Germany starts the offensive World War I officially began with the German army storming through Belgium into France At the First Battle of the Marne the German runs into French forces A stalemate occurs ID: 780257
Download The PPT/PDF document "Stalemate/Trench Warfare" is the property of its rightful owner. Permission is granted to download and print the materials on this web site for personal, non-commercial use only, and to display it on your personal computer provided you do not modify the materials and that you retain all copyright notices contained in the materials. By downloading content from our website, you accept the terms of this agreement.
Slide1
Stalemate/Trench Warfare
Slide2Germany starts the offensive
World War I officially began with the German army storming through Belgium, into France.
At the First
Battle of the Marne, the German runs into French forcesA stalemate occurs
Slide3Trench Warfare sets in
Trench Warfare is battle in which both sides have dug trenches to stand their ground
Artillery fire (cannon) was used to keep the enemy off-guard
Slide4Slide5What were the trenches?
Trenches were generally holes, dug about six feet deep
Why?
Trenches were a lot like a maze on both sides, with bunkers used for communications and storing ammunition
Slide6Slide7Conditions in the trenches
Slide8Death, on a daily basis
In the busier front-line sectors:
constant machine gun and artillery fire
Don’t peer over the edge of the trenchEstimated 1/3
rd
of the deaths for the Allied Powers were in the trenches.
Slide9Shell fire
Germans used mortar fire (large shells that explode on impact) against the allies
These shell attacks were more deadly than gunfire
Why do you think that is?
Slide10Rats…
Rats, which numbered in the millions infested the trenches
Two kinds: Brown & Black
These rats gorged themselves on human remainsAs a result, some were as big as cats.
Slide11Rats continued…
A single rat could produce 900 offspring, so it was impossible to get rid of them
What do you think rats contributed to the trenches?
Slide12Lice & Trench Fever
Lice, another problem with the trenches
Caused never-ending itching
Clothes that were “de-loused” almost always still had lice eggs on them
Condition called Trench Fever
Caused by lice
Horrible fever/severe pain
Slide13Trench Foot
Trench foot, a fungal infection caused by standing in water for long periods of time
Especially bad at the beginning of the war
Conditions improved in 1915
Slide14Slide15Poison Gas
In 1915, the Germans began to use poisonous chlorine gas in some shell attacks
The poisonous gas caused violent choking spells
Slide16Mustard Gas
Created by the Germans, mustard gas caused painful blisters inside and outside the body.
Remained in the soil for weeks, making its effectiveness questionable
While deaths from gas attacks were not large scale, they caused those attacked to live the rest of their lives scarred/useless.
Slide17The stench
Chlorine gas from the gas attacks still lingered in many places
Rotting carcasses lay around in their thousands.
For example, approximately 200,000 men were killed on the Somme battlefields, many of which lay in shallow graves
Slide18Slide19Slide20This was in the summer of 1916. In the plain on our right the flash and rumble of guns was unceasing. It was the beginning of the Somme offensive we learnt afterwards, but even if we had known one of the big battles of the War was in progress at our elbows I doubt if we should have been deeply stirred. To every private in the line the War was confined to his own immediate front.
Slide21Lice and wind-up came into my life about the same time. At stand-to one morning a flight of whizz-bangs skimmed the top of the trench. The man next to me went down with a scream and half his face gone. The sand-bag in front of me was ripped open and I was blinded and half-choked with its contents.
Slide22My first spell in the line lasted three weeks. Water was scarce, and even the tea ration was so short there was none left over for shaving. I had a nine days' growth of beard when we went down to rest. Some of us looked like Crimean veterans and we all began to feel like it. My socks were embedded in my feet with caked mud and filth and had to be removed with a knife.
Slide23Now it’s your turn
Write a narrative as if you were an soldier in the trenches of World War I. Talk about the different things you sense or are around you: (smell/hear/see/taste/touch)