Weapons & Trench Warfare

World War One

Total War/Modern Warfare
Myth
Reality
 Technological Advances from
World War I
• The industrialization of • Machine gun
society from the Industrial • Rapid fire artillery
Revolution would • Airplanes
generate many military
applications of new • Internal combustion
technology engine
• In 1915 British Admiral • Tanks
Jacky Fisher wrote, “The • Zeppelins
war is going to be won by • Gas
inventions.” • Flamethrowers
 New Technology & WWI
• New technology had not broken the “stalemate” of WWI – in
fact they helped create it – the only real impact of technology
was the dramatic increase in war death/injury & the impact of
war on civilian populations – death tolls increased & civilian
centers now became legitimate targets
• Technological advancements surpassed military field strategy of
“frontal assault charges” which had existed for millennia – this
only increased battlefield casualties
• Some significant technological developments:
• Tanks – originally designed to break the stalemate of the
trenches – became the future of ground warfare
• Planes – war was taken to the skies
• Submarines – in existence since the American Revolution
– was now “perfected”
• Chemical Warfare – mustard gas & choking poisons were
used by all sides
• Land Mines – used to destroy tanks
• Telephone & Radio – communication & coordination
devices
• All-Steel Ships – increased size & gun capability
• Long-Range Artillery – used to “soften up” enemy
positions
• Machine Guns – ended the military tactic of the “frontal
assault” (not until some 11 million were dead first)
 The changes of war
• New weapons crippled the “frozen front”
– Poison gas (mustard gas)
– Hand grenades
– Flame throwers
– Tanks
– Airplanes
– Tanks
– Subs
 The World War I Battlefield
New weapons
• Poison gas, other new weapons response to massive deadlock
• Two systems of trenches stretched hundreds of miles, western Europe
• Millions of Allied and Central Powers soldiers in trenches of Western Front

Trench warfare
• Trench warfare not new idea
• Soldiers had long hidden behind mounds of earth
• Scale of 1914 Europe trench warfare never before experienced

Life in trenches
• Rainstorms produced deep puddles, mud
• Lice, rats, bad sanitation constant problems
• Removing dead bodies often impossible
 The World War I Battlefield
Over the top
• Soldiers ordered out of trenches to attack enemy
• Sprinting across area known as “no-man’s-land” a deadly game
• Thousands on both sides died, cut down by enemy guns

New weapons
• Neither side able to make significant advances on enemy’s trenches
• Each side turned to new weapons like poison gas
• Value limited, both sides developed gas masks

More effective
• Other new weapons more effective than poison gas
• Rapid-fire machine guns in wide use
• Artillery and high-explosive shells, enormous destructive power
U-Boats
Submarines or U-Boats
 German Submarine Warfare
U-Boats
• Germany suffered because of the
British blockade, so it developed small
submarines called U-boats to strike
back at the British.
• U-boats are named after the German
for “undersea boat.”
• In February 1915 the German
government declared the waters
around Great Britain a war zone,
threatening to destroy all enemy
ships.
• Germany warned the U.S. that neutral
ships might be attacked.
• The German plan for unrestricted
submarine warfare angered
Americans, and Wilson believed it
violated the laws of neutrality.
• Wilson held Germany accountable for
American losses.
America’s Involvement
• In 1915, Germany sank a luxury
passenger ship to Great Britain
called the Lusitania, killing many,
including 128 Americans
• Americans were outraged, and
Wilson demanded an end to
unrestricted submarine warfare.
• The Germans agreed to attack only
supply ships but later sank the
French passenger ship Sussex,
killing 80 people.
• Wilson threatened Germany again,
and Germany issued the Sussex
pledge, promising not to sink
merchant vessels “without warning
and without saving human lives.”
 Submarines
• On Feb 1, 1917, the Germans pursued
unrestricted submarine warfare with the order
“To all U-boats, sink on sight.”
• In 11 months, the Germans sank 2,966 Allied or
neutral ships carrying food, munitions, or men
• 1 in 4 British ships were sunk
• This led to the USA joining the war against the
Germans
• British started to sail in convoys escorted by
warships and sea mines to break the German
submarine control of the seas
Submarines
Changing Technology
This photo shows some of the early
experimental submarines that were
developed during World War I. The
submarine was part of the modern
style of warfare that was introduced
in World War I.

