Artillery was one of our most significant elements that were used in WWI. We used this to defend ourselves from the enemy or even attack the enemy troops. Artillery was also used to shoot shells that held another deadly weapon in WW1 like poison gas. Tons of different types of cannons or artillery were deployed during WWI. The shattering bombardments that preceded infantry assaults led men to dig deeper and deeper into trench lines and bunkers, creating the static warfare that endured for most of the four-year conflict in the west.Heavy artillery firing from behind the lines was important, but a lighter, more localized form also played a huge part: field artillery. On the one hand, there were the heavy artillery batteries. They were organized at levels above the division. They hurled shells miles across the countryside, allowing artillerists to strike their enemy while safely out of danger from their targets. In its extreme form, it led to weapons such as the German Big Bertha guns and the Austro-Hungarian Skoda howitzers that smashed Belgian fortresses in the opening battles of the war.On the other hand, there were the field artillery pieces. They looked old-fashioned with pieces small enough to be drawn by horses and brought close to the front lines, but they were sturdier, powerful, and sometimes lighter than their predecessors. They were allocated at the level of divisions. They accompanied infantry and cavalry formations on the march and in their positions on the front.This war introduced pneumatic artillery. Some of the stuff they are using now is the first time they have ever used it, for example planes. Single-seat German fighter plane. The Fokker was perhaps the most famous fighter plane during WWI as it introduced the synchronized machine gun and provided Germany with air superiority for a period of time during the war. Airplanes, products of the new technology, were primarily made of canvas, wood, and wire. There also was zeppelins, tanks, torpedoes, and gas. The artillery shells, particularly the fuze which is the device that ignites it, were a complex mechanism with precision parts. Foot artillery, referred to as FuBartillerie in Germany, was considerably more complex and covered a variety of different weapons. The artillery used different shells for different purposes. Shrapnel shells were timed to explode over enemy lines, sending down hundreds of tiny metal balls. This rain of metal, which exploded outward in a shotgun blast, caused terrible injuries to soldiers caught in the open.Trenches helped to protect against shrapnel, but even trenches were vulnerable to high explosive shells that burst like dynamite, leaving large craters in the ground and killing and maiming anyone caught in the blast. The explosive charge also shattered the shell creating jagged shell splinters. Gunners used high explosive shells to collapse trenches and lightly protected shelters, but only the larger siege guns could destroy deeper enemy shelters or prepared defences. Mortars were simple but effective weapons widely used in siege warfare for more than 400 years. Essentially metal tubes with bases, mortars fired shells in a high arcing trajectory that plummeted down into the enemy lines or fortifications. First World War armies used many calibres and types of mortars, from heavy siege mortars to lighter, so-called “infantry mortars” that could be taken apart and carried forward by small groups of gunners. The guns with the longest range were the German Paris guns, which could fire shells up to 80 miles. Most of the artillery that they used was transported by horses. This war introduced pneumatic artillery.There were two main types of field artillery – guns and howitzers. Guns were closer to the canons of earlier warfare. Their long near-horizontal barrels fired rounds at a high velocity on a relatively flat trajectory. They shot directly at enemy positions and formations that lay within sight. Howitzers were mortar-style weapons. They were identified by their steeper upward angled shorter barrels. Their rounds were not fired at such a high velocity. Instead, they were propelled in an arcing curve landing among the enemy from above. In that way, they could fire indirectly, getting around cover which was particularly important as it enabled rounds to be fired into enemy trenches. When there were attacks ordered the allies would climb ¨over the top¨ out of there trenches and crossing no-man’s-land to reach enemy trenches. They had to cut threw belts of barbed wire before they could use and weapons to capture enemy positions. Wounded soldiers would usually have to lay in the open with no help until they die. During attacks, the snipers, and poison gas caused death. Perhaps the most significant technological advance during World War I was the improvement of the machine gun, a weapon originally developed by an American, Hiram Maxim. The Germans recognized its military potential and had large numbers ready to use in 1914. They also developed air-cooled machine guns for airplanes and improved those used on the ground, making them lighter and easier to move. The weapon’s full potential was demonstrated on the Somme battlefield in July 1916 when German machine guns killed or wounded almost 60,000 British soldiers in only one day.At sea, submarines attacked ships far from port. In order to locate and sink German