3 sections - 2 minutes on each
Life in the Trenches
Water-logged trenches
In September, 1914, the German commander, General Erich von Falkenhayn ordered his men to dig trenches that would provide them with protection from the advancing French and British troops. As the Allies soon realised that they could not break through this line, they also began to dig trenches.
As the Germans were the first to decide where to stand fast and dig, they had been able to choose the best places to build their trenches. The possession of the higher ground not only gave the Germans a tactical advantage, but it also forced the British to live in the worst conditions. Most of this area was rarely a few feet above sea level. As soon as soldiers began to dig down they would invariably find water two or three feet below the surface. Along the whole line, trench life involved a never-ending struggle against water and mud. Duck-boards were placed at the bottom of the trenches to protect soldiers from problems such as trench foot.
Much of the land where the trenches were dug was either clay or sand. The water could not pass through the clay and because the sand was on top, the trenches became waterlogged when it rained. The trenches were hard to dig and kept on collapsing in the waterlogged sand. As well as trenches the shells from the guns and bombs made big craters in the ground. The rain filled up the craters and then poured into the trenches.
Most of the land on the Western Front was only a couple of feet above sea level. As soon as soldiers began to dig trenches they would invariably find water just below the surface. Constantly standing in water caused trench foot and other ailments. In an attempt to alleviate the problem, wooden planking, known as duckboards, were placed at the bottom of trenches and across other areas of muddy or waterlogged ground.
Food in trenches
A total of 3,240,948 tons of food was sent from Britain to the soldiers fighting in France and Belgium during the First World War. The British Army employed 300,000 field workers to cook and supply the food. At the beginning of the war British soldiers were given 10 ounces of meat and 8 ounces of vegetables a day. As the size of the army grew and the German blockade became more effective, the army could not maintain these rations and by 1916 this had been cut to 6 ounces of meat a day. Later troops not in the front-line only received meat on nine out of every thirty days. The daily bread ration was also cut in April 1917. The British Army attempted to give the soldiers the 3,574 calories a day that dieticians said they needed. However, others argued that soldiers during wartime need much more than this.
Soldiers in the Western Front were very critical of the quantity and the quality of food they received. The bulk of their diet in the trenches was bully beef (caned corned beef), bread and biscuits. By the winter of 1916 flour was in such short supply that bread was being made with dried ground turnips. The main food was now a pea-soup with a few lumps of horsemeat.
Food supply was a major problem when soldiers advanced into enemy territory. All men carried emergency food called iron rations. This was a can of bully beef, a few biscuits and a sealed tin of tea and sugar. These iron rations could only be opened with the permission of an officer. This food did not last very long and if the kitchen staff were unable to provide food to the soldiers they might be forced to retreat from land they had won from the enemy.
Dysentery
Dysentery is a disease involving the inflammation of the lining of the large intestines. The inflammation causes stomach pains and diarrhoea. Some cases involve vomiting and fever. The bacteria enters the body through the mouth in food or water, and also by human feaces and contact with infected people. The diarrhoea causes people suffering from dysentery to lose important salts and fluids from the body. This can be fatal if the body dehydrates. This disease struck the men in the trenches as there was no proper sanitation. Latrines in the trenches were pits four to five feet deep. When they were within one foot they were supposed to be filled in and the soldiers had the job of digging a new one. Sometimes there was not time for this and men used a nearby shell-hole.
Dysentery caused by contaminated water was especially a problem in the early stages of the war. The main reason for this was that it was some time before regular supplies of water to the trenches could be organised. Soldiers were supplied with water bottles, that could be refilled when they returned to reserve lines. However, the water-bottle supply was rarely enough for their needs and soldiers in the trenches often depended on impure water collected from shell-holes or other cavities. Later, to purify it, chloride of lime was added to the water. This was not popular with the soldiers as they disliked the taste of the purified water.
Regulation equipment
When a British Army soldier was ordered to attack the enemy on the Western Front he carried a total of 30 kilograms (66 lbs) of equipment. This included a rifle, two mills grenades, 220 rounds of ammunition, a steel helmet, wire cutters, field dressing, entrenching tool, greatcoat, two sandbags, rolled ground sheet, water bottle, haversack, mess tin, towel, shaving kit, extra socks, message book and preserved food rations. The weight of the equipment made it difficult to move very fast across No Man's Land.
Trench rats
Many men killed in the trenches were buried almost where they fell. If a trench subsided, or new trenches or dugouts were needed, large numbers of decomposing bodies would be found just below the surface. These corpses, as well as the food scraps that littered the trenches, attracted rats. One pair of rats can produce 880 offspring in a year and so the trenches were soon swarming with them.
Some of these rats grew extremely large. One soldier wrote: "The rats were huge. They were so big they would eat a wounded man if he couldn't defend himself." These rats became very bold and would attempt to take food from the pockets of sleeping men. Two or three rats would always be found on a dead body. They usually went for the eyes first and then they burrowed their way right into the corpse.
One soldier described finding a group of dead bodies while on patrol: "I saw some rats running from under the dead men's greatcoats, enormous rats, fat with human flesh. My heart pounded as we edged towards one of the bodies. His helmet had rolled off. The man displayed a grimacing face, stripped of flesh; the skull bare, the eyes devoured and from the yawning mouth leapt a rat."
Richard Beasley, diary entry (8th August, 1915
If you left your food the rats would soon grab it. Those rats were fearless. Sometimes we would shoot the filthy swines. But you would be put on a charge for wasting ammo, if the sergeant caught you.
