Impact of the Battle of Ypres on the Officers and Men
The battle of Ypres resulted to great losses to both then men involved and the soldiers. During the battle, three thousand men died in Ypres in a fortnight, which is a great loss to Ypres for so many men to die within such a short time. Further, the soldiers suffered leading to the reduction of 7 Div to under three thousand foot soldiers, as many soldiers lost their lives in the battle.
Relationship between Officers and Ordinary Soldiers
The relationship between the officers and soldiers is good and friendly, as the officers are concerned about the welfare of the soldiers. For instance, they are considering giving the soldiers in the battlefield a week’s rest, and ensure reinforcement of the 7Div, which is greatly reduced, hence its lack of reinforcement would mean total failure in the battlefield. In addition, the officers demonstrate the cordial relationship between the officers and the soldiers through the expression of relief when the battle approaches its ending. This shows that the officers are sympathizing with the soldiers who are losing their life in the battlefield.
Conditions in the Trenches
The sources indicate that the trenches are risky areas for the soldiers, as they expose them to dangerous snipers and risk getting diseases associated with wet and cold conditions characterizing trenches in Ypres. For instance, the trenches are full of liquid mud, and given the country’s flat topology, draining the trenches is impossible, exposing the soldiers to diseases since they lacked an alternative for hideouts.
Moreover, most soldiers faced the risk of snipers as they made trenches since most of them were new to the art of digging out trenches. This is because the position of the trenches and the muddy ground made soldiers use a lot of time to dig out trenches, creating adequate time for snipers to shoot at them. This led to more casualties among the soldiers than it would be expected in most battlegrounds.
Experiences in Front Line Trenches
From the sources, it is clear that soldiers who were at the front line in the trenches had a difficult time as they risked death from snipers. Being on low grounds, it was very easy for the soldiers in the trenches to be targeted by snipers, who were at higher grounds. Hence, the number of casualties among soldiers in the trenches was higher than what w0ould have been expected if the trenches were located in favorable locations. Further, the soldiers suffered a lot from the unbearable conditions in the trenches, which they had to withstand, with mud covering up to the soldier’s ankles.
Aspects of Trench Warfare
The sources provide information on the art of trench making, which involves digging shallow trenches meant as hideouts against the enemy. Further, the sources provide information on the art of sniper warfare to target enemy soldiers in the trenches. Soldiers take advantage of raised grounds to target soldiers in hiding at low lying trenches, while soldiers in trenches target their enemies on the advantage that their enemies cannot recognize their exact location.
Use of Sources in the Presentation
Source 1c could be used in my presentation to provide solutions to the problems that soldiers in the trenches are exposed to during battles. For instance, instead of using young soldiers to make trenches, who are exposed to sniper guns leading to high numbers of casualties, using 3 Battalion Terries would reduce the level of casualties, Moreover, the introduction of the Howitzer for the soldiers in the trenches would play a great role in handling attacks from the enemy.
Source 2
Battle of Ypres in April 1915 saw the Germans use poisonous gases as weapons to fight against their enemies. The weapon was launched On April 22, 1915. After the consecutive attacks by the Germans, the French and the British army also decided to launch their gaseous weapons to be able to match up with the Germans. The British stated with developing their own poisonous gases weapons and masks that they planned to use in the event the Germans again attacked them.
The masks will help them not to inhale the poisonous gases. Troops involved in the British army had their eyes glued towards ensuring that they were able to monitor what their enemies were up to. The war demanded that every troop be watchful especially because of the fact that the war was no longer more of the usual weapons but rather involved the use of serious poisonous gases that killed a huge number of troops. The troops were also ready to support their own in times when they were attacked. The troops were also very strong and had the ability to withstand the serious of attacks. Even though there were causalities during the war, they were ready to provide support however they could to ensure that they all return home safe and sound.
The troops were attacked from different direction. The main danger was the fact that the war was not only based on the usual weapons that they were used to but this time round involved the use of deploying poisonous gases. The gases were dangerous and therefore the troops had to ensure that resort to other means of ensuring that in the event they were attacked, they were able to control the rate at which they inhaled the gas.
This was the only option they had to ensure that they remained alive. Another dangerous factor was the aspect of ensuring that when they deploy the poisonous gases, the gas should land on the enemies and not on the fellow troops. The troops therefore had to move in an organized patter to guarantee their safety from attacking each other.
A major contrast that was likely to be experienced includes the aspect of the troops attacking their own. Other troops were digging themselves in leaving the other troops to fight the enemy alone. The result will be that the number of the enemies would be too large for the remaining troop to handle and they will be killed. It was important to ensure that there was random communication between the troops to ensure that they understand the situation their fellow troop members were under and would initiate the procedures necessary to come to their rescue.
The source mainly provides information on what happens when their enemies subdue the troops and the only option left is waiting for the enemy to attack so that they subdue the attack. It also explains how sometimes in a war, the army may be defeated and the only option left is to run for your life. If you do not run for your life then you are giving up your life to the enemy.
The source provides information on how troops prepare when they are going for a war. It provides information on how they align themselves when they want to initiate an attack. The source provides information on how troops behave when their enemies defeat them. They are therefore forced to hide so that the enemy does not kill them.
Source 3
According to The National Archives (2014)“war diary” source various information shows that there were different troops fighting in the British forces. Evidently, most soldiers died in the battlefield especially in the front line in the fights that encountered in the trenches. However, the statistics of those who died, went missing or sustained injuries have been shown in a totally different picture altogether.
The statistics showed that up to 9 out of the 10 soldiers who went into the battlefield survived the attacks in the trenches. One notable element thing about the diary was that it made a grim reading about the status of the soldiers. For instance it was indicated that the term “missing” did not necessarily mean dead.
This source is a revelation on the horrific encounters in which the soldiers went through in the course of their fighting. The amount of danger that they were exposed to were immense with some dying while many sustaining injuries. This bloodbath is seen to have painted a four year long battle between the fighting combat groups.
This represents a list of causalities suffered between April and May 1915. In the same way, there were days when violence was at its peak when thousands of lives were lost especially at the Western Front with more than half of the soldiers sustaining injuries. However, the case was totally different among those who were in the trenches as 9 out of 10 were able to survive the war (The National Archives, 2014).
This source filed under catalogue WO 95/3923 in the National Archives is a diary source which shows the number of people who die as a result of the long years battle. This was called a war diary, which was mandated to be written everyday so as to account for all activities which happened in the battlefield such as the battalion or the brigade in the battlefield.
Therefore, this source is useful because it was able to make comprehensive justification for the days events through the use of facts and figures. For instance those that were injured, killed or even went missing were listed together with their grade and battalion to which they belong.
This sources shows a number of trenches dug in order to protect the soldiers from the harsh environmental conditions as well as the enemy shell-fire. For instance the firing trench was dug in a creative zig zag manner so as to minimize the extent of the probable damage caused by explosives. The support trench in this case was made to ensure that the main firing trench was made available to the second line of defense. The establishment of the communication channels consisted of the whole network of trenches and enabled the soldiers to move quickly with all their reinforcements and supplies. (The National Archives, 2014).
This information is quite valuable for my final presentation major because the information is from a credible hand written source. In addition to that the source will be of essence in providing the names, ranks and status of the soldiers who were in the battlefield. Similarly, the war diary showed a number of elements that happened in the battlefield such as heroism, suffering and danger among the soldiers that would form an invaluable piece of information for my presentation.
References
The National Archives. The Great War 1914-1918 (2014). Retrieved on 11th November 2014 from http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/greatwar/g3/cs2/g3cs2s3.htm