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While this isolated the view of friendly soldiers along their own trench, this ensured the entire trench could not be enfiladed if the enemy gained access at any one point; or if a bomb, grenade, or shell landed in the trench, the blast could not travel far. Aerial view of opposing trench lines between Loos and Hulluch, July 1917.
The British were somewhat behind in the early stages, owing to lack of government backing. America would make valuable contributions in the form of multi-lens cameras for precision spotting. Reconnaissance remained an under-rated military art, compared with aerial combat, which gained the publicity, but impacted less on the outcome of the war.
The British and French documented aerial victories in different ways. The British decided early in the war that since the majority of air combat occurred behind enemy lines, confirmation of aerial victories would be made by witnesses mostly in the front line trenches.
This list of military engagements of World War I covers terrestrial, maritime, and aerial conflicts, including campaigns, operations, defensive positions, and sieges. Campaigns generally refer to broader strategic operations conducted over a large bit of territory and over a long period of time.
When the United States entered World War I, the exhausted British and French forces wanted American troops in the trenches of the Western Front as soon as possible. By 1917, aerial warfare was also considered key to the success of the ground forces, and in May 1917, The French, in particular, asked the Americans to also bolster Allied air power.
The Army and Navy air forces were tiny in size. Despite the flood of new weapons systems unveiled in the war in Europe, the Army was paying scant attention. For example, it was making no studies of trench warfare, poison gas or tanks, and was unfamiliar with the rapid evolution of aerial warfare. The Democrats in Congress tried to cut the ...
The Browndown First World War practice trenches in Gosport, Hampshire, were rediscovered via aerial photos in 2011, and are believed to be one of the best preserved examples in England of their type.
The terms used most frequently at the start of the war to describe the area between the trench lines included 'between the trenches' or 'between the lines'. [11] The term 'no man's land' was first used in a military context by soldier and historian Ernest Swinton in his short story "The Point of View". [1]