Lice
Men in the trenches suffered from lice. One soldier writing after the war described them as "pale fawn in colour, and they left blotchy red bite marks all over the body." They also created a sour; stale smell. Various methods were used to remove the lice. A lighted candle was fairly effective but the skill of burning the lice without burning your clothes was only learnt with practice. Where possible the army arranged for the men to have baths in huge vats of hot water while their clothes were being put through delousing machines. Unfortunately, this rarely worked. A fair proportion of the eggs remained in the clothes and within two or three hours of the clothes being put on again a man's body heat had hatched them out.
As well as causing frenzied scratching, lice also carried disease. This was known as pyrrexhia or trench fever. The first symptoms were shooting pains in the shins and was followed by a very high fever. Although the disease did not kill, it did stop soldiers from fighting and accounted for about 15% of all cases of sickness in the British Army.
Trench foot
Many soldiers fighting in the First World War suffered from trench foot. This was an infection of the feet caused by sold, wet and insanitary conditions. In the trenches men stood for hours on end in waterlogged trenches without being able to remove wet socks or boots. The feet would gradually go numb and the skin would turn red or blue. If untreated, trench foot could turn gangrenous and result in amputation. Trench foot was a particular problem in the early stages of the war. For example, during the winter of 1914-15 over 20,000 men in the British Army were treated for trench foot.
The only remedy for trench foot was for the soldiers to dry their feet and change their socks several times a day. By the end of 1915 British soldiers in the trenches had to have three pairs of socks with them and were under orders to change their socks at least twice a day. As well as drying their feet, soldiers were told to cover their feet with a grease made from whale-oil. It has been estimated that a battalion at the front would use ten gallons of whale-oil every day.
Shell shock
During the first two weeks of the Battle of Passchendaele the British, Australian and Canadian guns fired 4,283,550 shells at the German defences. It is estimated that throughout the First World War the Allies used 5,000,000 tons of artillery shells against enemy positions. The Central Powers used a similar amount of shells in their effort to win the war.
Soldiers subjected to continual exposure to shell-fire were in danger of developing shell-shock. Early symptoms included tiredness, irritability, giddiness, lack of concentration and headaches. Eventually the men suffered mental breakdowns making it impossible for them to remain in the front-line. Between 1914 and 1918 the British Army identified 80,000 men (2% of those who saw active service) as suffering from shell-shock.
By 1914 British doctors working in military hospitals noticed patients suffering from "shell shock". Early symptoms included tiredness, irritability, giddiness, lack of concentration and headaches. Eventually the men suffered mental breakdowns making it impossible for them to remain in the front-line. Some came to the conclusion that the soldiers condition was caused by the enemy's heavy artillery. These doctors argued that a bursting shell creates a vacuum, and when the air rushes into this vacuum it disturbs the cerebro-spinal fluid and this can upset the working of the brain.
Some doctors argued that the only cure for shell-shock was a complete rest away from the fighting. If you were an officer you were likely to be sent back home to recuperate. However, the army was less sympathetic to ordinary soldiers with shell-shock. Some senior officers took the view that these men were cowards who were trying to get out of fighting.
Between 1914 and 1918 the British Army identified 80,000 men (2% of those who saw active service) as suffering from shell-shock. A much larger number of soldiers with these symptoms were classified as 'malingerers' and sent back to the front-line. In some cases men committed suicide. Others broke down under the pressure and refused to obey the orders of their officers. Some responded to the pressures of shell-shock by deserting. Sometimes soldiers who disobeyed orders got shot on the spot. In some cases, soldiers were court-martialled.
Official figures said that 304 British soldiers were court-martialled and executed. A common punishment for disobeying orders was Field Punishment Number One. This involved the offender being attached to a fixed object for up to two hours a day and for a period up to three months. These men were often put in a place within range of enemy shell-fire
Alcohol in Trenches
Each battalion had its own supply of rum that it distributed to its soldiers. Each division (20,000 men) received 300 gallons. Rum was usually distributed after, rather than before an offensive. It was ...
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Official figures said that 304 British soldiers were court-martialled and executed. A common punishment for disobeying orders was Field Punishment Number One. This involved the offender being attached to a fixed object for up to two hours a day and for a period up to three months. These men were often put in a place within range of enemy shell-fire
Alcohol in Trenches
Each battalion had its own supply of rum that it distributed to its soldiers. Each division (20,000 men) received 300 gallons. Rum was usually distributed after, rather than before an offensive. It was also issued during very cold weather. The French and German armies were more generous and supplied their soldiers with daily amounts of wine and brandy.
Self-inflicted wounds
Faced with the prospect of being killed or permanently disabled, soldiers sometimes hoped that they would receive what was known as a blighty wound, and be sent back home. There were some cases where soldiers shot themselves in an attempt to end their time on the frontline. Self-inflicted wounds (SIW) was a capital offence and if discovered, a man found guilty of this faced execution by firing-squad. A total of 3,894 men in the British Army were convicted of SIW. None of these men were executed but they all served periods in prison.
Others killed themselves rather than carry on in the trenches. The usual method of suicide was to place the muzzle of their Lee-Enfield rifle against the head and press the trigger with their bare big toe. In some cases, when men could endure no more, stood up on the fire-step and allowed themselves to be shot by an enemy sniper.
Trench System
On 3rd August, 1914, German troops crossed the Belgian border in the narrow gap between Holland and France. The German First and Second Armies swept aside the small Belgian Army and by 20th August had occupied Brussels.
The French commander-in-chief, Joseph Joffre, ordered his Fifth Army and the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) to meet the German advance. The German defeated the French at the battles of Sambre (22nd August) and Mons (23rd August). By the end of August the Allied armies were in retreat and General Alexander von Kluck and the German First Army began to head for Paris. What was left of the French Army and the BEF crossed the River Marne on 2nd September.
