The tools of the trench trade in VS .NET

Drawer QR-Code in VS .NET The tools of the trench trade

It goes almost without saying that one of the objects of war is to make life as unpleasant as possible for the other side Poison gas was used in the First World War, but its release was a haphazard affair that could go badly wrong if the wind direction changed; as the war progressed it became possible to fill shells with small quantities of gas and deliver them precisely on to an objective The flamethrower, used mainly by the German army, was another weapon that men hated and feared Conversely, no one was keen to volunteer to use a flamethrower because the back-pack fuel tanks identified the operator immediately and he became everyone s favourite target Other tools of trench warfare included grenades and mortars both used in earlier warfare (see 7) Mining (again, used in earlier warfare see 4) was tried as a method of destroying a section of the enemy s front line, beneath which huge quantities of explosives were detonated Trench raiding at night was a regular feature of war on the Western Front, usually to take a prisoner for interrogation; in the narrow confines of a trench, rifles and bayonets were too cumbersome for trench raiding, so men armed themselves with knives, clubs, and axes that they could wield freely at close quarters

Despite the horrors of trench warfare, many survivors recalled with sincere pleasure the comradeship they enjoyed during that period of their lives The mental toughness of their generation was reflected in the black humour of their songs For example, went the ditty, if one was looking for the old battalion they could be found hangin on the old barbed wire on the far side of no-man s land, while one refrain sung cheerfully by burial parties was: The bells of hell go tinga linga ling / For you but not for me

Your Country Needs You!

The poster showing Kitchener s stern face and the slogan Your Country Needs You! is still familiar today During the early months of the war, Kitchener asked for 100,000 volunteers with which to expand the army, and then asked for another 100,000 He got them all, many times over, although some had to wait months before they received uniforms, weapons, and constructive training The government encouraged potential recruits to enlist with others from the same neighbourhood, occupation, or sporting interest, in what were termed pals battalions They came from every social class and were indeed representative of the nation in arms They received instruction from officers and non-commissioned officers who had already seen action, or older, experienced

former soldiers who acted as instructors for the duration of the war Enthusiasm was the hallmark of the New Army battalions Some regular officers expressed doubts about the men s abilities, which proved unjustified when the time came to test them By the beginning of 1916, the flood of volunteers had shrunk to a trickle that could not replace the daily wastage The government therefore introduced conscription (enforced military service), initially for bachelors only The British First and Second Armies were formed at the end of 1914 and the Third Army in 1915 Territorial regiments were arriving at the front, but in the opinion of Kitchener, now serving as Secretary of State for War, the New Army would not be ready for active service until 1916 In the meantime, the armies in France and Belgium took over more of the front line and mounted several limited offensives designed to tie down German troops and take some of the pressure off the French and the Russians, who had already sustained several catastrophic defeats and were beginning to totter