What were The Trenches and why were they built?

Question

And any other info u can give me about the trenches in the war?
10 points for the most detailed answer!

Answer 1

My grandfather joined the BEF in August 1914 at the age of 15 years 10 months. He went to France after 6 weeks training and stayed there till 1918. He was in all the major battles from Mons to Passchendaele. He regarded the trenches with mixed feelings as both hell and a dear friend. He told me that you cannot imagine what life was like in the trenches, disease, stinking rat infested water, rotting feet and rotting dead bodies just a few feet away in no-mans land. The smell he said was appalling to both sides and when it got to bad in the summer stretcher bearers from both sides went over the top to recover the dead, very brave, he said, the bravest of the brave. In 1926 he went back to the battlefields to show my grandmother, when he saw the thousands of headstones he cried like a baby for that is where his friends were.

Answer 2

Hi

I see the first answer was wrong a trench is dug below ground level so bullets go over the top of ones head. it was a battle line with another set on the other side as well in Between is no man's land a place which became the killing ground.

going over the top was climbing out of the trench across no man's land through a hail of bullets hand grenades and shells to try and capture the other sides trenches who would fall back to yet another set of trenches some way behind the other trenches.

Many died in the first world war in france in the trenches, they where usually water logged and disease was everywhere trench foot was a common ailment, feet being in water for months and months rats running all down the trenches sometimes killed to be eaten as conditions where so poor.

Answer 3

Trench warfare was not a new tactic used in WWI. During the American Civil War Confederate forces used trenches when Gen. Grant laid siege to Vicksburg. The use of trenches at that time called for different tactics by the Union forces. They out flanked the positions and at the cost of many casualties overcame the rebels and Vicksburg surrendered.

During the Battle of the Wilderness, Robert E. Lee's army of Virginia also dug trenches and repelled attacks by Union forces. Again Grant had to use flanking movements to try and get behind the rebel lines.

This type of warfare continued for nearly a year before Union Forces gained the upper hand by attrition. The Rebels could not replace the men and supplies as fast as the Union Forces and were out numbered.

During WWI trenches ran from the English Channel to the Swiss border. This type of warfare was a static defense on both sides. The trenches had barracks and mess halls dug into the ground on each side and became home to the soldiers for long periods of time. There was no maneuvering by either side just frontal assaults which caused the death of thousands of men. It was during this time that poison gas was introduced into warfare by both sides. Gas shells were fired into the trenches where they killed, blinded, or burned anyone coming into contact with the poison.

Answer 4

trenches were long and large ditches deep enough for a human being to stand erect inside of them but allowing a soldier to fire his weapon at the enemy by sticking his head and weapon above the top effectively concealing the rest of the body. This presented an extremely small target for the opposing army to hit. Trench warfare ended up becoming a stalemate and made a normally short battle of a few hours turn into a grueling and lengthy battle of several months. This would deplete the supplies of both sides as food and replacement ammunition was extremely difficult to deliver as the opposition could easily pick off the delivery troops. Don't get me wrong here war is hell but trench warfare was hell to the 10th degree. No rest, no supplies, winter time sitting in a ditch covered with cold wet snow and sleet consistently up to your knees in cold water with no relief for months. No bathrooms and to keep from getting shot climbing out of the trench, guess where they went? You got it!

Answer 5

The first weeks of WW1 gave a deceptive impression that the war would be one of movement ..

The headlong infantry attacks and the futility of them soon became apparent to all sides , in the face of modern rifles , machine guns and artillery both sides were compelled to dig deep holes in the ground and concentrate upon breaking up attacks by their enemy . The armies remained in these holes for the next four years .

The beginning of trench warfare proper is usually given as September 1914 , when the German VII Reserve Corps turned around on the Chemin des Dames Ridge and blocked the advance of the British 1 Corps . Within a few weeks the stalemate spread down the whole battle line . This line ran from the North Sea to the Swiss frontier , a distance of 475 miles.

The German commander von Falkenhayn was the first to dig - in , deciding to hold onto the ground captured by his forces ,

The Germans occupied much of Belgium , and most of the industrially productive regions of northern France . It was thus a strategic necessity for the Allies to win back this lost ground . The Germans could afford to stand on the defensive and let the Allies exhaust themselves in attacking the strategic German positions To sum up , the trenches were defensive earthworks , deep emplacements protected by up to 50ft in depth of barbed wire to give protection for the defenders and formidable obstacles for the attacker

Answer 6

The trenches began as a series of foxholes that the soldiers on the front-lines of World War I dug and eventually connected to make one long trench. They were eventually expanded to become a complex series of twisting and turning paths and often needed a map or a guide in order to successfully navigate through. They were built to be defensive lines for the soldiers and eventually turned into the soldiers' homes for the duration of their service time. Underground bunkers were constructed with beds, kitchens and toilets for the soldiers' use.



The general tactics for World War I was to go "over the top" and try to take control of the enemy's trench to advance your own front by fifty to one hundred meters at a time. This almost always failed with the enemy launching a counterattack as you were being driven back to your own trench. Eventually, strategies became more advanced with artillery strikes, gas attacks and barbed wire becoming more involved with the attacks.

Answer 7

trenches are just a pit. but the pit is in a long thin shape like a sausage and holds men in them to protect them from bullets and other flying deadly projectiles. they were first used on mass in world war 1 and have been used since but not the scale as in world war 1. in world war 1 there was a trench network from the channel coast in france to the alps for both sides. trenches are just a simple defence method of holding ground.



hope this helps

andrew

Answer 8

Trenches are dug-in places for greater protection during a battle. People fighting at close quarters use small arms whose trajectory pass just above ground level.Anyone coming directly in the line of fire will get hit. It is to reduce casualty that the defending troops dig trenches and saves themselves from the line of fire of the enemy. From the entrenched position they could also make better used of their fire arms.

Trenches also provide better protection during shelling and air attacks.