Joffre ordered a counter-attack which resulted in the Battle of the Marne (4th to 10th September). Unable to break through to Paris, the German army was given orders to retreat to the River Aisne. The German commander, General Erich von Falkenhayn, decided that his troops must hold onto those parts of France and Belgium that Germany still occupied. Falkenhayn ordered his men to dig trenches that would provide them with protection from the advancing French and British troops.
The Allies soon realised that they could not break through this line and they also began to dig trenches. After a few months these trenches had spread from the North Sea to the Swiss Frontier. For the next three years neither side advanced more than a few miles along this line that became known as the Western Front.
The trench System
After the Battle of the Marne in September, 1914, the Germans were forced to retreat to the River Aisne. The German commander, General Erich von Falkenhayn, decided that his troops must at all costs hold onto those parts of France and Belgium that Germany still occupied. Falkenhayn ordered his men to dig trenches that would provide them with protection from the advancing French and British troops. The Allies soon realised that they could not break through this line and they also began to dig trenches.
After a few months these trenches had spread from the North Sea to the Swiss Frontier. As the Germans were the first to decide where to stand fast and dig, they had been able to choose the best places to build their trenches. The possession of the higher ground not only gave the Germans a tactical advantage, but it forced the British and French to live in the worst conditions. Most of this area was rarely a few feet above sea level. As soon as soldiers began to dig down they would invariably find water two or three feet below the surface. Water-logged trenches were a constant problem for soldiers on the Western Front.
Frontline trenches were usually about seven feet deep and six feet wide. The front of the trench was known as the parapet. The top two or three feet of the parapet and the parados (the rear side of the trench) would consist of a thick line of sandbags to absorb any bullets or shell fragments.
In a trench of this depth it was impossible to see over the top, so a two or three-foot ledge known as a fire-step, was added. Trenches were not dug in straight lines. Otherwise, if the enemy had a successive offensive, and got into your trenches, they could shoot straight along the line. Each trench was dug with alternate fire-bays and traverses.
Duck-boards were also placed at the bottom of the trenches to protect soldiers from problems such as trench foot. Soldiers also made dugouts and funk holes in the side of the trenches to give them some protection from the weather and enemy fire.
The front-line trenches were also protected by barbed-wire entanglements and machine-gun posts. Short trenches called saps were dug from the front-trench into No Man's Land. The sap-head, usually about 30 yards forward of the front-line, were then used as listening posts.
Behind the front-line trenches were support and reserve trenches. The three rows of trenches covered between 200 and 500 yards of ground. Communication trenches, were dug at an angle to the frontline trench and was used to transport men, equipment and food supplies.
Lieutenant Bernard Pitt, letter to his parents (25th December, 1915)
What is life like in the trenches, well, muddy, and cramped, and filthy. Everything gets covered with mud; you can't wash, for water has to be fetched for a mile. There is no room, and if you walk upright in many of the trenches, you run grave risks; and you sleep, huddled together, unable to stretch. All day long shells and rifle bullets go banging and whistling, and from dark to midnight the Huns fire rifle-grenades and machine-guns at us.
Frontline Trench
Soldiers in the First World War did not spend the whole of the time in the trenches. The British Army worked on a 16 day timetable. Each soldier usually spent eight days in the front line and four days in the reserve trench. Another four days were spent in a rest camp that was built a few miles away from the fighting. However, when the army was short of men, soldiers had to spend far longer periods at the front. It was not uncommon for soldiers to be in the front line trenches for over thirty days at a time. On one occasion, the 13th Yorkshire and Lancashire Regiment spent fifty-one consecutive days in the line.
Being in the front-line was extremely dangerous. Almost every day some enemy shells would fall on the trenches. One study suggested that one-third of all casualties on the Western Front were killed or wounded while in the trenches.
Soldiers in the front line would also be hit by their own artillery. Despite the use of a high parados in the front-line trenches, it has been estimated that about 75,000 British soldiers in the war were killed by British shells that had been intended for the Germans.
Communication Trenches
The trench system on the Western Front consisted of front-line, support and reserve trenches. The three rows of trenches covered between 200 and 500 yards of ground. Communication trenches were dug at an angle to those facing the enemy. These trenches used to transport men, equipment and food supplies.
The French tended to use tramways whereas Britain relied on their soldiers to carry supplies to forward positions. These carrying parties took supplies of water, food, ammunition, bombs and trench stores to the front-line. The communication trench was also used to transport wounded men to Casualty Clearing Station. Sometimes communication trenches were partly traversed and fire-stepped in case the enemy managed to break-through the front-line.
Parado
The rear-side of the trench was known as the parados. Both the parados and the parapet (the side of the trench facing the enemy) were protected by two or three feet of sandbags. Soldiers were instructed to build the parados higher than the parapet so that the defenders were not outlined against the sky and therefore easy targets for the German snipers. The parados also protected soldiers in front-line trenches against those firing from the rear.
Parapet
The front of the trench was known as the parapet. Both the parapet and the parados (the rear-side of the trench) were protected by two or three feet of sandbags.
Fire-Step
So that soldiers in front-line trenches could fire through the parapet, a fire-step was dug into the forward side of the trench. The fire-step was 2 or 3 ft high. It was on this that the sentries stood. It was also used by the whole unit when standing-to (an anticipated enemy attack).
Sandbags
The top two or three feet of the parapet and the parados (the rear side of the trench) would consist of a thick line of sandbags to absorb any bullets or shell fragments. Sandbags were filled with earth. A filling party usually consisted of one soldier shovelling the earth and two holding and tying the bags. The men stacking the filled bags worked in pairs and were expected to move sixty bags an hour. Research by the British Army suggested that a typical bullet used in the First World War would only penetrate fifteen inches into a sandbag.
