Trench Warfare on WWI's Western Front

"The trench warfare of the Western Front during the First World War (1914-18) involved soldiers living and dying in an awful mix of mud, filth, and barbed wire. Trench systems became more sophisticated in layout as the conflict dragged on but remained rudimentary holes in the ground as entire armies attempted to shelter from artillery, gas, machine-gun, and infantry attacks."

"When Germany's Schlieffen plan failed to achieve a quick victory over France and that country's armed forces, with support from the British Expeditionary Force, pushed back the German advance, a situation arose where a front line was established from the Belgian coast to the Swiss border. Along this 475-mile (765-km) long Western Front, as it was called, neither side was able to make any significant advance on the enemy."

"Each trench was constructed in a long zigzag or with regular bends to ensure that if an enemy soldier managed to breach the defences, they could not simply fire along it unimpeded. The emphasis on irregularity also meant that at least some soldiers would be protected by a direct hit from shells. Various smaller trenches connected these three main trenches for the purposes of communication and supply."

After the failure of Germany's Schlieffen Plan, opposing armies on the Western Front entrenched along a 475-mile line from the Belgian coast to the Swiss border. Both sides dug networks of front, support, and reserve trenches, often linked by smaller communication trenches. Trenches were built in zigzags or with bends to prevent enfilade fire and to limit shell damage. Soldiers endured mud, filth, barbed wire, artillery, gas, machine-gun, and infantry attacks while commanders maintained contact using buried telephones, runners, signal lamps, horns, and pigeons. The stalemate persisted until 1918 when tanks and Allied numerical superiority enabled breakthroughs.

Read at World History Encyclopedia