1. Trench Warfare
“Over the Top!”

4. Machine Gun

5. Digging into the earth in a zig zagged pattern in the trenches prevented the enemy from seeing more than 10m down its length.

6. Trench Cross-Section

8. Barbed wire

9. Gas Attacks

13. 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

14. Area between opposing trenches
No Man’s Land
Area between opposing trenches

16. British trenches
Hindenburg Line
German trenches

17. What was life like in the trenches?

24. But what was life REALLY like in the trench?

25. 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.

26. 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.

27. 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.”

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

32. Your trench needs: Front line trench Support lines (minimum 2)
Artillery lines at back
Officer trenches at back
Machine gun stations
Barbed wire fortification
Connecting trenches throughout various lines
Dressing station