazi…
World War I used machine guns and hand grenades heavily, also taking advantage of the aircraft, such as aeroplanes, to bomb land/fields. They also took advantage of bullets called "parachute star-shell." "A parachute star-shell opens out. The ground lies stark in the pale light, and then the darkness shuts down again blacker than ever" (Remarque 209). Another weapon used against enemies was poisonous gas. This poisonous gas could temporary blind soldiers lying in the trenches, and in high doses, permanently blind those soldiers. "At night they send over gas. We expect the attack to follow and lie with our masks on, ready to tear them off as soon as the first shadow appears" (Remarque 104). With such high ranked artillery, attacking and killing the enemy was much easier than the past…
Germany made advances in helmet technology which was cheap to make and protected soldiers quite well from shrapnel. This helmet was the steel helmet. Other types of turrets which were designed to cause major destruction to trenches and…
M.16 flamethrower: This was also used by the Germans. They used it for clearing trenches and taking out rifle. It was the first flamethrower ever made! The Nazis created a sequel to this gun and made the M.35.…
Every major conflict the United States of America has fought in has had a defining characteristic that people identify with that era. From the Red Coats of the Revolutionary War to trench warfare of World War I, World War II also had a defining characteristic. One can make the argument that in World War II that defining characteristic was the use of aviation, most notably the bomber. One of the most iconic bombers of World War II was the B-17 Flying Fortress. This paper will explain what brought about the development of the B-17 and its inception, as well as the B-17’s role in combat and supporting ground troops. Lastly, discussed are the Memphis Belle and Old 666, two notable B-17’s from World War II.…
Allied Leadership was effective during the First World War because of their great use of technology. The Allies applied both advances and standard technology in their defences, offences and their airborne methods. Many defences that the Allies used were first to use barbed wire to slow down the on-coming enemy and to have tranches so that it would be more difficult for the opponents to target them. Since the barbed wire would have slowed down the Germans and the Austria-Hungarians, the use of the machine gun was crucial to gun down the advancers before they could reach their destination. The use of mortars was also very effective to bombard the enemy’s trenches and to minimize their troop capacity. The Allies used multiple offences during their offences. Many defensive weapons could also be used to attack such as the trenches to provide shelter, the mortars to bomb the opponents’ trenches and machine guns to provide cover for the…
The LZ-129 Hindenburg was a German passenger zeppelin manufactured by “Luftschiffbau Zeppelin G.m.b.H.” (Dan Grossman, "LZ-129 Hindenburg: A Detailed History")1, before the crash the Hindenburg had been in service from March 4, 1936 and had 62 successful flights. The Hindenburg was “245 meters in length, 41.2 meters in diameter and could reach a maximum speed of 135 km/h” (Dan Grossman, "Hindenburg Statistics")2. The Hindenburg “Was built with triangular duralumin grinders forming 15 large rings” (Dan Grossman, "Hindenburg Design and Technology")3, these rings are what made the frame of the ship. The Hindenburg was forced to use…
Other gases were used later in the war, like mustard gas and phosgene. Multiple advances were made with artillery as well during this time. For example, in 1915, the No. 106 Fuze was created. This was a projectile designed specifically so that it would explode upon impact--either by coming in contact with the ground or barbed wire for the most part. Other artillery technologies included anti-aircraft guns and indirect counter-battery fire.…
Airships were essentially bomb carriers called Zeppelins, named after Count Ferdinand Von Zeppelin. They were quite the menacing sight measuring 640 feet long, propelled by four gasoline engines and traveling at a speed of 60 miles per hour. Although they destroyed many factories and homes, they were also very vulnerable to bad weather and vulnerable targets that could very easily be shot down by fighter planes. They were also highly flammable when shot by incendiary bullets because of their hydrogen gas. Although advantageous early on in the war, the development of fighter planes during the war slowly diminished the use of Zeppelins and their…
Airplanes, Machine Guns (first time in Europe; had been used in Africa), Tanks, Poison Gas (Mustard Gas)…
A rifle and a pistol were the main two weapons. The standard issue rifle for British infantry was a Lee Enfield and the standard issue pistol was the Webley Mk IV revolver. The soldiers normally had a bayonet attached to the end of their rifle and a grenade. The most common grenade was the Mills bomb which had grooves cut into it so that when it exploded it blew metal fragments in all directions, this was good for clearing trenches. The British used canvas buckets to carry these grenades so that they could have more. Soldiers always had a gas mask on hand to defend themselves against gas attacks which became common in WWI. Soldiers also carried a shovel and wire cutters. The shovel was important if there was not enough cover in the trench or if you needed to expand the trench. Wire cutters were used to repair or take down barbed wire. You wouldn't think of a kite as a war tool or weapon however, with a sniper ready a kite could be used to distract the enemy and lure them into lifting their head to look at the distraction. Once this movement was spotted it gave opportunity to the sniper on your…
Another main gun that played a sizable amount in the war was the anti-tank rifle. The anti-tank rifle was used by the Americans and the Germans. These rifles were some of the first grenade launchers and were built and used to take out tanks that were approaching. Although the anti-tank rifles were useful they had their flaws. They were often heavy and inaccurate and weren’t meant for long range; when used for long range the accuracy decreased and would often miss.…
Aircraft was now used to drop bombs on enemies and well as for surveillance purposes. Until World War II battleships were the common ship used for naval battles. By World War II aircraft carriers were used and naval battles were no longer fought with the enemy seeing each other. Instead battles were fought by aircraft dropping bombs on enemy’s aircraft carriers. Radar was also used in aircraft in the form of placing a radar in a bomb so that when a bomb reached a specific distance the bomb could detonate.…
utilized for their air components. For the first time in the history of modern warfare, jet bombers…
The size of the army is only one indicator of military readiness for war, however. The machinery used by these forces also needs to be considered. The British forces had the advantage of having a fully motorised system of troop movement. This enabled relatively fast deployment of forces (The Wehrmacht were not entirely motorised at this stage). British artillery pieces were of high quality, a British 25 pound artillery piece was particularly accurate and successful in destroying enemy tanks, for example. However the armed vehicles of the British army at the time do not compare particularly favourably with those of their opponents. Tanks such as the 'Matilda' were difficult to destroy but lacked the manoeuvrability to engage in rapid attacks. Other armed vehicles, such as…