U-boats, British scientists developed underwater listening devices and underwater explosives called depth charges. Warships became faster and more powerful than ever before and used newly invented radios to communicate effectively. The British naval blockade of Germany, which was made possible by developments in naval technology, brought a total war to civilians. The blockade caused a famine that finally brought about the collapse of Germany and its allies in late 1918. Starvation and malnutrition continued to take the lives of German adults and children for years after the war.The firing stopped on November 11, 1918, but modern war technology had changed the course of civilization. Millions had been killed, gassed, maimed, or starved. Famine and disease continued to rage through central Europe, taking countless lives. Because of rapid technological advances in every area, the nature of warfare had changed forever, affecting soldiers, airmen, sailors, and civilians alike. Many battles during WW1 saw incredible artillery barrages involving thousands of cannons that were each firing big shells every single minute. These barrages would often last for hours and some went on for many days or even weeks. Often they were preludes to infantry attacks or support for infantry attacks. When the 11th Field Artillery was constituted as a regular unit into the United States Army on paper 3 June 1916, the struggle in Europe had been going on for almost two years. The United States, while still neutral, was facing its own problems in Mexico. When General John J. Pershing led his small army into Mexico to find and capture the bandit Pancho Villa, tensions soared between the two countries, making war seem inevitable. On 6 May 1916, the War Department dispatched the National Guard of Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico to the border, while Congress passed the National Defense Act of 1916. While the new law focused on federalizing the National Guard, creating Reserve Officer Training Corps at universities and granting the federal government emergency powers, it also laid the foundation for a five-year Regular Army expansion. Included in this expansion was the creation of 21 field artillery regiments. On the night of 26 October, 1918, the howitzers of the 11th Field Artillery fired their first shots at the town of Remonville. For the next few days, enemy planes and artillery hit the unit but caused no serious injuries. On 1 November, the 11th participated in the largest artillery barrage of the war to that date. For four and a half hours the unit rained shells on the enemy line, preparing the battlefield for the infantry to go over the top. As the attack succeeded, the 11th advanced its guns to the south of Remonville, firing close range at the Germans all day before moving to the town of Barricourt. The static war that dominated the fighting on the Western Front had finally come to an end. The entire American First Army was on the offensive and would remain that way until the end of the war. On 11 November, 1918, with the 89th Division across the river, the 11th Regimental Headquarters received orders that the war would end that day at 11:00 A.M. The men were too exhausted to cheer, but they were relieved that they had survived some of the toughest fighting ever seen in American military history. Earlier, Battery, E, still in Beaufort, was awarded the honor of firing the closing shot of the war. There is no explanation why the 11th was chosen, but it is possible some enterprising officer in the American high command noticed the succession of elevens in the cease-fire order and picked the 11th to play along with the consistency. And so it was at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day, of the eleventh month of 1918 that Calamity Jane, of Battery E, 11th Field Artillery, which had fired the first shots of the 6 November attack, also fired the last U.S. artillery round of the war. With the war over, the 11th Field Artillery moved across the Meuse River to the town of Cervisy, and the regiment’s priority switched from killing Germans to keeping warm. On 9 December, the unit began an eight-day march to rejoin the 6th Division near Dijon, where it remained for five months before reporting to Brest to begin the journey home. The men’s feelings of depression and homesickness were changed to pride on 10 April, 1919, when General Pershing personally decorated the 11th’s colors and pinned Distinguished Service Crosses on several men of the regiment. On 3 June, the 11th sailed for the United States on board the S.S. Mount Vernonand arrived in New York on 10 June, 1919. It then proceeded to Camp Mills where some of its soldiers were discharged. On 19 June, 1919, the 11th reached its final destination at Camp Grant near Rockford, Illinois, where it remained until 1921 when it was assigned to the Hawaiian Division on 1 March 1921. The 11th Field Artillery later fought with distinction in the Pacific Theater of World War II, Korea, and Vietnam, and elements remain on active duty to this day.About 1.5 billion shells were fired during the war here on the Western Front. Colling and his colleagues bring in between 50,000 and 75,000 tons of them a year. There was over 14,000 different types of artillery that were used in WW1, which was more than in WW2, the Korean War, and the Vietnam war combined.