WWI Notes 3: Battles and

Trenches of WWIHamer – World Wars

February 15 – 17, 2012

Beginning of the Western Front

Race to the SeaAfter the Battle of the Frontiers, the Allies and Central Powers struggled to create a front line in their favorThe goal of each side was to secure a good port on the English Channel

Germany got Antwerp on October 11, 1914From this point on, there were battles on the Western Front, but the line remained fairly stagnant

The Western Front

Germans Digging Trenches 1914

http://www.firstworldwar.com/video/germantrenches.htm

Trench

Warfare

TrenchesNot only were the trenches the cause of mass destruction on the battlefield, but they were also havens for disease:

Rats and lice were infected with disease, which spread quickly to the men.

Trench foot was a rotting disease that happened when the soldiers’ feet were wet for days on end from the mud in the bottom of the trenches.

Wikipedia on Trench FootCharacteristicsAffected feet become numb and then turn red or blue. As the condition worsens, they may swell. Advanced immersion foot often involves blisters and open sores, which lead to fungal infections; this is sometimes called tropical ulcer (jungle rot).If left untreated, immersion foot usually results in gangrene, which can require amputation. If immersion foot is treated properly, complete recovery is normal, though it is marked by severe short-term pain when feeling returns. Like other cold injuries, immersion foot leaves sufferers more susceptible to it in the future.CausesImmersion foot occurs when feet are cold and damp while wearing constricting footwear. Unlike frostbite, immersion foot does not require freezing temperatures and can occur in temperatures up to 60° Fahrenheit (about 16° Celsius). The condition can occur with as little as eleven hours' exposure. The mechanism of tissue damage is not fully understood.PreventionImmersion foot is easily prevented by keeping the feet warm and dry, and changing socks frequently when the feet cannot be kept dry. During World War I, trench soldiers were provided with whale grease and told to apply it to their feet, to reduce the prevalence of this condition; the idea was to make the feet waterproof. It was found, however, that this made the condition worse as it made the feet perspire and absorb even more water. It was also discovered that a key measure was regular foot inspections by officers.

Trenches

Aerial View German SE; British NW

1917

Periscope Rifle

British Recollections of Life in the TrenchesON LICE AND RATS:

“If you're nearly frozen, they keep quiet: as soon as you warm up those blasted lice start to bite like the devil. It's horrible. I often think it is one of the worst things we have to endure out here.”“There are millions!! Some are huge fellows, nearly as big as cats. Several of our men were awakened to find a rat snuggling down under the blanket alongside them!”

THE CONFUSING LAYOUT

“Getting along a trench is not as easy as you think. For one thing it is not straight for more than four yards (it is 'traversed' to prevent crossfire and shell fire having much effect). Then there are all sorts of odd off-turns, to officers' dugouts, or other lines of trenches: at other places there are steps down and other unknown steps up where a piece of parapet has been blown in, or some walls of a traverse have collapsed. In these mazes where we have fought each other so often and each side has held the ground in turn, you can never be quite sure whether a trench won't lead you straight to the German lines. In more than one place in our present line we actually do have communication trenches connecting our and their lines.”

Mining TrenchesTrenches could be attacked by digging underground tunnels beneath enemy trenches and mining underneath them and then exploding these mines.

1915- Remnants of a German mined trench with British captors and German prisoners and dead

TrenchesThis harsh warfare and the terrible living conditions that accompanied it led many soldiers to mutiny or mental illness.Commanding officers often held their troops at gunpoint and forced them to leave the trenches and attempt an attack on the enemy across no man’s land.

“A Bedford patrol went out and crawled very bravely close to the German barbed wire. They stayed a long time and listened and they were just about to crawl back when a voice from the German trenches said in perfect English, 'If you don't go away soon, we shall really have to shoot you.' They went.”

Initial Use of GasThe French were the first to use tear gas in August 1914, Germans used it against French and Russians in 1914 and early 1915.

All of these quantities were too small to be noticed or froze (Russia – duh)

Combatants did not see this as a violation of the Hague Treaty because tear gas is not poisonous

British victims of tear gas

Chlorine GasGermans used poisonous chlorine gas launched from cylinders so it was wind carried in the Spring of 1915

The Eastern Front

Generalities of the Eastern Front

Not as imprinted on popular memory as the Western FrontDifferent from the Western Front:

Greater mobility – not as many trenches Enormous Scale Outcome – Central Powers victorious

Originally Central Powers could not agree on priorities until Germany took over the military decisions for Austria-Hungary

Initial Russian Victories

Initially the Russian forces invaded the East Prussia region of Germany

Russia moved early to alleviate pressure from the French in 1914 Russia was not really ready

Russian forces outnumbered German 2 to 1German solution:

Brought in Colonel-General Paul von Hindenburg and Chief of Staff Major-General Erich Ludendorff to take over

Tide Turns for Germany

Germans decided to attack against the Russian Warsaw army while only a few of the German cavalry troops guarded against the Russian Vilna army