Dugout
Dugouts were protective holes dug out of the sides of trenches. The size of dugouts varied a great deal and sometimes could house over ten men. A manual published by the British Army recommended dugouts that were between 2 ft. and 4 ft. 6 in. wide, roofed with corrugated iron or brushwood and then covered with a minimum of 9 inches of earth.
As the war went on dugouts grew in size. By 1917 dugouts at Messines could hold two battalions of soldiers at a time. Large dugouts were also built into the side of communication trenches so that they were not directly in line of fire from enemy guns. These often served as the battalion headquarters and provided sleeping accommodation for the officers.
No mans Land
Dugouts were protective holes dug out of the sides of trenches. The size of dugouts varied a great deal and sometimes could house over ten men. A manual published by the British Army recommended dugouts that were between 2 ft. and 4 ft. 6 in. wide, roofed with corrugated iron or brushwood and then covered with a minimum of 9 inches of earth.
As the war went on dugouts grew in size. By 1917 dugouts at Messines could hold two battalions of soldiers at a time. Large dugouts were also built into the side of communication trenches so that they were not directly in line of fire from enemy guns. These often served as the battalion headquarters and provided sleeping accommodation for the officers.
Listening posts
Running out at right-angles from the frontline trenches were saps (narrow, shallow, trenches). This saps were about 30 yards long. Small groups of soldiers were sent to the sap-head (listening post) and were given the task of finding out about the enemy. This included discovering information about enemy patrols, wiring parties, or sniper positions. After a heavy bombardment soldiers would be ordered to seize any new craters in No Man's Land which could then be used as listening posts. From August 1916 all British Army units were under orders to occupy any shell-hole within 60 yards of their forward trench.
Barbed wire
Trenches on the Western Front were usually about seven feet deep and six feet wide. These trenches were protected by thick barbed-wire entanglements. Being a member of a wiring party was one of the most unpopular duties experienced by soldiers. This involved carrying out 6 ft. steel pickets and rolls of wire. The pickets were knocked into place by muffled mallets. When fastened to the pickets, the wire was pulled out to make what was known as a apron.
Barbed-wire was usually placed far enough from the trenches to prevent the enemy from the trenches to prevent the enemy from approaching close enough to lob grenades in. Sometimes barbed-wire entanglements were set up in order to channel attacking infantry into machine-gun fire.
Barbed-wire entanglements were virtually impassable. Before a major offensive soldiers were sent out to cut a path with wire-cutters. Another tactic was to place a Bangalore Torpedo (a long pipe filled with explosive) and detonate it under the wire.
Heavy bombardment was necessary to destroy the barbed-wire. However, this always removed the crucial element of surprise. Many soldiers disputed the fact that shelling was capable of creating a gap in the wire. Arthur Coppard, who observed attempts to destroy barbed-wire entanglements at the Somme remarked: "Who told them that artillery fire would pound such wire to pieces, making it possible to get through? Any Tommy could have told them that shell fire lifts wire up and drops it down, often in a worse tangle than before."
Sapping
A tactic used on the Western Front was to dig short trenches (saps) across No Man's Land. These were dug towards the enemy trenches and enabled soldiers to move forward without exposure to fire. Several saps would be dug along a section of front-line. These were then joined together at their far ends to create a new trench. Saps were also used as listening posts. Although sapping was slow and gruelling work, especially during summer months, it was a fairly safe way to make territorial gains.
Fire-bays
Front-line trenches were not dug in straight lines. Otherwise, if the enemy had a successive offensive, and got into your trenches, they could shoot straight along the line. The French tended to build zig-zag trenches. However, the British Army preferred a system where each trench was dug with alternate fire-bays and traverses. Fire-bays were straight sections of trench where the troops did their shooting. Each fire-bay was protected at the side by a barrier of earth and sandbags.
Stand to
Army officers believed that the most likely time for an enemy attack was early in the morning. Therefore an hour before dawn every morning, each company was given the stand-to order. All the men in the front-line would stand on the fire-step with rifles and fixed bayonets. After an hour, when the light was considered too good for an enemy offensive, the sergeant gave the stand-down order and only the sentries remained on the alert. An hour before dark a second stand-to was ordered. When the light had completely gone, the stand-down order was given.
Although the Germans were aware of these routine, a large number of attacks took place during a stand-to period. This was especially true when German intelligence officers discovered that this section of the front-line trench was being held by inexperienced troops.
Signallers
Signallers were responsible for sending messages. In previous wars signallers communicated information by flags, lamps and heliographs. None of these methods could be used in trench warfare. Instead they used morse code and field telephones.
In the early part of the war, signallers began laying cables along the floor of trenches. When they discovered that the cables were constantly being broken by soldiers' boots, they attached the lines to the trench walls with staples. This was an improvement but they were still vulnerable to enemy shell-fire. It was therefore decided to bury the cables under the ground. Even when sheathed in steel and placed 3 ft. below the surface, cables could still be broken by a shell landing in the trench.
Signallers were trained to encode and decode messages. They also had the responsibility of repairing any damaged cable. As this usually happened during heavy bombardment, the casualty-rate amongst signallers was fairly high.
Runners
The British Army trained some men to work as runners. These men were identified by red arm bands around their left forearms. As well as carrying messages runners were responsible for scouting the area before their battalion moved up to the front-line. Runners therefore needed the ability to accurately read complicated trench maps.
Trench Warfare
Patrols and raids
Small patrols of men were often sent into No Man's Land to discover information about the enemy. All men had to take turns in this very dangerous work. The patrols usually went out at night. They would cautiously inch their way forward on their stomachs and try to get within earshot of the enemy trenches.
