Trenches during World War 1?

Question

how? when? where? why?

how were they used during the world war 1?

Answer 1

This is a great site to use for reference.

http://www.firstworldwar.com/features/trenchlife.htm



Indeed, the Great War - a phrase coined even before it had begun - was expected to be a relatively short affair and, as with most wars, one of great movement. The First World War was typified however by its lack of movement, the years of stalemate exemplified on the Western Front from autumn 1914 until spring 1918.



Not that there wasn't movement at all on the Western Front during 1914-18; the war began dramatically with sweeping advances by the Germans through Belgium and France en route for Paris. However stalemate - and trench warfare soon set in - and the expected war of movement wasn't restored until towards the close of the war, although the line rippled as successes were achieved at a local level.



This site goes in detail about other aspects of Trench Warfare. Also it has an aerial photo showing the layout of trenches.



http://www.harris-academy.com/departments/history/Trenches/Mark/mark.1.htm



Trenches were often described as ‘complex labyrinths’ and this is indeed the best way to describe the trenches. As the picture below shows , the trenches were indeed ‘mazes.’



Trenches were just deep enough for a man to walk in without showing his head. It was dangerous to show your head as enemy machine gun fire reigned down on the trenches constantly. Occasionally a sniper would be waiting for someone to show their head above the trench so he could pick them off.



Here is a general site for additional info:

http://www.schoolshistory.org.uk/trenchwarfare.htm



Good luck.



L8r

Answer 2

Trenches pre-date foxholes.



Trenches, as used in the American Civil War, the Second Boer War and the Franco-Prussian war were seen as a natural requirement for moving troops safely, not only are they out of view and therefore out of direct rifle or machine gun fire, better yet they are protected from the big killer of any war since the American Civil War – artillery. Artillery pieces had become so accurate and powerful that they would dominate the battlefields of the First World War, and, to a lesser extent, due to the use of the tank and aircraft, the Second World War. A trench is designed to offer as much protection as possible to howitzer rounds which burst above ground showering anyone below with red-hot splinters, barring a close proximity burst a trench offers reasonable protection from artillery. Trenches were used to move troops, ammunition, supplies and wounded to and from the frontline trenches. The best way to take a trench was to outflank it (attack from the side where it was least defended), all sides knew that, so they took measures to prevent outflanking, which eventually meant an extended run of trenches from the Belgian coast to Switzerland. In the Western Front the opposing trenches were, on average, less than 250 metres apart. They were also extensively used in the east and at Gallipoli.

Answer 3

The invention of the Maxim water cooled machine gun devastated the forward march of the infantryman and the calvalry charge. The only safe place on an open field against the newly invented machine gun was down - so the foxholes became trenches.



Trench warfare slowed everything down and the war essentially stalemated as trenches were fought over, captured, re-captured, and prevented any progressive forward movement of an army.



The British invented the Tank to defeat the barbed wire and trenches. But it did not have a strong influence. Trench warfare mired down WWI for a longer time than usual.

Answer 4

Let me correct a few errors by others first.



Maxim MGs -- what made these possible was not one German's design, it was the invention of smokeless powder. Before this, all nations used what is today called "black powder", the sort of powder Daniel Boone used for his musket. This powder fouled all firearms and this soon jammed machine guns. So it was smokeless powder that made the difference, and Hiram Maxim or whoever would have invented an MG.



Gas warfare -- this was NOT banned in WW2, that's bullsh*t. Churchill had given orders for mustard gas to be dropped on invading Germans in they landed in the UK in 1940. Cut off from the UK and anxious to know the effects of mustard gas, Australia actually used it against some of our own troops (in Queensland).



Germans carried gas masks almost for the whole war, but the Allies rarely if ever carried them once they landed in Europe. The idea of gas masks and gas capes in the tropic was impossible, so no-one used gas in the Pacific. The Allies also landed on D-Day wearing photographic strips in order to check if Hitler had, or was using, some kind of "dirty bomb" radiation weapon against Allied troops.



Trenches have been a common form of defence for centuries. The Maoris used them well against the invading British in New Zealand.



Trenches were part of WW1 conflicts in Palestine, Gallipoli, the Carpathians, Italy, Russia and the Western Front (mostly France). When the von Schlieffen plan began to run out of steam, there was a race to the coast by Allied and German forces to (a) secure that flank and (b) secure the shortest cross-channel reinforcement routes for the UK forces.



Trench warfare began in 1914 and continued throughout the war. At the time, engines and metal technology was very primitive and tanks did not exist. Infantry was expected to break a hole in enemy lines through which cavalry would pour through and win a major victory, but the reality was that by the time any cavalry was ordered frward, the gap had been closed (one reason why was that artillery would pound an attack site for weeks, totally pulverising the soil which, if it rained, became a quagmire so bad that it often sucked down gun teams -- guns, limbers, horses and tracers. The lot.



Attacking infantry that succeeded soon lost again because no-one could get enough ammunition to the new front line.



Try researching aerial photos of trenches. There are the front line trenches, with communications trenches going back to secondary (support) trenches. This is where support weapons such as mortars would be. There might be more support trenches.



Trenches keep you safer from attack, but not guaranteed safe. You would cower there all day and night, often without sleep. Lice crawling over all your skin and underwear. So thirsty at times that you would dip your mug into the muddly pool near the trench wall, where the rain had drained through the bodies of dead comrades who'd been buried in the wall a week before. Going on a ammo party, to bring up more ammunition, sometimes with mud up to your hips.



The probability that the next major war in Europe would be large, general and statis should have been obvious to anyone who saw trenches and barbed wire first used in the US Civil War -- but Europeans were certain that would never apply to THEM!!

Answer 5

Doc is wright on. I would add that in WW 1. The Germans came out with a "mustered gas"

that settled into low places on the ground. The solder that didn't come up to breath suffered

lung damage. Those that did raise heads above the gas was often shot. By WW 2, that gas

was band. The enemy honored that ban out of fear that we would use a worse gas on them.

Answer 6

When you're on the field of battle as a basic infantryman and you're battalion has fought to a stand still and you are stuck out in the open, you pray and dig to try and make yourself one with the terrain - you dig in. If you can get below the surface, you are less of a target. The next logical step then, is to connect your fighting hole (fox hole if you're Army) with the next. Soon, having done this enough times, you end up with a network allowing you to move from position to position and even back to the CP (command post without exposing yourself to enemy fire.

Answer 7

1.the soldiers had to live in stuff condition 2.the soldiers had to suffer with lice and dead bodies 3.it was used to protect an area