MK 6 Mines in WWI

In an attempt to stop German U-boats, the Allied powers began to use underwater mines. They dropped thousands of MK 6 mines all over the North Sea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. The North Sea stretches between Great Britain, Scandinavia, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. This vast mine field did much to dishearten the U-boat crews,  and led to mutinies and finally the abandonment of the U-boat campaign in that area.

The MK 6 mines detonated when the metal hull of a ship or submarine brushed against a copper wire that extended above the mine. A battery inside the mine was given enough charge when the ship touched the antenna, for the antenna alone did not have the power to activate the battery. When the ship touched the antenna though the whole ship became the antenna.  When the hull touched the wire it completed an electrical circuit that detonated the mine. The mines were packed with TNT.

After the war, a large scale mine sweeping operation began. The object of which was to rid the ocean of the thousands of still- unexploded mines. Many mines were destroyed through these operations but not all of them. Occasionally, even today, one of these old mines will blow up. They have even damaged or sunk a few ships.

Romania During the First World War

Romania joined the war in 1916 on the side of the allied powers. Romania planned to take over Transylvania, which was originally Romanian land but later had been taken by the Austro-Hungarians. The Romanians did not like the Austro-Hungarians because that alliance refused to give Transylvania back to Romania. The Romanians wanted back Transylvania because it was a large piece of land, and because if they got it back they could make their country ethnically whole again. Therefore Romanian power would be concentrated against them. Fighting with the Romanians were the Russians, who with the Romanians, invaded Austro-Hungary. The campaign was going well until the collapse of the Russian Empire in 1917. When the Russian Empire collapsed the Russian troops helping the Romanians abandoned their positions. This left the Romanians at a disadvantage. Unable to defend its gains, the Romanian army was pushed back by the Austro-Hungarians. The Romanians continued to be pushed back into their own country. After the fall of the their capital (Bucharest) the Romanians surrendered to the central powers. Even so, during the signing of the treaty in Versailles, the Romanians were given back their land and the much wanted Transylvania.

     

In Memory of December 13, 1916

My late grandfather, Jim Serpe, was born on December 13, 1916. I decided to see if anything was happening in the war at this time. After doing some research I found that several hundred Austro-Hungarian troops were killed by an avalanche at that time. About 500 Austro-Hungarian troops were stationed on Mount Marmolada, Italy, when a large avalanche came down right on top of their barracks. Somewhere around 300 of them were pulled to safety, but the rest perished in the disaster. This event, known White Friday, was one of the most catastrophic avalanche accidents in history. Around 10,000 Austro-Hungarian and Italian troops died by the end of December from avalanches alone. It is also suspected but not proven, that avalanches were set off on purpose by the enemy.     

Alpine Warfare in WWI

The most intense alpine fighting in the First World War took place in the Italian Alps. It was hard going for both the Italians and the Austro-Hungarians. Frostbite affected everybody for it was below freezing for four straight months out of the year, and the snow could be eight to ten meters deep. Artillery was extremely hard to get in place, and most of the time it had to be brought up by pulleys. The impact of artillery shells frequently caused rock and snow slides. The Italians used mules and cable cars to transport the wounded back down to the base of the mountain for treatment. Digging trenches was not always possible, so both sides built forts and shelters on the sides of the mountains. Sometimes the incline of the slope would be more than 80 degrees. Temporary trenches were built in the snow when they could not be dug in the ground. The Italian Alps campaign was won by the Italians. In 1918 they were able to break through the Austro-Hungarian line near Sacile, a town in northeast Italy. The Austro-Hungarians surrendered soon after.

 

Dazzle Camouflage in WWI

In the early 20^th century, you sank a ship by targeting its expected path with your guns or torpedoes. You did not target your weapons at the ship itself. Back then the projectiles traveled much more slowly than they do today. Therefore it was extremely important to know which direction your target was heading. Norman Wilkinson, a Royal Navy volunteer reserve member, came up with a plan in 1917. He thought of a new type of ship camouflage. His idea was not to camouflage the ship from view but to confuse its attacker of which direction the ship was going. His design was tested on models before it was painted on real ships, and it proved extremely effective. You could not tell which direction the ship was going. He called it dazzle camouflage. Though used during the rest of the war, it was fazed out and not used much in WWII, and then it pretty much disappeared as our locating systems became more sophisticated. 

 

 

Woodrow Wilson's pre-war speech to congress

Wilson's Speech

Before America joined the war President Wilson made a speech to congress. He was requesting that America be able to join the war. This post will be on the speech he gave.

Wilson begins his speech by addressing German U-boat warfare. He says that it is our duty to protect ourselves and our allies against such reckless hate shown by the Germans in their U-boat warfare. He says it is no longer a choice for us to be involved in the war but our duty. He then says that the Germans have attacked civilian craft as well as military craft, and they have done it in an unfair way. For a ship can run from another ship, but a submarine attacks without warning.