The commanders also organised raiding parties. A typical raiding party would comprise of 30 men. It was standard procedure for everyone to blacken their faces with grease-paint or burnt cork. The men carried cut down rifles, coshes, sheath-knives and grenades. One of the main objectives of these raids was to capture German soldiers for interrogation.
Men on patrols considered returning to their own trenches as the most dangerous part of the operation. Nervous sentries often fired at any movement in front of them and caused many casualties. On one occasion a sentry killed two of his own men with one shot.
Captain H. Dundas, Scots Guards, letter to parents (May, 1916)
We have raids almost nightly - 50 men and a couple of officers. The raiders are generally over for about half an hour, and at a given signal are supposed to leap out of the trench and return with as much plunder, human and otherwise as they can get.
Tunnelling
On the Western Front during the First World War, the military employed specialist miners to dig tunnels under No Man's Land. The main objective was to place mines beneath enemy defensive positions. When it was detonated, the explosion would destroy that section of the trench. The infantry would then advance towards the enemy front-line hoping to take advantage of the confusion that followed the explosion of an underground mine.
Soldiers in the trenches developed different strategies to discover enemy tunnelling. One method was to drive a stick into the ground and hold the other end between the teeth and feel any underground vibrations. Another one involved sinking a water-filled oil drum into the floor of the trench. The soldiers then took it in turns to lower an ear into the water to listen for any noise being made by tunnellers.
It could take as long as a year to dig a tunnel and place a mine. As well as digging their own tunnels, the miners had to listen out for enemy tunnellers. On occasions miners accidentally dug into the opposing side's tunnel and an underground fight took place. When an enemy's tunnel was found it was usually destroyed by placing an explosive charge inside.
Mines became larger and larger. At the beginning of the Somme offensive, the British denoted two mines that contained 24 tons of explosives. Another 91,111 lb. mine at Spanbroekmolen created a hole that afterwards measured 430 ft. from rim to rim. Now known as the Pool of Peace, it is large enough to house a 40 ft. deep lake.
In January, 1917, General Sir Herbert Plumer, gave orders for 20 mines to be placed under German lines at Messines. Over the next five months more than 8,000 metres of tunnel were dug and 600 tons of explosive were placed in position. Simultaneous explosion of the mines took place at 3.10 on 7th June. The blast killed an estimated 10,000 soldiers and was so loud it was heard in London.
Attacks and Offensives
Military actions designed to take control of enemy trenches were called attacks or offensives. Whereas an attack usually involved a division (16,000 men), an offensive was much larger and would use at least one corps. The main objective of an attack was to break the enemy line but an offensive was an attempt to hold any positions that were taken during the operation. This meant sustained fighting in forward positions and raised serious problems of supplying soldiers with ammunition, food and water.
Before attacks and offensives took place, heavy artillery was used to soften up the enemy trenches. At the offensive at the Somme in the summer of 1916 General Douglas Haig ordered an eight-day preliminary bombardment before sending 750,000 men (27 divisions) to attack the German trenches. The following year, Haig decided on a ten day bombardment during the offensive at Ypres (the Battle of Passchendaele). This barrage involved 3,000 guns firing 4,283,550 shells at the German defences.
Snipers
Soldiers in front-line trenches suffered from enemy snipers. These men were usually specially trained marksmen that had rifles with telescopic sights. German snipers did not normally work from their own trenches. The main strategy was to creep out at dawn into no-man's land and remain there all day. Wearing camouflaged clothing and using the cover of a fake tree, they waited for a British soldier to pop his head above the parapet. A common trick was to send up a kite with English writing on it. Anyone who raised his head to read it was shot.
Infantry tactics
At the beginning of the 20th century most military commanders placed a great deal of emphasis on using the infantry for massed bayonet charges supported by the cavalry and mobile field artillery. Leaders of the French Army were particularly keen on this approach and favoured sending its infantry into action without equipment for entrenchment. Their commanders argued that defensive precautions were unnecessary as repeated waves of massed assault, delivered with sufficient speed and aggression, could not fail.
Infantry tactics had to be reassessed after armies suffered heavy casualties during attacks against machine-guns. The French infantry were forced to retreat during the invasion of Lorraine and the Germans experienced heavy losses when storming the fortress at Liege during August 1914.
Despite the support of Preliminary Bombardment, Chlorine Gas and Flame-Throwers, the infantry failed to achieve a breakthrough on the Western Front during 1915. The following year, new tactics such as Creeping Barrage and tank attacks, also failed to breakdown entrenched defences. The same was also true of the infiltration tactics tried by the Germans in 1917.
It was only at Amiens in 1918, when Colonel John Fuller managed to persuade General Henry Rawlinson to use 412 tanks followed by soldiers and supported by over 1,000 combat aircraft that the Allies managed to breakthrough the German frontline on the Western Front.
Peaceful Penetration
Peaceful Penetration was a strategy developed by John Monash and the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) on the Western Front. Tried out in a series of successful raids across No Man's Land during the summer of 1918 and on a larger scale at the Battle of Le Hamel in July.
The strategy was based on the idea that heavy artillery, tanks, machine-guns and aircraft should be used to devastate a limited area of enemy territory. The infantry would then be brought up to occupy and secure the area. The success of peaceful penetration depended on carefully planned co-operation between the various units involved.
After John Monash successfully used peaceful penetration at the Battle of Hamel the strategy was adopted by other Allied commanders during the autumn of 1918.
Artillery Barrage
A barrage is a term used to describe extensive artillery fire against enemy positions. Barrages were classified as light, moderate or heavy. A light barrage amounted to six or seven shells every ten minutes. A moderate barrage was thirty shells a minute and a heavy one, fifty to sixty shells a minute. There were several different types of barrage used during the First World War.
