Trench Warfare

Yesterday, in class we learned the basics of trench warfare, and in this blog I would like to review the key subjects we learned about it. One thing we learned was the basic technique of moving out of the trench and attacking. Basically, the process was that the artillery would move up slowly with the soldiers right behind it. If the soldiers were too far ahead, they would get shot down by friendly fire, while if they were too far behind, the artillery would not have enough support to keep going. The artillery would then shoot at one section of barbed wire to destroy it and create a path for the soldiers. After this, most of the fighting would be done inside the trenches with close ranged combat. Another technique both sides used in WW1 was chemical warfare. An example of a gas they used was mustard gas. This weapon would create large clouds of poisonous gas that could eat away at flesh and cause whole sections of the enemy to evacuate. Another strategic use of gas was the stress it would put on the opposing side. To counter the use of gas both sides used gas masks. Although these masks prevented the gasses from killing, it would put a lot of physical and mental stress on the users of the masks. Overall WW1 had a completely different type of warfare compared to the wars before it.