The German navy had approximately 100

submarines in service during WWI.
Initially the Germans used
submarines to threaten the Allies'
economic blockade. In 1917 the
German Kaiser declared unrestricted
U-boat warfare against the allies,
including neutral ships in British
waters. In response, the Allies
established armed convoys to
protect merchant ships and
increased production of mines and
depth charges.

The sinking of neutral ships, like the

Lusitania in 1915, polarized public
opinion (against the Germans) about
the war, and was a major factor in
the decision of the United States to
join the Allied caused.

Photo: Courtesy Queen’s University Archives

Allied Ships Sunk by U-Boats
 German Miscalculation
• Germany resumed unrestricted
submarine warfare in early 1917
– Notified US of decision Jan 31
– Sunk several US ships in Feb
and Mar
• US declared war on April 6, 1917
– At the same time Russia was
withdrawing from the war
(Remember from Lesson 11),
the US was entering
• Germany failed to end war before
the US entered it
The Caption Reads: Novel
Coastwise Scenery: Since it was
given out that the German
barbarians were refusing to fire
on cathedrals, England has
worked out a jolly little plan for
coast defense. (From Jugend,
Munich.)
Machine Guns
 A New Kind of Warfare

Word of Germany’s invasion of Belgium quickly spread to France and other

European nations.
• French troops mobilized to meet approaching German divisions.
– They looked much as French soldiers did over 40 years earlier, wearing bright
red coats and heavy brass helmets.
– The German troops dressed in gray uniforms that worked as camouflage on
the battlefield.
• French war strategy had not changed much since the 1800s.
– French soldiers marched row by row onto the battlefield, with bayonets
mounted to their field rifles, preparing for close combat with the Germans.
– The Germans, however, had many machine guns, and mowed down some
15,000 French troops per day in early battle.
– A well-trained German machine-gun team could set up equipment in four
seconds, and each machine gun matched the firepower of 50 to 100 French
rifles.
• Many Europeans wrongly thought these technological advances would make the
war short and that France would be defeated in two months.
 Maxim Machine Gun
• A gun that fires off a stream of bullets---about
10 bullets every second
• One machine gun was said to be worth 80 rifles
• Good for defending trenches
• Weights 62kg and needs to rest on a stand
• It gets hot very quickly and bullets can jam
• At the start of the war, the Germans had 12,000
• By the end of the war, they had 100,000
 Super Killing Machines:

•They drove men into trenches and foxholes.

•War, became a battle of inches (stalemate)
 Machine Guns
• Could fire over 1000 cartridges per minute
• When the enemy would charge into the
open, the machine guns would cut them
down by the thousands
• Led to the development of trenches to
escape the deadly gunfire
 Rapid Firing Machine Guns
Machine Guns
 The Machine Gun

Germans first to mass produce it– the British thought it was not “sporting”
 Artillery

Industrialization & the arms race created artillery

that fired with greater power and carried much
farther than before.
 New Weapons of War

Poisonous Gas Tanks Airplanes

• German military • When soldiers • Both sides used
scientists planes to map and
began to carry gas to attack trenches
experimented with masks, they still from above.
gas as a weapon.
faced a stalemate. • Planes first
• Gas in battle was dropped brinks and
risky: Soldiers didn’t • British forces soon
heavy objects on
know how much to developed armored enemy troops.
use, and wind tanks to move into
• Soon they
changes could no-man’s-land. mounted guns and
backfire the gas. bombs on planes.
• These tanks had
• Then Germans threw limited success • Skilled pilots
canisters of gas into because many got sought in air
the Allies’ trenches. battles called
stuck in the mud. dogfights.
• Many regretted using
• Germans soon • The German Red
gas, but British and
French forces began found ways to Baron downed 80
destroy the tanks Allied planes, until
using it too, to keep he was shot down.
things even. with artillery fire.
 CHEMICAL WARFARE

