Read About the Many Inventions of World War I. Learn About Modern War from Primary Source Materials.
The combining of machine gun and motorcycle was an entirely Canadian concept that made an appearance early in the war. It is highly likely that the vehicles never got their baptism of fire:
an interesting adaptation of the motorcycle to military uses has been made by employing it as a light artillery vehicle…the accompanying photograph shows a machine gun mounted on a sidecar chassis.
Armed Motorcycles (Popular Mechanics, 1914) Read More »
History’s ancient example of camouflage, the Trojan horse, has a modern twist in this illustrated article. The journalist reported that at some undated point earlier in the war the French had a chance to set a mock horse-carcass between the opposing trenches and use it as an observation post.
The Dummy Horse Observation Post (Popular Mechanics, 1918) Read More »
Naval mines had been around for centuries, in one form or another – and this article pertains to the particular type of anti U-boat mines that were put in place along those well-traveled sea lanes known best by that kind of German warship.
Click here to read about one of the greatest innovations by 20th Century chemists: plastic.
The Mining of the Seas (Sea Power, 1919) Read More »
A three page article concerning the development of tanks during the First World War. While they were being created on the drawing boards of Britain’s W. Foster Company, the code name for these land dreadnoughts was water tanks; hence the name.
The first armored battle cars, or tanks were a British invention developed from an American automobile tractor used for agricultural purposes on the Western prairies. They made their initial appearance at the battle of the Somme (Flers), September 15, 1916.
However, it should be known that they were first used to greatest effect in the Battle of Cambrai (November 20 through December 7, 1917).
Click here to see a diagram of the W.W. I French Renault tank.
Read about the Patton tank in Korea…
The Evolution of the Tank (NY Times, 1919) Read More »
By the time the U.S. Army had joined the war in 1917, they were far behind in the study of camouflage, but they did their best to catch up quickly. The American generals assigned the task camouflage to the Signal Corps, which began to cruise the ranks for artists and sculptors because of their natural abilities understand paint and scale (one of the more well-known W.W. I Signal Corps camofleurs was the painter Grant Wood: click here to read about him).
The attached article displays an illustration that clearly shows that the American Army had torn a page out of that well-worn play book written by the British Camouflage School in order to deploy papier-mache dummies along the front lines. There is no evidence or written word to indicate that it was actually done.
Papier-Mache Used to Deceive German Snipers (Popular Mechanics, 1917) Read More »
The American press seemed a bit late in writing about the wartime innovations when they printed this piece:
Observation posts made of lumber and sheet metal to look like tree trunks are among the latest disguises employed on the battle front to deceive the enemy and enable watchers to occupy positions of advantage.
The steel tree-stump gag had been in effect since 1915.
The Steel Tree Stump, Part I (Popular Mechanics, 1917) Read More »
A black and white photograph illustrating one of the many iron tree stumps used throughout the war which served as field observation posts. It was in the night, when work was done by both sides to preserve and refortify their respective trenches that objects such as these were erected.
The Steel Tree Stump, Part II (Literary Digest, 1919) Read More »
The need for elevated artillery observation platforms is as old as the science of artillery itself. As this black and white image makes clear, the ones built during the Great War had to meet different needs: in order to evade detection from the air (as well as enemy artillery spotters) the more successful ones were built among the taller trees and draped in camouflage.
This article appears on this site by way of a special agreement with L’Illustration.
An Artillery Observation Tower (L’Illustration, 1917) Read More »
At the time, the war of 1914 – 1918 was unique in the sense that it was the first war in which more men were killed as a result of the projectiles rather than from disease; and it was artillery that did the lion’s share of the killing. This article appeared during the early months of the war when the world was shocked to learn of the astounding losses due to advancements in artillery. There is an illustration of an unidentified German howitzer (more than likely a 1911 model 210mm) and an account of the roll that German gunnery played during the siege of Liege and Fort Loncin in particular.
The one big surprise for the military experts thus far developed in the European war is the effectiveness of the heavy guns of the German field artillery. Never before have such terrible engines of annihilation been carried by an invading army as those used in the assault upon the forts at Liege.
German Howitzers (Popular Mechanics, 1914) Read More »
Being the story of the second of the three splendid achievements of the United States Navy in the World War: the laying of the greatest submarine mine barrier in all history, which effectually prevented the Kaiser’s U-boats from leaving their secret bases for the steamer lanes of the Atlantic.
American Naval Mines of W.W. I (Sea Power Magazine, 1919) Read More »