Tannenberg

German Victory at TannenbergAugust 26-30, 1914

Germans won Battle of Tannenberg August 26-30, 1914

Germans intercepted Russian un-coded communications

Poor communication between 2 Russian armies

92,000 Russian prisoners taken

Pushed back the Vilna army in mid-September

Russian prisoners at Tannenberg

German Eastern Front Leaders

Hindenburg and Ludendorff: “Heroes of Tannenberg”

Heroes in a time of losses on Western Front

Hindenburg made Supreme Commander in East on November 1, 1914Basically became war dictators of Germany by 1916

1915 on the Eastern Front

Germany seized an area the size of France from Russia including:

Poland Lithuania Latvia

Russian forces were pushed back 300 miles; retreated with scorched earth

Russians now had 2.5 million casualties (dead, wounded, or prisoners)

Tsar Nicholas II took over the army…bad callFront stabilized by Fall and the Germans turned back to the Western Front

Occupied TerritoryThe land seized by Germany had to be occupied – took a large effort:

Lands were demolished by war

Germans didn’t know much about the people

Poland given a civil GovernmentNorth of Poland was a military state called OberOst

Austria HungarySplit forces: one group in Russia, one in Serbia, one going back and forthFailed a lot early on

More than 1 million casualties in 1914

Winter of 1914-1915 fought with the Russians in the Carpathian MountainsGermany had to come in and help A-H win some battles

Brusilov OffensiveRussians launch a major offensive led by General Brusilov during June - August 1916

Partly to draw Germany away from Verdun

Attacked the region where Germany and A-H joined

Southern areas took 250,000 A-H prisoners• Successes convinced Romania to join the

allies…bad timing!• Last major success for Russia because

northern armies didn’t support them – 1 million losses for Brusilov’s forces

Central Powers Winning by 1917

Bulgaria was impressed enough to join the Central Powers on September 6, 1915Winter of 1915: German, A-H, and Bulgarian armies overran SerbiaDecember of 1916: conquered Romania

SerbiaOverrun by German, A-H, and Bulgarian armies in the winter of 1915

SerbiaAllied expedition tried to help Serbia but was trapped in Salonika GreeceHuge Serbian retreat across the Albanian mountains and were evacuated by Allied navies

Serbia lost 1/6 of its population in this campaign

Austrians executing Serbians 1917 and Serbian Retreat

Serbia

RomaniaEntered the war at a bad timeRomania was invaded a week after entering the war in September 1916Central Powers got Romanian oil and agricultural resources

British secret agents sabotaged some Romanian oil fields (set them on fire) before Central Powers could get to them

Romania lost 250,000 soldiers and 430,000 civilians in WWI – for a total of 9% of their population

Falkenhayn’s cavalry entering Bucharest – December 6,

1916

Russia CrumblesGovernment faced

mini-revolution in 1905Tsar taking over army made him to blame for losses

Tsar was overthrown and army crumbled

Russia was out of the war by the end of 1917Signed Treaty of Brest-Litovsk March 3, 1918

Treaty of Brest-LitovskSigned by the Bolsheviks who just wanted out of the warIn all, the treaty took away a quarter of Russia's population, a quarter of its industry and nine-tenths of its coal mines (according to Wikipedia)

The Southern Fronts

Turkish Entry into WWISecret treaty joined Turkey with the Central Powers August 2, 1914

Young Turk movement sympathized with and was influenced by Germany

Germans and Turks quickly shelled the Russian port of Odessa with 2 German battleships given to Turkey on October 1914

Goeben and Breslau

Russia and the Ottoman EmpireTurkey attacks Russia through the Caucuses in the winter of 1914-1915

Wanted to have a new Pan-Turanian Empire

Lost badly, many froze to death, only 13% of the Turkish force survived

•Russia moved down from the Caucuses into Ottoman Empire and seen as liberators by some ethnic minorities, like the Armenians…

Straits of DardanellesJoins the Black Sea with the MediterraneanImportant to Russia because 1/3 of their exports went through the DardanellesEngland promised the Dardanelles to Russia – change in former policy

Gallipoli CampaignAims: open the Dardanelles to relieve Russia, knock the Ottomans from the war, and maybe open a backdoor to attack A-HPlan: land in Gallipoli (peninsula at the southern end of the Dardanelles), occupy Constantinople, and take over

Gallipoli CampaignThose in favor:“Easterners” – those who thought that another front was the way to win the war

Like Winston Churchill (1st Lord of the Admiralty)Pros: only strategic plan of the warCons: tried to force the Straits by battleship, these failed and alerted the Turks to an attack; no real planning for after landing

Gallipoli InvasionBegan April 25, 1915French, British, and Australian and New Zealand (ANZAC) troops all landed

Gallipoli InvasionProblems – Turks had high ground and Allied troops were on the beachesCreated trench warfare and deadlock in the Ottoman EmpireShowed advantages of the defensive side