Types: Mustard, Chlorine, & Phosgene

•Drifted in the wind—often affected their own
troops
 Gruesome Gases
• Lacrymators: a type of tear gas that makes you go blind for a while.
Even a tiny amount makes your eyes sting.
• Sternutators: gives you a headache and makes you sick. It arrives
in a high-explosive shell before the enemy can put on the gas
masks.
• Suffocating: gases that are used to kill. Breathe in these gases, and
your lungs fill up with liquid. You drown in your own body fluids.
• Phosgene: smells like rotten hay but doesn’t make your nose or
your eyes itch, so you don’t know you have breathed it in until you
start to choke to death
• Vesicant: British called it mustard gas. It has no smell, so the
enemy don’t know they have been gassed until it is too late.
Poison Gas
 Poison Gas
• French army used tear-gas grenades, then the
Germans expanded on the poison gases
• Chlorine Gas-destroyed the respiratory organs and
led to a slow death by asphyxiation
• Phosgene Gas-caused the victim to violently cough
& choke; often a delayed reaction up to 48 hours
• Mustard Gas-used later in the war in 1917; almost
odorless & took 12 hours to take into effect;
caused serious blisters internally & externally;
remained active in the soil for several weeks
• Germans used 68,000 tons of poison gas
• France used almost 37,000 tons
• Britain used more than 25,000 tons
• 91,198 soldiers died due to poison gas attacks
• 1.2 million were hospitalized due to poison gas
attacks
 Mustard Gas
•The most lethal of all the poisonous chemicals used during the war, it
was almost odorless and took twelve hours to take effect.
• Yperite was so powerful that only small amounts had to be added to
high explosive shells to be effective.
•Once in the soil, mustard gas remained active for several weeks.
•The skin of victims of mustard gas blistered, the eyes became very sore
and they began to vomit.
• Mustard gas caused internal and external bleeding and attacked the
bronchial tubes, stripping off the mucous membrane.
•This was extremely painful and most soldiers had to be strapped to
their beds. It usually took a person four or five weeks to die of mustard
gas poisoning
• One nurse, Vera Brittain, wrote: "I wish those people who talk about
going on with this war whatever it costs could see the soldiers suffering
from mustard gas poisoning. Great mustard-coloured blisters, blind
eyes, all sticky and stuck together, always fighting for breath, with voices
a mere whisper, saying that their throats are closing and they know they
 “Death is everywhere”
• Mustard gas
– Also known as yellow
cross or Yperite
– Carried by the wind
– Burned out soldier’s
lungs
– Deadly in the
trenches
where it would
sit at the bottom
 Poison Gas
• “It was our first experience with mustard
gas. The men we took were covered in
blisters. The size of your palm most of
them. In any tender, warm place, under
the arms, between the legs, and over the
face and neck. All their eyes streaming,
and hurting in a way that sin never hurts.”
Mustard Gas
Wounds
 •Burned body & lungs
•caused blindness, asphyxiation,
& death

•Chemical Warfare banned after

World War I

Survivors of a Gas Attack

Poison Gas
 If you are caught in a gas attack
without a gas helmet, you were told to:

• Take out your handkerchief.

• Urinate into the materials till it is soaked.
• Tie it round your mouth and nose and
breathe through it.
Poison Gas
 Poetry from the First World War was
written by soldiers who served at the
Western Front.
• They saw the horrors of War first hand.
• They wrote about what they really saw.
• Their poems were published just after
thewar, so they were not censored. They
are first hand and often unbiased
sources.
 “Bombed Last Night”-a Trench
Song about Poison Gas
• Bombed last night, and bombed the night
before.
Going to get bombed tonight if we never get
bombed anymore.
When we're bombed, we're scared as we can
be.
Can't stop the bombing from old Higher
Germany.
• They're warning us, they're warning us.
One shell hole for just the four of us.
Thank your lucky stars there are no more of us.
So one of us can fill it all alone.
 “Bombed Last Night” Cont.
• Gassed last night, and gassed the night before.
Going to get gassed tonight if we never get
gassed anymore.
When we're gassed, we're sick as we can be.
For phosgene and mustard gas is much too
much for me.
• They're killing us, they're killing us.
One respirator for the four of us.
Thank your lucky stars that we can all run fast.
So one of us can take it all alone.
Poison Gas
 WILFRED OWEN
Wilfred Owen is one of the
more famous War Poets.
He was born March 18th, 1893.
He joined the Army in 1915 as
an Officer in the “Artists
Rifles”.
Wilfred Owen served in some
of the worst conditions during
the following months.
DULCE ET DECORUM EST
By Wilfred Owen
Bent double like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all
blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of gas shells dropping softly behind.
 Gas! GAS!
Quick, Boys!
 …An ecstasy of
fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and
stumbling,
And flound’ring like a man in fire or
lime…
Dim, through the misty panes and thick
green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him
 In all my dreams,
before my helpless
sight,
He plunges at me,
guttering, choking,
drowning.
If in some smothering dreams you too could
pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his
face,
His hanging face like a devil’s sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth corrupted
lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile incurable sores on innocent tongues,
My friend, you would not tell with such high
zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori. (It is good and sweet to die
for your country.)
 November 4th, 1918:
Owen and his men went ‘over the top’. He was
shot and killed by German machine guns on the
banks of the Sambre-Ouse Canal.

