Introduction
By August the 4th, 1914, a war had erupted between many of the countries in Europe. On one side there was Britain, France and Russia. On the other was Germany and Austria-Hungary. Other countries, like Belgium, had chosen to stay neutral. However, when Germany invaded France through Belgium, they were forced to join in defence of their country.
In the years leading up to The Great War, there had been many alliances and agreements made between different combinations of these countries. Germany had just won a war against France about 40 years previously and captured the territories of Alsace and Lorraine, which France wanted back. To stop France being able to gain the support of other countries so she could mount an attack, Germany made an alliance (a formal agreement to fight on the same side if attacked or in the event of war) with Austria-Hungary. This was natural as they had a lot in common. Alliances with Russia and Italy soon followed. This left France relatively alone.
However, there had been a lot of trade rivalry and arguments between Germany and a few other countries about African colonies and empire in previous years. Britain signed an agreement with France, saying that it was in neither country's interests for Germany to invade France. Quite soon after this, Britain reached an agreement with Russia, after a new German Kaiser took over and gave up on their alliance. Europe was now divided into two "armed camps". On one side there were the Allies, Britain, France and Russia, and on the other were the Central Powers, Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy. An argument between any of these two countries could send Europe plunging into war, and after the assassination of the heir to the Austrian throne, it did.
World War One became a true "world war" when men from all over the huge British Empire began to be drafted in: Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders, South Africans, Indians and more. The USA joined too in 1917 and helped to swing the war in the Allies' favour.
Many people expected the war would be over by Christmas 1914. They were wrong. Germany would be "fighting a war on two fronts" because she was between Russia and France, two of her enemies. Count von Schlieffen developed a plan to solve this problem: to invade France via Belgium. Unfortunately for them, it did not work because Belgium fought back, so both sides were still fighting well into the winter. The men dug trenches in the battlefields of France for shelter, a place to rest until the weather got better. By late 1914 the trenches were home to millions of men on both side. When spring came, new attacks were expected to win the war. By early 1915, the trenches that had been dug for simple, safe shelter from enemy guns were a complicated network hundreds of miles long. Networks of trenches appeared on both fronts: the Western Front, where German was fighting France and Britain; and the Eastern Front, where Germany and Austria-Hungary were fighting Russia.
The "new attacks" of the spring did not succeed and the soldiers remained in the trenches, which became more and more complicated, stretching from the North Sea coast to the Swiss border. The problem was that once they got into the system of "Trench Warfare", how did they get out of it?
The image many people have of the trenches in WW1 is of thousands of young men of mixed ages and backgrounds clambering bravely out of the trenches and going "Over the Top". For many, it was to almost certain death.
In this investigation, I will try to find out exactly why trench warfare caused so many men (on both sides) to die, fighting for their country.
Trench Layout & Systems
Trenches began as shell-holes in the ground or ditches the soldiers dug to take cover. It was a well-known fact that it was easier for the enemy to shoot you when you were standing up than when you were lying down, especially if you were in a hole in the ground. This was proved in modern times in the Gulf War (1990), where a man in the open was 200 times more likely to die than a man lying taking cover in a ditch. Trenches appeared in the American Civil War (1860-65), but they were not used in World War Two (1939-45). This was mainly due to changes in military weaponry and tactics.
Each side used trenches; on the Western Front, where French and British Empire troops fought the Germans, and on the Eastern Front, where the Germans and Austrians fought the Russians.
As I have already mentioned, trenches began as simple ditches that were deep enough for men to take cover from gunfire, but soon they became very complicated. Each side (e.g. the British/French or the Germans/Austrians) had trenches. There were two, sometimes three lines of trenches running almost parallel to each other. Between the two sides, there was a desolate area called "No-man's Land", because it belonged to no one. No-man's Land could be anything from 25 to 100 metres wide. It was an area of devastation: with fragments of buildings, shattered and burnt down trees and craters and deep holes in the ground left from intense shelling, which were often filled with water.
A close up diagram showing the layout of a trench. You can see the zig-zag line of the trenches and how they have been supported with wood. You can also see the communication trenches, sandbags and barbed wire.
