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Creator of the Mills bomb >
Sir John Denton Pinkstone French :
British Commander >
Frederick Wilfred Scott Stokes :
Inventor of the Stokes mortar >
World War 1 Tech
About The Programme
When Industrial-Age technology and war first mix on a large scale, the end result is ruthlessly efficient destruction. World War One epitomised the dark underbelly of the Industrial Revolution.
Those technological achievements that had streamlined 19th-century production, improved transportation and expanded science were also ruthlessly decimated an entire generation of soldiers during the early 20th century.
Weapons Of War
The machine gun, more than any other weapon, dominated the battlefields of World War One. They were first used in the American Civil War but during the Great War came into their own. Machine guns were effective killing tools, firing up to 600 bullets a minute. But on the negative side, they weighed up to 60kg, and so were ill-suited to infantry troops who needed to launch speedy attacks.
The early machine guns had other drawbacks: they would overheat fairly quickly, sometimes within two minutes. To deal with the problem, large supplies of water were needed. If supplies ran out, it became common for men to urinate on the equipment to cool it down.
But effective they were. On the first day of the Somme offensive, the British suffered over 60,000 casualties, the majority caused by machine-gun fire.
Cannons became much more frequently used. In Germany, scientists developed the biggest artillery ever known. Big Bertha was so powerful it could fire shells into Paris from 120 Km away.
Chemical warfare was developed as a way of overcoming stalemates in prolonged trench conflicts. Chlorine gas was used in the battle of Ypres in 1915, killing thousands. Many soldiers died a terrible death, as inhaling the gas destroyed the respiratory organs within seconds, bringing on a choking attack. Gas masks were regulation issue but were ineffective as gas often leaked into the masks.
The British entered into the poison gas warfare in Loos, 1915. The men of the Special Gas Companies were not allowed to use the word “gas”. Instead, they were instructed to call their gas canisters “accessories.” Around 400 chlorine gas canisters were released on the evening of 24 September 1915. But the wind direction changed and the gas was blown back into the British trenches. It was estimated that there were more British casualties than German. Not surprisingly, the ensuing infantry attack failed.