The War ended just a week later on November 11th.

Wilfred Owen was 25 years old.
Gas Shell Launchers
Loading Gas Shell Launchers
Gas Shells Exploding
 Poison Gas Deaths: 1914-1918
Country Non-Fatal Deaths Total
British Empire 180,597 8,109 188,706
France 182,000 8,000 190,000
United States 71,345 1,462 72,807
Italy 55,373 4,627 60,000
Russia 419,340 56,000 475,340
Germany 191,000 9,000 200,000
Austria-Hungary 97,000 3,000 100,000
Others 9,000 1,000 10.000
Total 1,205,655 91,198 1,296,853
 Chemical Warfare
The horror and disgust at the wartime use
of poison gases was so great that its use
was outlawed in 1925 - a ban that, at least
in theory, is still in force today.
Photos: Courtesy Unites States Air Force Air War College
Table Source: First World War.com

Casualties
Country from Gas Death
Austria-
Hungary 100,000 3,000
British
Empire 188,706 8,109
France 190,000 8,000
Germany 200,000 9,000
Italy 60,000 4,627
Russia 419,340 56,000
USA 72,807 1,462
Others 10,000 1,000
Gas Masks

*
 Poison Gas

Machine Gun
Attempts to Break the Stalemate:
Gas
• Various efforts were
made to break the
stalemate
• The Germans first
used gas against
the Russians on Jan
13, 1915 with little
effect
• They were more
successful at Ypres
Even German dogs were
on Aug 15
outfitted with gas masks
Soldiers would protect
themselves using Gas Masks
 Fighting in Trenches
• William Pressey was gassed on 7th June 1917. He survived the attack and later
wrote about the experience of being gassed.

• I was awakened by a terrific crash. The roof came down on my chest

and legs and I couldn't move anything but my head. I found I could
hardly breathe. Then I heard voices. Other fellows with gas helmets on,
looking very frightened in the half-light, were lifting timber off me and
one was forcing a gas helmet on me. Even when you were all right, to
wear a gas helmet was uncomfortable, your nose pinched, sucking air
through a canister of chemicals.
I was put into an ambulance and taken to the base, where we were
placed on the stretchers side by side on the floor of a marquee. I
suppose I resembled a kind of fish with my mouth open gasping for air.
It seemed as if my lugs were gradually shutting up and my heart
pounded away in my ears like the beat of a drum. On looking at the
chap next to me I felt sick, for green stuff was oozing from the side of
his mouth.
To get air in my lungs was real agony. I dozed off for short periods but
seemed to wake in a sort of panic. To ease the pain in my chest I may
subconsciously have stopped breathing, until the pounding of my
heart woke me up. I was always surprised when I found myself awake,
for I felt sure that I would die in my sleep.
 Surviving a gas attack

• Your gas mask irritates the skin on your face and

itches or it makes you feel claustrophobic. What can
you do without exposing yourself to the poisonous
gas?
• The soldier next to you dies. What do you do with the
body?
• Another soldier goes berserk and throws his gas
mask out of the trench. What do you do?
'Gassed'. Painting by John Singer Sargent, 1918/1919.
 On your Left Side:
• After World War One, the world’s nations
outlawed the use of chemical weapons
due to the horrors of poison gas.
• However, developments in biological and
chemical weapons have continued to this
day.
• Why has this continued? Explain your
reasoning.
Flamethrowers
 Flamethrowers
• Fired a stream of gasoline that was ignited
at the muzzle
• The jet of flaming gasoline was fired onto
the enemy in the trenches to kill or disable
• Germans first used this as a shock
weapon in 1916 to shock the Allies out of
their trenches
World War One also brought about new weapons of war as well as a new kind
of warfare: Weapons such as flame throwers, poisonous gas, machine guns,
tanks and air planes were employed