The first trench, on the edge of No-man's Land was called the "Front line" trench. This was where the soldiers who were fighting lived. Some of these had firing bays, dug out into No-man's Land. The Front line trenches were reinforced with barbed wire in front. In some places on the German Hindenburg line on the Western Front, it was 20 metres wide.
Behind this line, there were the "reserve trenches", a second line of defence, but they were also a resting place for the troop either going to or coming back from the front line. These were also known as "support trenches". These trenches were also important because if the enemy captured the front line trench, the soldiers would retreat and the second line would become the first line of defence. Sometimes there was a third line of trenches but these were not so common.
Running across between the trenches were the "communication trenches". These were a link between the front and second lines, but also led back from the fighting to safety, sometimes for a kilometre or more. Troops, food, water, mail, ammunition and other supplies came down them one way, to the front line. Wounded men went the other, to the field hospitals.
The trenches were dug in a zig-zag line. There were a few reasons for this. One was so that if the trench was captured by enemy troops, they couldn't fire straight along the trench. Another reason, similar to this, was that shrapnel from a shell exploding would be contained in the right angle bends of the trench walls.
Most trenches were deep enough for a man to stand up straight and still have their head covered. However, there were some instances of tall men being killed by enemy snipers, as they were too tall for the trench. Tall men had to be careful to duck, especially because some sections of trench could not be dug deep because of the condition of the ground.
Looking down a trench. This shows how rough they were. A soldier is standing on the firing step on the right with his rifle.
On the Front line trench wall, there was a parapet of sandbags and mud. This was shot at all the time and had to be repaired constantly. This parapet was used for extra cover for men who were standing on the firing step. This was a step cut into the trench wall for soldiers to stand on while firing. It was dangerous to even show your head for as second, so this was used a lot at night, when fighting or by sentries. Men also used a periscope instead.
This is a diagram of a trench similar to the one in the photo above. You can see the duck boards, firing step (which men stood on to be able to see out into No-Man's Land), barbed wire and the parapet of sandbags.
The sides of the trenches were reinforced with anything the soldiers could find or what could be brought in. These ranged from corrugated iron, railway sleepers and sandbags to wickerwork. Trench floors could also be extremely wet and muddy from all the rain that fell, so "duck boards" were put down for the soldiers to walk on. These were planks of wood that helped spread the weight of the men so they did not sink. Sometimes they were fixed down with a space underneath for the water to drain away.
Both sides had home-made equipment to help them. Gas was a common weapon in World War One, so many dug-outs (the soldiers' shelters) had simple rubber curtains to try to keep out the gas and protect sleeping soldiers. However, these were not very effective. A wind indicator was used to detect the wind direction to see if gas could be blown towards the enemy. If the wind was the wrong direction, they were safe, but this worked two ways. If it was blowing towards you instead, then you were in danger, so this system also acted as a warning. Many trenches also had a simple bell/gong/hooter gas warning system.
From their simple beginnings, the lines of trenches soon became very long and complicated. The lines of trenches on the Western Front stretched from the North Sea Coast to the Swiss border. Belgian troops manned the trenches nearest the North Sea. The British and British Empire troops were stationed on the line between the Belgians and the River Somme in France. The French trenches stretched from the Somme to the border with Switzerland.
A Soldier's Day
The days in the trenches were always the same for the soldiers. You may think that it would be exciting, but the only excitement they got was when there was fighting, and it was not much fun knowing they could be killed. In this section I will take you through a typical day in a trench, starting at dawn.
At this time, the order "stand down" was given. This meant that the threat of a night raid was past. It also meant that the men could get on with preparing their breakfast.
Around mid-morning, most men were busy working on trench maintenance and other jobs. One very important job was to repair any damage to the trench. Trenches were damaged by the weather (heavy rain etc.), and enemy fire. They often needed deepening, widening and strengthening, and new support and communication trenches always seemed to be needed. They also filled sandbags, carried supplies, ran errands (these were done all day) and cleaned their rifles and machine guns. This was vital to stop them jamming.