Box Barrage: artillery fire aimed around a target area to prevent the enemy command from sending in reinforcements.
Pin-Point Barrage: an attempt to wipe out a machine-gun post or a deadly sniper.
Search Barrage: using reports from aerial observers and spies on the ground to destroy important targets such as army headquarters, ammunition stores or opposing artillery batteries.
Counter-Battery Barrage: artillery fire targeted against enemy guns.
Creeping bombardment
Before an infantry advance during the First World War, it was a common strategy to bombard enemy defences with all available heavy artillery. It was believed that preliminary bombardment would enable soldiers to capture enemy trenches. On the Western Front this strategy was largely unsuccessful and so in 1916 both sides began to use what became known as a creeping barrage.
First used at the Battle of the Somme, a creeping barrage involved artillery fire moving forward in stages just ahead of the advancing infantry. By the autumn the Allied forces developed a system where the barrage moved forward at 50 metres per minute. To work, the strategy required precise timing by both the heavy artillery and the infantry. Failure to do this would result in the artillery killing their own soldiers. Although creeping barrage was sometimes successful when the commander had limited objectives, it failed to provide the means to end the stalemate on the Western Front.
Machine gun pillboxes
Pillboxes or blockhouses were miniature forts developed by the German army to give their trench lines extra strength. The term pillbox was used by the British soldiers because the reinforced concrete construction was the same shape as the boxes in which chemists supplied tablets during the war. Pillboxes generally measured 30 ft. along the front and were about 10 ft. wide.
German machine-gunners were often housed inside pillboxes. With very thick walls, they were difficult to destroy by artillery barrages. It was possible to fire through narrow slits in the wall, however, during an enemy offensive, the machine-guns were placed either on the top, or at the side of the pillbox.
The British built very few machine-gun pillboxes. The official reason for not building them was that "such works were not worth the labour or the cost". Probably the real reason was that the High Command feared that if the troops had such solid defences they would be less offensively-minded.
Both sides also used smaller machine-gun posts. The British tended to use Bergmann machine-gun rather than Maxims in these posts. Germans built machine-gun posts in large numbers all along the line at Ypres and Messines.
Machine-gunners were deeply hated by the infantry and they were more likely to be killed when captured than other soldiers.
Light flares
Small patrols were also sent out to obtain information about the enemy. These patrols would go out at night. They would have to crawl forward on their stomachs in an attempt to get close enough to find out what the enemy was up to.
To stop British night patrols the Germans used a light-shell rocket. Suspended from a small parachute, the flare blazed brightly for a minute giving the defending troops a chance to kill the soldiers who had advanced into No Man's Land. Soldiers who experienced this claimed that it was like being out in the midday sun.
The Germans also used a pistol flare. This only gave light for ten or fifteen seconds. Usually the defenders combined the flare with intense machine-gun fire.
Flame-Throwers
The German Army first began experimenting with flame-throwers in 1900 and were issued to special battalions eleven years later. The flame-thrower used pressurized air, carbon dioxide or nitrogen to force oil through a nozzle. Ignited by a small charge, the oil became a jet of flame.
Flame-throwers were first used at the Western Front in October 1914. Operated by two men, they were mainly used to clear enemy soldiers from front-line trenches. At first they had a range of 25 metres but later this was increased to 40 metres. This meant they were only effective over narrow areas of No Man's Land. Another problem was that the flame-thrower was difficult to move around and only contained enough oil to burn 40 seconds at the time. Soldiers who operated flame-throwers had a short-life span because as soon as they used them they were the target of rifle and machine-gun fire.
The British Army also experimented with flame-throwers. However, they found short-range jets inefficient. They also developed four 2-ton thrower that could send a flame over 30 yards. These were introduced in July 1916 but within a couple of weeks two had been destroyed. Although these large flame-throwers initially created panic amongst German soldiers, the British were unable to capture the trenches under attack. With this failure, the British generals decided to abandon the use of flame-throwers.
Chlorine gas
The German Army first used chlorine gas cylinders in April 1915 against the French Army at Ypres. French soldiers reported seeing yellow-green clouds drifting slowly towards the Allied trenches. They also noticed its distinctive smell which was like a mixture of pineapple and pepper. At first the French officers assumed that the German infantry were advancing behind a smoke screen and orders were given to prepare for an armed attack. When the gas arrived at the Allied front-trenches soldiers began to complain about pains in the chests and a burning sensation in their throats.
Most soldiers now realised they were being gassed and many ran as fast as they could away from the scene. An hour after they attack had started there was a four-mile gap in the Allied line. As the German soldiers were concerned about what the chlorine gas would do to them, they hesitated about moving forward in large numbers. This delayed attack enabled Canadian and British troops to retake the position before the Germans burst through the gap that the chlorine gas had created.
Chlorine gas destroyed the respiratory organs of its victims and this led to a slow death by asphyxiation. One nurse described the death of one soldier who had been in the trenches during a chlorine gas attack. "He was sitting on the bed, fighting for breath, his lips plum coloured. He was a magnificent young Canadian past all hope in the asphyxia of chlorine. I shall never forget the look in his eyes as he turned to me and gasped: I can't die! Is it possible that nothing can be done for me?" It was a horrible death, but as hard as they tried, doctors were unable to find a way of successfully treating chlorine gas poisoning.
It was important to have the right weather conditions before a gas attack could be made. When the British Army launched a gas attack on 25th September in 1915, the wind blew it back into the faces of the advancing troops. This problem was solved in 1916 when gas shells were produced for use with heavy artillery. This increased the army's range of attack and helped to protect their own troops when weather conditions were not completely ideal.
