The announcement by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz that he will send Leopard 2 tanks was coupled with an announcement from US President Joe Biden that he was providing 31 M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, reversing the administration’s longstanding resistance to requests from Kyiv for the highly sophisticated but maintenance-heavy vehicles. While modern weapons had helped create this problem, generals hoped that they would also assist the Army in fighting their way out of it.The leaders of the United States and Germany each announced Wednesday they will send contingents of tanks to Ukraine, reversing their longstanding trepidation at providing Kyiv with offensive armored vehicles and unleashing powerful new tools in Ukraine’s efforts to retake territory seized by Russia. This system was strengthened with fortifications, underground shelters and thick belts of barbed wire.įor commanders, the greatest tactical problem was to get troops safely across the fire-swept divide between the trenches to penetrate enemy defences. Communication trenches linked them all together. The front-line trenches were backed-up by second and third lines: 'support' and 'reserve' trenches. These early trenches were built quickly and tended to be simple affairs that offered little protection from the elements. Both sides dug in and a line of trenches soon ran from the Channel to the Swiss frontier. The First Battle of Ypres (20 October - 22 November 1914) marked the end of open and mobile warfare on the Western Front. The destructive power of modern artillery and machine guns forced soldiers to seek cover on the battlefield and dig in for protection. Weapons played a large part in creating the difficult and unusual circumstances of trench warfare which the British Army encountered during the First World War (1914-18).
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