Trench Warfare “Over the Top!”

It reached peak brutality and bloodshed on the Western Front in the First World War.

What did they look like?

Bird’s Eye View Zig-zagged pattern Communication “traverses”

Why the zig-zagged pattern? It prevented the enemy from being able to shoot down the length of the entire trench

This meant that a soldier could see no more than 10 meters along the length of the trench.

Why barbed wire? It was difficult to cut, and shelling it would only make it more entangled, providing an extra barrier from attack.

Trench Cross-Section

Why “duckboards” & a drainage sump? It reinforced the stability of the walls, and allowed for drainage of rainwater, blood, and other body fluids…

They protected soldiers from bullets and shrapnel Why sandbags? They protected soldiers from bullets and shrapnel

Why were trenches necessary in World War I ?

Vickers Machine Gun This new and powerful weapon could “mow down” soldiers trying to attack

Machine guns needed 4-6 men to work them and had the fire power of 100 guns

Gas Attacks Chlorine and Mustard gas would slow down attackers, causing burns and suffocation

These led nowhere and were built to confuse and slow down the enemy Blind Alleys These led nowhere and were built to confuse and slow down the enemy

Underground “Saps” These tunnels were dug under enemy trenches so that explosives could be placed under them and detonated

attackers couldn’t cross “no man’s land” fast enough to avoid casualties

“no man’s land” varied in distance depending on the battlefield “no man’s land” varied in distance depending on the battlefield. On the Western Front it was typically between 100 and 300 yards, though only 30 yards on Vimy Ridge.

Small trenches rapidly grew deeper and more complex, gradually becoming vast areas of interlocking defensive works British trenches German trenches

What was life like in the trenches?

Sanitary conditions in the trenches were quite poor, and common infections included dysentery, typhus, and cholera

Rats became common, and grew large as they would eat the soldier’s food

Medical services were primitive and life-saving antibiotics had not yet been discovered

Relatively minor injuries could prove fatal through the onset of infection and gangrene

Poor hygiene also led to conditions such as trench mouth and trench foot

official truces were organized so that the wounded could be recovered from no man's land and the dead could be buried

But what was life REALLY like in the trench?

At the age of 92, Arthur Savage was asked about his memories of life on the Western Front. “My memories are of sheer terror and the horror of seeing men sobbing because they had trench foot that had turned gangrenous. They knew they were going to lose a leg.

Memories of lice in your clothing driving you crazy Memories of lice in your clothing driving you crazy. Filth and lack of privacy. Of huge rats that showed no fear of you as they stole your food rations. And cold deep wet mud everywhere.

And of course, corpses. I'd never seen a dead body before I went to war. But in the trenches the dead are lying all around you. You could be talking to the fellow next to you when suddenly he'd be hit by a sniper and fall dead beside you. And there he‘d stay for days.”