Trench Warfare

Trench Warfare — page 5 — against the body's pain sensors especially in the eyes nose and lungs People who are gassed cry and cough and may vomit Military leaders had hoped tear gas would cause enough havoc in enemy trenches to allow an attacking force to sweep through and break into open countryside When this failed the Germans looked for a more effective agent and found it in chlorine gas In 1907 Germany the United Kingdom France Russia and other countries had signed the Hague Treaty which banned THE HAGUE TREATY certain weapons including poisonous In 1899 and 1907 Russia's Czar Nicholas ll called gases Perhaps it was because of this the major global powers together to negotiate agreement the Allied leaders ignored both rules for future wars The nations met in the the precedent for using chemical weapons Netherlands and discussed what kinds of weapons they would not produce Among these and the warnings from intelligence weapons were shells or other ways to deliver something new was about to happen The poisonous or suffocating gases Because the British had signed the treaty they limited their result was Allied troops had neither the researchers attempts at the Imperial College protective equipment nor the training of Science to develop a gas weapon Germany saw poisonous gases as one way to leave the needed to face this new weapon and trenches but they didn't want to be the first to because of this the gas took a heavy toll break the treaty In August 1914 the French used chemical grenades which gave the Germans the excuse they needed to develop and use chlorine DEAD AND DAMAGED gas now that the treaty had been violated It is hard to say just how many men were affected by the chlorine gas at Ypres Many

Trench Warfare — page 6 — An ot telling it as in pri A MANFre German Red Cross workers bring liquids to those affected by chlorine

Trench Warfare — page 7 — sources estimate there were as many as 15 000 soldiers gassed with 5 000 killed SECOND PLACE but the French kept no records of the Throughout World War I the United Kingdom numbers Other sources of casualties and France often found themselves struggling to compiled from British ambulance reports catch up with German technologically and medical stations claim there were The Germans had been the first to develop chlorine gas The British followed suit closer to 7 000 casualties with 350 of only after encountering the deadly agent the men eventually dying as a result of at Ypres The Germans were the first to dig a line of chlorine gas exposure defensive trenches forcing the British and Whether the total number of casualties French to develop their own trenches in a less favorable location was 15 000 or 7 000 the damage took Only after they came across a dead place in approximately ten minutes The German pilot did the British think to develop a lightweight oxygen mask similar events at Ypres showed combatants on to the Germans both sides that chemical weapons could work quickly and effectively even against soldiers sheltering in trenches When the French troops were hit with the gas they panicked and broke ranks opening up the Allied line for a stretch of no less than three miles 5 km Wearing gas masks the German troops left their own trenches and advanced 200 yards 180 m into Allied territory 10

Trench Warfare — page 8 — OGO Germans were prepared and protected with gas masks at the time of the Ypres chlorine gas attack The German plan to use chlorine gas to break through the Allied trench line worked but only to a point German troops fearing the gas advanced slowly and cautiously instead of seizing this opportunity to take the war out of the trenches and back into the open countryside where they could maneuver and win As dusk fell the German infantrymen sheltered in place They had made the first advance in months but needed the light of dawn and reinforcements from headquarters to stay out of the

7

PAGE 7 OF 109

The only kids' eBook subscription service that offers thousands of high-quality books from well known publishers like HarperCollins, National Geographic and others.

JavaScript Required

Whoops! We're sorry but Epic doesn't work properly without JavaScript enabled. Check your web browser's settings to make sure it's enabled.