The changing face of war

 

The generals expected the First World War to be a war of movement: troops advancing shoulder to shoulder across open fields, bayonets fixed. The generals were wrong. The Great War, as it was known then, was the opposite of a war of movement. The infantry spent four years facing each other from their deep trenches across 'no man's land'. Now and again, one side would launch a suicidal attack against the enemy trenches, wreathed in barbed wire. There were no dashing cavalry charges; the best use for horses was pulling heavy artillery and carrying shells and supplies through the mud.

 

Once the tank had been invented in 1916, it was used to support the attacks by infantry. Tanks had a maximum speed of 7 kph - about walking pace. They were not very reliable and often broke down. Aircraft were not used to attack enemy troops but for reconnaissance, eg to find out whether large numbers of men were marching to the front. This would mean attacks were being planned.

 

Neil Demarco: The era of the Second World War; Oxford University Press, 1993/2000, page 27