weapons and wounds

• Weapons of World War 1


  • Defensive weapons like machine guns and barbed wire outweighed offensive weapons like rifles and light machine guns
  • New technologies and tactics were developed to break the stalemate of trench warfare
• Bolt-action rifle

  Common infantry weapon that could fire up to 10 bullets before reloading, with pointed bullets causing deeper wounds
• Machine gun

  Fired up to 600 bullets per minute, deadly against attacking troops in the open
• Artillery


  Biggest killer in World War 1, causing almost half of all casualties, able to fire high explosives and shrapnel over long distances
• Bullet wounds


  • Entrance wound, concussive blast damage causing cavities, exit wound or lodged bullet fragments
  • Shrapnel wounds were often worse, causing terrible damage
• Early in the war, men hit in the legs had only a 20% survival rate due to blood loss, organ damage, shock and infection</b>
• 41,000 men in the British army had limbs amputated and 60,000 had facial injuries, even with steel helmets introduced in 1916
• Chlorine gas


  Suffocated people and caused acid to build up in the lungs
• Phosgene gas


  Most deadly, caused nerves to shut down, stopping breathing and the heart
• Mustard gas


  Caused horrible blisters on the skin and could cause blindness
• Around 5% of all British deaths in World War 1 were due to gas
• Gas masks


  • Early on were chemical-soaked masks, later more sophisticated respirators with filters
  • Also available for horses
• Painting by John Singer Sargent


  • Depicts blinded soldiers being evacuated after a gas attack, based on the artist's notes and sketches from the war
• The painting is not of a specific event but is meant to be representative of the conditions
• The painting is useful for learning about the effects of gas and how the wounded were evacuated from the front