After the first German chlorine gas attacks, Allied troops were supplied with masks of cotton pads that had been soaked in urine. It was found that the ammonia in the pad neutralized the chlorine. These pads were held over the face until the soldiers could escape from the poisonous fumes. Other soldiers preferred to use handkerchiefs, a sock, a flannel body-belt, dampened with a solution of bicarbonate of soda, and tied across the mouth and nose until the gas passed over. Soldiers found it difficult to fight like this and attempts were made to develop a better means of protecting men against gas attacks. By July 1915 soldiers were given efficient gas masks and anti-asphyxiation respirators.
One disadvantage for the side that launched chlorine gas attacks was that it made the victim cough and therefore limited his intake of the poison. Both sides found that phosgene was more effective than chlorine. Only a small amount was needed to make it impossible for the soldier to keep fighting. It also killed its victim within 48 hours of the attack. Advancing armies also used a mixture of chlorine and phosgene called 'white star'.
Mustard Gas
Mustard Gas (Yperite) was first used by the German Army in September 1917. The most lethal of all the poisonous chemicals used during the war, it was almost odourless and took twelve hours to take effect. Yperite was so powerful that only small amounts had to be added to high explosive shells to be effective. Once in the soil, mustard gas remained active for several weeks.
The skin of victims of mustard gas blistered, the eyes became very sore and they began to vomit. Mustard gas caused internal and external bleeding and attacked the bronchial tubes, stripping off the mucous membrane. This was extremely painful and most soldiers had to be strapped to their beds. It usually took a person four or five weeks to die of mustard gas poisoning. One nurse, Vera Brittain, wrote: "I wish those people who talk about going on with this war whatever it costs could see the soldiers suffering from mustard gas poisoning. Great mustard-coloured blisters, blind eyes, all sticky and stuck together, always fighting for breath, with voices a mere whisper, saying that their throats are closing and they know they will choke."
British Gas Casualties: 1914-18
Deaths
Non-Fatal
Chlorine
,976
64,457
Mustard Gas
4,086
6,526
Infiltration tactics
Infiltration tactics was an idea developed by General Oskar von Hutier in 1917. Instead of following Preliminary Bombardment with a massed infantry attack, small forces of experienced troops were sent forward to slip between enemy strong-points on the front-line. Once these soldiers were in a position to surprise the defenders, the infantry was ordered forward in a mass attack across No Man's Land. These tactics were used successfully at Riga in September 1917 but failed on other occasions when it was tried both both the Allies and the Central Powers.
Casualties in trenches
The precise number of people killed during the First World War is difficult to measure. Estimates vary from 8.5 to 12.0 million but with the collapse of government bureaucracies in Russia, Germany, Austria-Hungary and Turkey accurate measurement becomes impossible.
Another problem involves the way death was defined. Most governments only published figures for men who were killed during military action. Soldiers who died slowly from their wounds, gas poisoning or disease, did not always appear in the statistics published after the war.
Most soldiers were killed during major offensives. Over 21,300 were killed on the first day of the Somme and over 50 per sent of those who took part in the attack were wounded. Other major offences such as those at Loos and Passchendaeleresulted in large numbers being killed.
Being in front-line trenches was also extremely dangerous. Almost every day some enemy artillery shells would fall on the trenches. One study suggested that one-third of all casualties on the Western Front were killed or wounded while in the trenches.
There is considerable dispute about the number of civilian deaths during the First World War. Bomb victims, merchant seamen and passengers on torpedoed ships were recorded. However, the number of civilians killed by disease or war deprivation are not usually included. For example, it is believed that about 500,000 German civilians died as a result of food shortages. Other countries that suffered high civilian deaths include Russia (2 million), Serbia (650,000) and Rumania (500,000). Considering the state of deprivation at the time, some commentators believe that the estimated 70 million people that died during the influenza pandemic should also be recorded as war deaths.
Light flares: Small patrols were also sent out to obtain information about the enemy. These patrols would go out at night. They would have to crawl forward on their stomachs in an attempt to get close enough to find out what the enemy was up to.
Flame-Throwers: Flame-throwers were first used at the Western Front in October 1914. Operated by two men, they were mainly used to clear enemy soldiers from front-line trenches. At first they had a range of 25 metres but later this was increased to 40 metres. This meant they were only effective over narrow areas of No Man's Lands.
Living Conditions
All soldiers were infested with lice. These were very small transparent insects that fed on blood up to 12 times a day. The only way to get rid of them was to crack them off with a fingernail or burn them with candle flame.
In winter solders wore extra underclothes or even layers of newspapers but cold still seeped through. In 1917, 21 000 British soldiers were admitted to hospital with frostbite.
Trenches were often full of mud and water from constant rain. Huge artillery bombardments of both sides churned up the mud destroying the trench drainage systems. During the Battle of Passchendeale 1917, thousands of men drowned in the mud, the whole gun teams disappeared without a trace.
Constantly standing in water caused trench foot and other ailments. The feet would gradually go numb and the skin would turn red or blue. Untreated, trench foot could turn gangrenous and require amputation. In an attempt to alleviate the problem, soldiers dried and changed their socks several times a day and duckboards were placed at the bottom of trenches.
Summer could be just as bad. The warmth increased the stench of latrines and decaying bodies. Behind the lines, each division had 6000 horses that produced 40 tonnes of manure a day causing flies.
Soldiers subjected to continual exposure to shellfire were in danger of developing shell shock. Early symptoms included tiredness, irritability, lack of concentration and headaches. Eventually the men suffered mental breakdowns making it impossible for them to remain in the front-line. Between 1914-18 the British Army identified 80,000 suffering from shell shock.