He then goes on to say that we are not enemies with the German people. We are enemies of their leaders who have misled them to achieve their own selfish ends. He also says that German Americans are our friends and are willing to help us in our efforts. He concludes by wishing America luck in her pursuit of liberty and justice.   

e. e. cummings and President Wilson

On June 6, 2014 an article by Sydney Lea was published by The New Hampshire Valley News. I am going to dedicate this post to that article. The article was titled How World War I Altered American Life and Letters. I am going to discuss the first part of the article. Mr. Lea says that he was attending a P.E.N (an organization that is against censorship and advocates for literary-political prisoners) meeting in early May, whose theme was “The Great War and Modern Literature.” The reason for that particular theme was that this year marks the 100^th anniversary of WWI. As an American representative he was asked to say a few words about the pertaining topic. He does this by discussing a pre war speech that was given by President Woodrow Wilson, and American poet e.e. cummings’s poetic response to it. Wilson’s speech tells America that America’s involvement in the war can and will only benefit America. e.e. cummings wrote a poem making fun of the speech, setting its rhythm to the beat of My Country ‘Tis of Thee. I will not repeat the poem here due to its length, but to sum it up cummings writes that the president was encouraging young men who did not know any better to rush to their deaths. He also says that the president did not mean what he said. He ends his poem with “He spoke. And drank rapidly a glass of water.” This is to say that the president did not mean what he said. The president did not actually drink a glass of water; this was merely cummings’s way of portraying the president’s ill conviction.   

e. e. cummings

 

Chemical warefare in the First World War

In the First World War poison gas was used by both sides. The French were the first to use gas, but they only used tear gas which was not poisonous. The Germans soon after started using gas which was poisonous. The use of poison gas was a war crime for the use of poison, or poisoned weapons was prohibited by the 1907 Hague convention on land warfare.

British gas victims

 A couple types of gas employed in the war were chlorine and mustard gas. Chlorine gas was invisible and attacked the eyes, nose, and lungs the effects of which could be avoided by wearing a gas mask. Mustard gas not only attacked the nose, eyes, and lungs, but the skin. While chlorine gas disperses rather rapidly after the initial attack, mustard gas lingers for hours and maybe even days. The over all effectiveness of gas in the First World War was rather small. Casualties due to it totaled only about four percent.

Parachutes

Parachutes were first used in WWI by artillery observers in observation balloons. When an observer saw an enemy aircraft, he would leap from the balloon and use his parachute to float to the ground. The parachutes used by the balloon crews were attached to the observation balloon, and then they were torn free when the man in the balloon jumped out. The observer would be wearing a waist harness and the weight exerted on it from the man jumping would pull the parachute from the balloon.

The parachute was then used by pilots. This early version of the parachute was difficult to store in the tiny planes, and often got tangled in the falling plane. Only German pilots used parachutes during the beginning of the war, because the allied leaders thought if they gave their pilots parachutes they would bail out rather than fight or save the plane.

Then a Kentuckian by the name of Solomon Lee Van Meter, Jr. received a patent for his backpack design parachute, which featured the ripcord. This new parachute design was then adopted by pilots, and proved more useful than the older version that was difficult to store and operate.        

WWI Torpedoes

Torpedoes were used by the Germans in the First World War to blow up or sink ships carrying supplies to Briton or any of the other allied powers. German submarines were smaller than British submarines and had five torpedo tubes.

One of the types of torpedoes used in the First World War was called the Bangalore torpedo. The Bangalore torpedo dated back to British use in India, hence the name. This torpedo was not used in the water. It was actually used to clear barbed wire and traps on the battlefield. One of the torpedoes that the Germans used was the Schwartzkopf torpedo. The Schwartzkopf torpedo was used in the water.

The Germans sank the passenger liner Lusitania killing 1,195 people. This angered the American people not only because it was a passenger ship, but it carried Americans some of whom had died. The ship was sunk on May 1, 1915 and America entered the war in 1917 on account of those Americans who had died two years earlier.

Torpedoes in WWI were wet burn torpedoes. They were called wet burning torpedoes because water was added to the fuel burning engine. This solved over heating problems with the torpedoes, and increased the distance traveled by the torpedo by recycling the steam put off by the water cooled engine.

The basic uniform and gear of a World War I infantryman

 picture from: schoolhistory.co.uk

The average solider usually carried the following: rucksack, gas mask, rifle, ammunition, grenades, boots, a helmet or hat, Puttees (these were long pieces of cloth or fabric which they wrapped around the upper halves of their boots and calves to keep out water and dirt), canteen, socks, gloves, coat, shovel, bayonet, another small knife, and a cape. Other soldiers carried machine guns, or they manned artillery.

The First Battle of the Marne

The battle took place at the Marne River a long river in France. French and British troops fell back to the river in an attempt to halt the German advance toward Paris. The French and British succeeded in repelling the German army which was at this point tired from 30 days of marching. Now both sides had stopped advancing and began the four year period of the war fought in trenches in some places no more than one hundred yards apart. The Battle of the Marne was the last attempt by the Germans to push farther into the enemy’s lines. The battle took place September 6-12 1914, on the southern end of the river Marne. The Germans attacked the allied defense and were pushed back. This was followed by a counter attack by the allied forces, but the Germans were still near victory until the allies were reinforced by a French reserve of 6,000 troops. With this new strength the allies were able to stop the German advance. 

 

 Sources

Wikipedia. "The First Battle of the Marne." February 9, 2014. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Battle_of_the_Marne

Michael Duffy. "The First Battle of the Marne," 1914 Saturday, 22 August, 2009. http://www.firstworldwar.com/battles/marne1.htm

Murphy, Jim. Truce. New York, NY.: Scholastic inc. 2009

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