FLAME THROWERS
The German Army first began experimenting with flame-throwers in 1900
and they were issued to special battalions eleven years later. The flame-
thrower used pressurized air, carbon dioxide or nitrogen to force oil
through a nozzle. Ignited by a small charge, the oil became a jet of flame.

Flame-throwers were first used at the Western Front in October 1914.

Operated by two men, they were mainly used to clear enemy soldiers from
front-line trenches. At first they had a range of 25 meters but later this
was increased to 40 meters. This meant they were only effective over
narrow areas of No Man's Land. Another problem was that the flame-
thrower was difficult to move around and only contained enough oil to
burn 40 seconds at the time. Soldiers who operated flame-throwers had a
short-life span because as soon as they used them they were the target of
rifle and machine-gun fire.
World War I Flamethrower
French Flame Throwers
 Flame
Throwers

Grenade
Launchers
 The World War I Battlefield

Tanks and Aircraft

• Tanks pioneered by British
– Could cross rough battlefield terrain
– Reliability was a problem
• Aircraft most useful
– At beginning of war, mostly for observation
– Soon had machine guns, bombs attached
– Faster airplanes useful in attacking cities, battlefields
Changing Technology

Tank warfare was first

introduced by France and
Britain in 1916. Its role in
the war gradually increased
as the war progressed.
Early heavy tanks proved to be
ineffective and were soon
replaced by lighter versions
that soon revolutionized the
war. By 1917 the British and
French were using 1500
tanks each. Tanks became a
regular feature in all
offensives and were
credited with Allied
successes after 1916.
Photo:Courtesy Queen’s University Archives
Tanks
 Tanks
• Invented by the British in 1916 as a mobile armored
platform armed with machine guns & cannons
• Designed so the English could attack enemy trenches &
break the trench lines with their own fire under the
protection of the tank armor
• First tanks were very unpleasant & unreliable; a crew of
8 was crammed in and could not sit upright; the
temperature rose to over 100’F; it was so noisy that they
communicated by banging on the hull with a hammer;
crew would get sick from the fumes
• Most of the early tanks broke down ex: at the Battle of
Cambrai the English started with 476 tanks & by the end
only 100 were operating
• But made enough of a difference to break the German
lines
 British-first tanks
Tanks Early tank-Little Willie 1915

French Tank

German Tank – lagged behind Allies in

tank development
 Tanks
• Battle of Somme, Sept 1916
– 36 of 60 tanks make it into battle
– Scattered across 3 mile front
• Weighting main effort?
• Cambria, Nov 1917
– Used in mass (300 tanks)
– Opened 12x6 mile front
• Amiens, August 1918
– 500 tanks, 13 infantry divisions, 2 cavalry
divisions, 2000 artillery pieces, 800 aircraft
• First modern “combined-arms” battle.
French Tank
Tanks
 Attempts to Break the Stalemate:
Tanks
• The British began
developing tanks in
1914 and used them
in small numbers at
the Somme on Sept
15, 1916
– Achieved little in
this initial
employment
• The Battle of Cambrai
on Nov 20, 1917
marked the first large British Mark I tank of the
scale use of tanks type used during the
with 474 Battle of the Somme
 Attempts to Break the Stalemate:
Tanks
• At Cambrai, the British
gained initial surprise and
advanced three miles by
the end of the first day
– Deepest penetration into
German lines on the
Western Front since the
beginning of trench warfare
• On the second day, the
British continued to
advance but the Germans
brought up four more
divisions
• On the third day, the
British began losing what
ground they had gained
British Tank at Ypres
Tanks
Versus
Trenches
 World War I Airplanes