Daily routine
In contrast to the popular image of trench life it was for the soldiers in the front-line either horrific or extremely dull.
Half an hour before dawn - all men had to stand to. This meant standing on the fire step with their rifle ready in case of an enemy attack that rarely came. They believed the time in which they were most likely to be attacked was the morning.
After stand to - one sentry per platoon or squad or soldiers was left on duty on the fire step.
Breakfast - may consist of an army biscuit that had to be dipped in milk because it was so stale, as well as tea with no milk. The bulk of their diet in the trenches was bully beef (canned corned beef), bread and biscuits.
During the day - the sergeant of each platoon organised duties for his men. Some did sentry duty upon the fire step (the concentration required for this was exhausting) and some men went to collect food rations and supplies from support trenches. Some men were allowed to rest, but in fact, this meant repairing trenches, replacing barbwire and duckboards as well as filling sand bags.
At dusk - whole platoons stood down and their only comfort was an issue of strong rum.
Trench System (looking at map)
The trench system on the Western Front consisted of front-line, support and reserve trenches. The three rows of trenches covered between 200 and 500 yards of ground.
Frontline Trench
Soldiers in the First World War did not spend the whole of the time in the trenches. The British Army worked on a 16 day timetable. Each soldier usually spent eight days in the front line and four days in the reserve trench. Another four days were spent in a rest camp that was built a few miles away from the fighting. However, when the army was short of men, soldiers had to spend far longer periods at the front. It was not uncommon for soldiers to be in the front line trenches for over thirty days at a time.
Communication Trenches
Communication trenches were dug at an angle to those facing the enemy. These trenches used to transport men, equipment and food supplies.
Sapping
A tactic used on the Western Front was to dig short trenches (saps) across No Man's Land. These were dug towards the enemy trenches and enabled soldiers to move forward without exposure to fire. Saps were also used as listening posts. Although sapping was slow and gruelling work, especially during summer months, it was a fairly safe way to make territorial gains.
Fire-bays
Front-line trenches were not dug in straight lines. Otherwise, if the enemy had a successive offensive, and got into your trenches, they could shoot straight along the line. The French tended to build zig-zag trenches. However, the British Army preferred a system where each trench was dug with alternate fire-bays and traverses. Fire-bays were straight sections of trench where the troops did their shooting. Each fire-bay was protected at the side by a barrier of earth and sandbags.
Trench Warfare
Patrols and raids
Small patrols of men were often sent into No Man's Land to discover information about the enemy. All men had to take turns in this very dangerous work. The patrols usually went out at night. They would cautiously inch their way forward on their stomachs and try to get within earshot of the enemy trenches.
The commanders also organised raiding parties. A typical raiding party would comprise of 30 men. It was standard procedure for everyone to blacken their faces with grease-paint or burnt cork. The men carried cut down rifles, coshes, sheath-knives and grenades. One of the main objectives of these raids was to capture German soldiers for interrogation.
Tunnelling
On the Western Front during the First World War, the military employed specialist miners to dig tunnels under No Man's Land. The main objective was to place mines beneath enemy defensive positions. When it was detonated, the explosion would destroy that section of the trench. The infantry would then advance towards the enemy front-line hoping to take advantage of the confusion that followed the explosion of an underground mine.
Soldiers in the trenches developed different strategies to discover enemy tunnelling. One method was to drive a stick into the ground and hold the other end between the teeth and feel any underground vibrations. Another one involved sinking a water-filled oil drum into the floor of the trench. The soldiers then took it in turns to lower an ear into the water to listen for any noise being made by tunnellers.
Gas Attacks
Chlorine gas: The German Army first used chlorine gas cylinders in April 1915 against the French Army at Ypres. It was in form of yellow-green clouds and had the distinctive smell, which was like a mixture of pineapple and pepper. When the gas arrived at the Allied front-trenches soldiers began to complain about pains in the chests and a burning sensation in their throats. Chlorine gas destroyed the respiratory organs of its victims and this led to a slow death by asphyxiation.
Mustard Gas: Mustard Gas (Yperite) was first used by the German Army in September 1917. The most lethal of all the poisonous chemicals used during the war, it was almost odourless and took twelve hours to take effect. Once in the soil, mustard gas remained active for several weeks. The skin of victims of mustard gas blistered, the eyes became very sore and they began to vomit. Mustard gas caused internal and external bleeding and attacked the bronchial tubes, stripping off the mucous membrane.
After the first German chlorine gas attacks, Allied troops were supplied with masks of cotton pads that had been soaked in urine. It was found that the ammonia in the pad neutralized the chlorine. These pads were held over the face until the soldiers could escape from the poisonous fumes. Other soldiers preferred to use handkerchiefs, a sock, a flannel body-belt, dampened with a solution of bicarbonate of soda, and tied across the mouth and nose until the gas passed over. Soldiers found it difficult to fight like this and attempts were made to develop a better means of protecting men against gas attacks. By July 1915 soldiers were given efficient gas masks and anti-asphyxiation respirators.
Artillery Barrage
A barrage is a term used to describe extensive artillery fire against enemy positions. Barrages were classified as light, moderate or heavy. A light barrage amounted to six or seven shells every ten minutes. A moderate barrage was thirty shells a minute and a heavy one, fifty to sixty shells a minute. There were several different types of barrage used during the First World War.
Box Barrage: artillery fire aimed around a target area to prevent the enemy command from sending in reinforcements.
Pin-Point Barrage: an attempt to wipe out a machine-gun post or a deadly sniper.
Search Barrage: using reports from aerial observers and spies on the ground to destroy important targets such as army headquarters, ammunition stores or opposing artillery batteries.
Counter-Battery Barrage: artillery fire targeted against enemy guns.