Allied Failure at Gallipoli

British Commander Hamilton renewed assault with new landings to the North in August 1915These failed as well and troops were withdrawn secretly throughout DecemberEvacuation was successful and was completed by January 9, 1916

January 7, 1916 British EvacueesNote explosion of Turkish Shell

Allied Failure at Gallipoli

200,000 Allied soldiers died (ANZAC had 62% of casualties)

Founding experience of Australian and New Zealand identities

1 million soldiers involved totalChurchill got blamed and lost his positionWestern Front was now the only option

Italy in WWIItaly distanced itself from the Central Powers and the Triple Alliance at the outbreak of warInstead – sacred egoism – a defense of Italy’s own interest

Led to a bidding war between the Central and Allied Powers to woo Italy

Allies won because Italy wanted A-H territorySecret Treaty of London between Allies and Italy – April 26, 1915

Promised ethnically Italian areas in A-H plus more land in Asia Minor

Italy declared war on May 23, 1915

Italy in WWINot nearly as helpful as expected and would soon require Allied assistance2 Fronts opened against A-H with a million men total

Alpine regions to the North Trieste to the East

1916 took ½ million casualties

Blue areas are initial areas of Italian conquest

Alpine WarsGuns and artillery were hauled by pulleysCalled the “White War” by ItaliansRifles froze and soldiers threw rocks…

Going Poorly for ItalyFall of 1917 Germans reinforced A-H with soldiers (including Erwin Rommel!)These troops attacked Italy in the Battle of Caporetto and the Italian lines broke

Italy lost ½ million casualties and 250,000 prisonersAfter this Italy defended

Results of the Southern Fronts

No backdoor into winning the war for the Allies Solution would have to come elsewhere

Colonial Fronts

German Colonial Holdings - Africa

Germany’s African and Asian colonies were quickly attackedGerman forces were quickly overrun in Africa:

Togo, Cameroon, German West Africa

German East Africa was really the only one that was able to defend itself

Askari (German colonial forces) plus German troops held out until the war ended in Europe against the British in Africa

120,000 casualties from this though

German Colonial Holdings - Asia

New Zealand, Australia, and Japan fought against German holdings in Asia

German protectorate in China – held out for 2 months against Japan

Japan used this to make imperialist gains in China This freaked out America about Japan…

Germany Loses its Colonies

Germany quickly lost its colonial holdingsSince they were already late to the game this was it for themWould lead to bitterness about this in the interwar years

British Colonies Help Out

Troops of the Empire fought on the Western Front and other theaters

Australia and New Zealand (ANZAC)

India South Africa Canada All contributed more

soldiers than the US did later

NZ gave 20% of their adult males and India gave 1 million troops

Conscription still applied to the colonies

Use of Colonial TroopsColonial troops provided a vast reserve of manpower for the Allied side

French West and North African colonies provided about 2 million Africans served in some capacity on the Western Front and in Africa – approximately 10% died

German propaganda denounced the barbaric principles of bringing non-European peoples to fight the “superior” Europeans

Middle Eastern Front

Middle Eastern Fighting

November 1914– British and Indian forces land in Iraq and try to move inland…didn’t go wellApril 29, 1916 – British and Indian forces surrender to the Turkish army and were led on a death march to Turkey itself, 1/3 of the 12,000 diedBaghdad and Persia were finally captured by the British in 1917

British Success in the Middle East

British, with Thomas Edward Lawrence, helped to encourage the Arab Revolt – the Arab resistance against the Ottomans

“Lawrence of Arabia”December 9, 1917 – British capture Jerusalem

Allies quickly publicized the good news about capturing the Holy City (took on notes of a crusade)

• Much of this was done with sights to the future about redrawing the Middle East and Allied influence there

October 31, 1917 Balfour Declaration

British government viewed with favor the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine as long as civil and religious rights of non-Jews in Palestine were protectedDone in some part because Zionists organized groups to help the Allies in the warConflicted with the Sykes-Picot Agreement of February 1916

British and French had agreed on spheres of influence for England (Iraq) and France (Syria and Lebanon)

Mid-War Important Battles on the Western

Front

Battle of Verdun February 21 – July 1916

Battle of Verdun Germany’s attempt to “bleed the French army

white” Long, bloody battle with 300,000 battlefield

deaths and 800,000 wounded Germany lost since they didn’t gain their goal of

the city of Verdun

Fortification at Verdun: Fort de Douaumont

BEFORE THE BATTLE AFTER THE BATTLE

Battle of the Somme July 1- November 13, 1916

Intended to alleviate pressure on the French at VerdunAllies bombarded the German lines prior to sending in ground troops

The Allies were not aware of German underground fortifications that protected the troops during the bombardment

Allied troops took heavy casualties and after months of fighting only gained 5 miles of ground

Battle of the Somme July 1- November 13, 1916

The British suffered around 420,000 casualties, the French 195,000 and the Germans around 650,000