WWI Document Archive: Pre-1914 Documents
Over the course of the campaign both sides fired artillery shells by the tons (the most destructive weapon on the Western Front eg Howitzer), unleashed streams of machine gun fire (German Spandau vs British Maxim), sprayed chemical weapons, fire flamethrowers, and British troops deployed tanks for the first time. Four days of heavy shelling preceded the British infantry assault in the Somme sector. A thousand artillery pieces targeted a 25,000-yard stretch of the German line, the weapons ranging from trench mortars to 60-pounders and huge, 15-inch howitzers. In all, the British artillery fired 1.5 million shells in just four days.
DEFINITION OF 'TRAGEDY':
Merriam Webster Dictionary: Painful and intense fear, dread, or dismay An event causing great suffering, destruction, and distress, such as a serious accident, crime, or catastrophe.
Cambridge Dictionary: An extremely strong feeling of fear and shock, or the frightening and shocking character of something.
DEFINITION OF 'HORROR':
Cambridge Dictionary: An intense feeling of fear, shock, or disgust, or the frightening and shocking character of something.
Dictionary.com: A lamentable, dreadful, or fatal event or affair; calamity; disaster.
Douglas Haig
Brigadier-General Harold 'Pompey' Elliott
Somme
Fromelles
These articles are about general WWI weaponry, and DO NOT SPECIFICALLY RELATE to the Somme or Fromelles.
5 Minute History: First World War Weapons - Includes Artillery, Rifles and bayonets, Pistols, Machine guns, Grenades, Trench mortars, Flamethrowers, Gas, Armoured cars, Tanks, Mines, Airships, Fighter aircraft, Dreadnoughts, and Submarines.
The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Weaponry - Includes Edged weapons, Handguns, Infantry rifles and Machine guns.
The Britannica Guide to Inventions That Changed the Modern World - Includes Submarine (p. 284); Machine gun (p. 288), Assault rifles (p. 291); Tank (p. 294).
National Museum of Australia: The August Offensives on Gallipoli and their echoes in Australia (audio recording or view the transcript using the button on the bottom right of the blue box)
History Alive 9 - Chapter 8: World War 1 - From Darlington, R. (2012) History Alive 9. Wiley: Milton. (Use Ctrl + F to find 'Anzac legend')
Image below: Elements of the Anzac legend - From 'Discovering Australian History Stage 5, by Ken Webb, Cambridge University Press, Melbourne, 2008.
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