Scenes of War - Railways and Transport
In the occupied territories the German railway had 24,000 km of standard-gauge and 4,000 km of narrow-gauge track. Between 8,000 and 9,000 locomotives and approximately 18,000 railway wagons were available. The railway formations included about 178,000 persons in 1918, among them 75,000 civilian railway employees. Prisoners and inhabitants of the rear-area regions were employed for the extensive construction work. By mid-1918 there were on the various German theaters of war 7,760 standard-gauge and 940 narrow-gauge locomotives; the number of available railway wagons is reported as approximately 180,000.
Estate of a member of the railway troops. Bridge construction in the East. 1916.
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Kriegsgeschichte
Scenes of War - Trench Warfare - Firing pits and trenches.
Whereas a firing pit generally served only one, or at most two, soldiers to protect against enemy action, a trench was a massive form of a sunken field fortification with a firing passage amid forward and rear cover to enable secure firing and protection against bombardment, e.g. by shells.
Kriegsgeschichte
Scenes of War - Fallen
World War I was the first industrial war with an enormous loss of people and material. At the outbreak of the war none of the parties involved had expected such a long-lasting bloody conflict, but the military confrontation quickly developed—especially on the Western Front—into a stalemate and ultimately into a war of attrition. In this context, the opposing losses on both sides were even a relevant strategic calculation: it was assumed that the enemy would be exhausted both materially and morally, and hopes were placed on a breakthrough at the deadlocked front because the enemy would no longer have reserves to close the breach or gap in time. In this regard, targets were even set for how many losses through wounds and captivity (monthly) would be required to achieve the desired degree of enemy exhaustion (Ferguson, The Wrong War, p. 281).
Organisation
The German Imperial Army in the World War - Structure and Organization - Machine Gun Companies/ - Detachments
At the outbreak of the war the German Army had 360 machine-gun companies/detachments; by the end of 1915 there were already 450. In addition, at that time there were 80 machine-gun platoons with the cavalry. The number of machine guns was, however, continuously increased. In the autumn of 1916 it was ordered that henceforth each infantry battalion was to have 1 and each Jäger and storm (assault) battalion 2 machine-gun companies. At the same time additional machine-gun sharpshooter detachments (each of 3 companies) were formed.