<!:TITLE=Artillery><l:lexpage><l:lexhead>Artillery<l:/lexhead>
<l:lexbody><l:h1>History:<l:/h1><f:11><l:eu_i_artillery>
The heavy artillery were the generals preferred weapons. The new cannons could fire shells at a range of 16 kilometers exploding in small highly damaging metal pieces. Before the soldiers in the trenches were send <l:eu_over_top> of the trenches the enemy trenches were bombarded for hours to kill the front line soldiers and make holes in the barbed wire. A british sergent describes the impact of artillery this way:
"It was on 2. of May when a shell exploded in our trench -  7 were killed instantly and 18 wounded. Yesterday 400 shells exploded behind the trench and no one was hurt. But today when the dead and wounded had been removed the trench was a terrifying sight - it was read with blod, like a room painted in dark red."
The battle of Verdun showed the massive use of heavy artillery. The battle started in February 1916 and ended five month later. When the Germans stopped their offensive and pulled back they had fired 23 million shells, killed 315.000 french soldiers and destroyed the city. The Germans themself had lost 282.000 soldiers trying to brake the western front.

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