November 23rd 2009

ww1 - advances in technology

     given by Dr Richard Aldridge - NES Past President

To an audience of close to 100 members Richard apologised for the late change in topic but he explained that unfortunately Dr Baker had been called away on business at short notice and he had volunteered to fill the gap. He then went on to say that he had got interested in the topic of technological advance in ww1 when he had been doing some family history research on one his great uncles who had died in the Somme offensive of 1916.

He started his talk by giving a brief history of the conflict. He then told the audience that most of the big technological advances had occurred on the 'Western Front' in attempts by both sides to overcome the 450 miles of trenches stretching from the Chaneel to the Alps. Even then he explained there was far too much material to cover in one session. If time permitted Richard said he intended to look at four topics: Aerial Warfare in particular aeroplanes, Tanks, Communications and Logistics.

Richard explained that one of the major needs of the commanders on both sides was to know what the other side was up to and where the major targets were. Clearly because of the continuous nature of the trench system it was impossible to conduct old fashioned scouting. Some means had to be used to look over the trench sytems.

This where aerial warfare came in. He described how balloons and tethered kites had been used for recconnaissance in both the US Civil War and the 1870 conflict between Germany and France but that the military realised that the real problem was the inherent fixed site nature of their deployment; mobility was not their strong suit
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It turned out that the air fair at Rheims in France in 1909 was the wake up call to the various potential combatants of the Great War that a new technology was becoming available i.e. the aeroplane. This was further enhanced by Bleriot's crossing of the Channel later that year. Up till then flight development was in the hands of the dedicated few such as the Wright brothers, A.V.Roe, Sopwith, De Haviland and Handley Page in the UK and Voisin and Depuisson in France. A.V Roe is almost certain to have made the first flight in UK in August 1908 and this was only of a few minutes and about 200m in the first instance.

Thereafter development was rapid with Bristol Boxkites being used in the army war games of 1910 and the RFC being formed in 1912 equipped with the first of the specifically designed war machines from the Royal Aircraft Factory the BE2. This latter aircraft was slow, fairly unreliable unarmed at the beginning but very stable so basically a good spotting plane. When WW1 started the BE2 soon ran into trouble because of its lack of agility and lack of guns. Richard described, using a series of slides, how aircraft on all sides developed from these early aircraft to become more specialised in their role; for example the Sopwith Camel and the SE5a for the British and the Albatross and the Fokker 7 for the Germans were dedicated fighter planes whereas the Handley Page HP0500 ("Vimy") and the HP1500 were developed as Bombers. From 1910 to 1918 aircraft had ranges of 1000+ km (HP1500) and up to speeds of close to 200km per hour(SE5a)
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However nothing is gained by good recconnaissance if use cannot be made of the information thus gained. Because of the nature of the artillery and the machine gun trench warfare was a rather bloody affair. It was very easy for the rash commander to lose a lot of men very quickly. The British in particular tried very early in the conflict to develope some sort of device that could cross "no mans land", flatten any barbed wire screens encountered there and then provide covering fire for the crossing infantry. Thus came into being the "tank". Richard showed using slides how the tank developed from the Holt Caterpillar Tractor from the US into a vehicle that in principle could cross a trench system and provide the necessary covering fire. By 1916 the British Mark 1 was in being and was used, perhaps prematurely, late in the Battle of the Somme at Flers. Actually at that stage the tank was very unreliable; for instance in the latter battle only 1 tank out of about 30 made it past the German Lines. Most of the rest had broken down before crossing the British front line; the others were damaged by German (and British!!) gunfire.

Despite these shortcomings the British Army, with Field Marshall Haig's insistence, persisted with Tank development. With the Mark IV and Mark V they they had a much more reliable machine which was capable, given the right circumstances, of achieving most of what was expected of it. If the right back up had been available the initial break through by the Tank Corps at Cambrai might well have been a resounding success. The French as well had been working along similar lines and by the end of the conflict had perhaps the best tank in the Renault built machine. Fortunately for the Allies the Germans never developed a machine of similar capabilities to the Mark V or the light tank the Whippet; indeed the German Army much preferred to use reconditioned British and French Tanks.

Richard's talk was then followed by a question and answer session. When this was concluded the President, Steve Searle, on behalf of the members present, thanked Richard for standing in at such short notice.

Richard Aldridge    November2009