Weapons of World War I

1. Weapons of World War I

2. Rifles • The Lee Enfield rifle was used by the British in World War One • It was designed by an American called James Lee and built at the Royal Small Arms Factory in Enfield - hence the rifle's name. It was first produced in 1907.

3. The Lee Enfield had a ten-bullet magazine - a good infantryman would expect to shoot off about twelve well-aimed bullets in a minute. • It was accurate up to 600 metres but could still kill a man at 1400 metres

4. If the Lee Enfield had one weakness, it was that the firing mechanisms were susceptible to dirt and grit. It was very difficult to keep a rifle clean in the muddy environment of the trenches.

6. Pistols • A Webley Mark IV pistol was issued to every officer in the British army - an estimated 300 000 were distributed.

8. Machine guns - Vickers • In 1914 Vickers machine guns were being produced at a rate of 14 per week. • A machine gun team consisted of 6 men and they were all trained in using the gun.

10. The machine gun used the same ammunition as the Lee Enfield rifle (0.303 inch bullets) and could fire at a rate of 450 bullets a minute. • Such a rate of fire could cause havoc for an attacking force - though bullet wastage was high as many bullets failed to hit a target.

11. The Vickers was a water-cooled weapon. A jacket around the main barrel held about one gallon of water and to keep water loss to a minimum, a rubber hose was attached to a container that condensed steam.

12. Machine guns - Lewis gun • The Lewis gun became the standard support gun used in the British army from 1915. • One key advantage of the Lewis is that six of these guns could be made in the time taken to produce one Vickers gun.

13. It was visually distinctive because of a wide tubular cooling shroud around the barrel and top mounted pan magazines.

15. Each Lewis Gun required a team of two gunners, one to fire and one to carry ammunition and reload. • The whole rifle squad was trained to fire it in case the gunners were incapacitated.

18. Artillery • The main artillery of the British at the start of the war was the long barreled field gun or the quick firing gun. • The most common one used by the British was the 18 pounder Mark II

19. The 18 pounder was first produced in 1904. In August 1914, the British Army had 1,226 of them.

20. Such was its reliability, that by the end of the war, the army had 9,424 in service. • The 18 pounder could fire shells of high explosives of between 4.6 kg and 8.4 kg. Each gun weighed 1,279 kg and had a range of 5,966 metres

21. The British also had 60 pounders which were first designed in 1904. • By 1918, 1000 had been made for the British Army. • It was so successful as an artillery weapon, it was still being used in 1944.

23. Twelve horses were needed to move a 60 pounder. • It weighed four tons (4,470 kg) and had a range of 11,611 metres.

24. The British 9.2 inches Mark 1 heavy siege howitzer was one of Britain's larger artillery guns in World War One. • 450 of these artillery guns were built between 1914 and 1918.

25. It weighed 15 tons and could fire a 131 kg shell of high explosives 9,198 meters. • It took 36 hours to dismantle and three specially built carriages to move it.

27. Mortars • A mortar is essentially a short, stumpy tube designed to fire a projectile at a steep angle so that it falls straight down on the enemy. • It was ideally suited for trench warfare.

31. The chief advantage of the mortar was that it could be fired from the (relative) safety of the trench. • Furthermore, it was lighter and more mobile than other, larger artillery pieces. • Also the very fact that the mortar bomb fell almost straight down meant that it would (with luck) land smack in the enemy trench

33. Flamethrowers

34. The flamethrower was invented by a German in 1901 and first used at the battle of Ypres in 1915. • It was adopted by the Allies in 1916.

35. Gas grenades. • These were highly toxic, and very effective weapons. The Germans had invented 3 main gas grenades.

36. The first was Chlorine gas, which was used at the battle of Ypres in 1915, killing thousands. Chlorine gas causes a burning sensation in the throat and chest pains. Death is painful - you suffocate! The problem with chlorine gas is that the weather must be right. If the wind is in the wrong direction it could end up killing your own troops rather than the enemy.

37. The second was Phosgene gas and third was Mustard gas. • Mustard gas was the most deadly weapon used. It was fired into the trenches in shells. It is colourless and takes 12 hours to take effect. Effects include: blistering skin, vomiting, sore eyes, internal and external bleeding. Death can take up to 5 weeks.

39. The first army issue gas masks were little more than gauze bandages with ties. These would be moistened with water or urine to improve their effectiveness in filtering out the gas.

40. The cannister gas mask was developed to protect the soldier from the use of chlorine gas. • This type of mask was not effective in filtering out the more deadly phosgene and diphosgene gases.

43. There was no mask that could offer protection from the blistering mustard gas which attacks all exposed flesh.

44. Mills bombs • In 1915, a grenade developed by William Mills began to be used by British troops. • The bomb had a central spring-loaded firing-pin and and spring-loaded lever locked by a pin.

45. Once the Mills Bomb was in the air, the lever flew up and released the striker, which ignited a four-second time fuse, allowing the thrower to take cover before it exploded.

46. When the grenade went off the cast-iron casing shattered producing a shower of metal fragments.

47. The German grenade was instantly recognizable as it was a completely different shape. The British nicknamed it a ‘potato masher’

48. Transportation • Transportation greatly increased, as more troops were needed at battlefields and other places. • British forces used everything from trains to lorries and even taxis. They transported 500 men in 1914; 250 taxis took the reserve troops to the Battle of Marne and thousands of lorries were used to transport troops to Verdun in 1916.

49. Armoured cars • These were armour-plated, open-topped vehicles with machine guns or other light guns or artillery pieces

50. Communication • In 1914 both radios and telephones were the main ways of communication. These were very vital for the troops in trenches. • Messengers, dogs and pigeons were also still used.