148th American Aero Squadron Baron Manfred von Richthofen,

Petite Sythe, France. (August 6, the Red Baron, was credited
1918) with 80 confirmed kills
 Aviation
• Used initially for
reconnaissance/spotting
– Wireless communication critical
development in spotting.
• Arial combat originally a counter-
reconnaissance function. Von Richtofen
– Troops on the ground don’t like the “Red Baron”
planes overhead….
• By the end of the war, planes
were being used to drop bombs
on railways, intersections,
factories, etc.
– Next step in “Total War”.
“Jenny” JN-4
Jaeger
War in the Air
 The changes of war
• Airplanes
– Dog fights in the air
– Bombing inaccurate
– Romanticized the
battlefields
– Paris and London
bombed
– Pilots fired pistols and
threw hand grenades
 Changing
Technology
The first picture is of a German plane that was used during
World War I. The plane was part of the modern style of
warfare that evolved during World War I. Initially, the
airplane was used primarily for reconnaissance
purposes, to spy on the enemy. The airplane did
develop into an offensive weapon by the end of World
War I.

The Second picture is a painting of a British airplane that is

engaged in air combat. This airplane has a machine
gun mounted on its top wing.

In 1914 the Allies had 220 airplanes, the Central Powers

258. The Germans also used Zeppelins and by 1918
had over 100 of these airships capable of bombing
missions. The German Folker aircraft was an early
example of a successful fighter plane. At first pilots
used rifles and pistols in air battles, although machine
guns were soon introduced.

By 1916 the Allied production of aircrafts equalled the

Germans and air battles between "aces" like German
Richthofen "The Red Baron" (80 victories) and Bishop
the Canadian (72 victories) were becoming legendary.

Photo:Courtesy Queen’s University Archives

 War in the Air
• Initially used planes for reconnaissance
• Then the pilots started to try to kill each
other with handguns & shotguns
• Fokker developed a interrupt mechanism
that allowed German pilots to fire machine
guns between the blades of the propeller
• Germans also developed dogfight
techniques using the loop
 Fokker

Dog Fight

Airplanes
The Airplane

“Squadron Over the Brenta”

Max Edler von Poosch, 1917
The Flying Aces of World War I

Eddie Francesco Eddie “Mick”

Rickenbacher, Barraco, It. Mannoch, Br.
US

Rene Pauk Manfred von

Willy Coppens
Fonck, Fr. Richtoffen, Ger.
de
[The “Red
Holthust, Belg.
Baron”]
 Life of a Pilot
• The average life of a new recruit was 17 hours
• The average life of a combat pilot overall was 2
weeks
• British pilots were not allowed parachutes
• Constant psychological strain
• Those who survived, were quite cocky and
became romantic war heroes; for example the
Red Baron who had a total of 80 victories
World War I Zeppelin
• The Zeppelin, or blimp as it is also known, is an
airship
• it was used during the early part of the war in
bombing raids by the Germans.
• These airships weighed12 tonnes and contained
over 400,000 cubic feet of hydrogen.
• They were propelled along by 2 Daimler engines,
which enabled the craft to travel at speeds of up to
136mph and heights of 4250 metres!
• They usually carried machine guns and around
4,400lb of bombs!
• They carried out many raids and were eventually
abandoned as they were easy targets for artillery.
 Zeppelins
• A gas-filled balloon with a motor
• Slow-moving and became easy target for
an enemy fighter plane
• Jan 19, 1915, the Germans make the first
Zeppelin airship raids to drop bombs on
Britain along the east coast.
• On June 7, 1915, the first Zeppelin airship
is shot down over Flanders in northern
France.
• On Oct 14, 1915, five Zeppelins kill 71
people in London.
The Zeppelin
 First Airship Raid
• The Germans used the Zeppelins to bomb
Britain
• Would run air-raids on heavily populated
business districts to kill many & cause
extensive property damage in 1915 &
1916
• However, if the Zeppelins were fired upon,
they would blow up due to the gas and
burn fiercely.
The Zeppelin
 Zeppelin Shot Down over
London Report:
• “The crew numbered nineteen. One body was found in
the field some way from the wreckage. He must have
jumped from the doomed airship from a great height. So
great was the force with which he struck the ground that I
saw the print of his body clearly in the grass. There was a
round hole for the head, then deep marks of the body,
with outstretched arms, and finally legs wide apart. Life
was in him when he was picked up, but the spark soon
went out. He was, in fact, the commander of the airship.”