There was also a medical check each day. The condition "Trench Foot" was a major problem, caused by constantly standing in water and mud. The soldiers' feet were permanently wet. Officers had to check the men dried their feet, rubbed oil in, then put on dry socks every day, but as their feet got wet again almost straight away, this wasn't much help.
Every afternoon from 2 to 4pm, the German artillery bombarded the allied trenches, but as long as the parapet was in good repair, the machine gun fire was not much of a problem. The soldiers took cover in their dug-outs.
In the evening, most men settled down to catch as much sleep as they could. Most were disturbed by the cold, rats or false alarms of attacks. Few slept for more than 3 or 4 hours. Sentries had to watch for the enemy attacking in the dark. Every life depended on them. For others, the night meant more repairs to the trench (which was dangerous in case the enemy sentries heard or saw them), or an observation patrol into No-man's Land to capture prisoners or try to overhear enemy plans. Once dawn arrived, the whole process began again.
Despite being on the front line, there were many days that the soldiers didn't have much to do, apart from their daily jobs. The days were very monotonous and passed very slowly. Boredom was a big problem. Some read to pass the time. Others smoked, played chess, and wrote letters home. These letters were heavily censored, and anything that was thought to be too risky if it got into enemy hands was scrubbed over with a thick pencil until it was unreadable. Many kept diaries, but this was against the official rules because they could give away valuable secrets if enemy raiders found them.
Food in the Trenches
Food was always the same in the trenches. There was no fixed ration amount for each soldier, but the amount they got depended on transport, the weather and enemy action. Broken up ammunition boxes were used as fuel. As you can imagine the trenches were not a nice place to eat in. This poem gives us an idea of the conditions.
"Breakfast" by Wilfred Gibson
We ate our breakfast lying on our backs
Because the shells were screeching overhead.
I bet a rasher to a loaf of bread
That Hull United would beat Halifax
When Jimmy Stainthorpe played full-back instead
Of Billy Bradford. Ginger raised his head
And cursed, and took the bet, and dropt back dead.
We ate our breakfast lying on our backs
Because the shells were screeching overhead.
There was quite a limited choice of food. Here are some examples of what could be on the daily menu: tins of "bully beef", pork, bread, beans, cheese, butter and many other things. Jam was always the same variety and many soldiers got fed up of it. A loaf of bread usually had to be shared between up to ten men. "Maconchie" was a tin of stewed meat and vegetables. The men had to share this between four of them, but many felt they could have finished one off themselves. They had a large supply of biscuits, which were extremely hard. The soldiers had to soak them in water, sometimes for a few days until they were soft enough to eat.
Getting clean water to drink was also a problem. It was brought to the front in empty petrol cans and chloride of lime was added to kill germs. This had a revolting taste and could even spoil the taste of things like tea. For water to wash in, men collected rainwater or melted snow and ice.
Living Conditions
"Mud, mud, glorious mud..."
As you can imagine, trenches were not a very nice place to live. I'm sure that nobody would choose to live in a wet and muddy hole in the ground, infested with rats and lice, but that is exactly what the soldiers had to do.
The weather in the area where the trenches were was often rainy. This meant water collected in the trenches, making the floors a bog. The trench floors had a raised platform of planks to walk on, called "duck boards". These were to stop the men sinking into the mud. The communication trenches were usually the wettest and muddiest. Scots regiments removed their kilts to walk through them without their kilts getting wet and clogged up with mud. You couldn't do that with trousers!
Stretcher bearers at Passchendaele. It is easy to see why this became known as "The Battle in the Mud".
It wasn't just the trench floors that were reduced to a bog. In Flanders (Belgium), the land is very flat and low. The farmers who used the land previously had spent hundreds, perhaps thousands of years creating drainage ditches to drain the normally marshy land so they could farm it. The heavy shelling totally destroyed this system and the area was reduced back to marsh almost straight away. The heavy guns that were used by both sides often became stuck in the mud, and the battle at Passchendaele became known as "The Battle in the Mud" because of the conditions.