The Great War: Trench Warfare

1. The Great War: Trench Warfare By Naveen Murali, Bea Clark, Jeffrey Loselle, Caroline Hershey

2. Overview • Frontline trenches were seven feet deep, six feet wide • Trench warfare was a practice first applied by French Marshall, Sebastian Le Prestre de Vauban (1633-1707) • Trenches built by both forces extended 400 miles from Nieuport on Belgian cost, to Swiss border • By end of 1914 Allied/Central powers had dug 62,500 miles of trenches • 1/3 of Western front casualties occurred in trenches • Many inflicted wounds upon themselves, hoping to be sent home, rather than continuing in their trench duties • Capital offense; 3,894 British soldiers convicted of self-inflicted wounds (SIW) A Cheshire Regiment sentry in a trench near La Boisselle during the Battle of the Somme, July 1916

3. Organization • Trenches never straight; dug in zigzagging pattern making it impossible to see more than 10 meters of trench at any given time • Zigzagging also made it harder for enemy surveillance aircrafts to obtain coordinates for the trenches because of shape • Parados: rear of trench which prevented soldiers from impact of shells falling behind trench • Duckboards: wooden boards which covered floor • Loophole: gap between sandbags to allow soldiers to see above trench without exposing too much Trench construction diagram from a 1914 British infantry manual

4. Allies vs. German • Allies’ Trenches • Frontline (or firing-and-attack) • 50 yards-1 mile from German’s front • Support trench (several hundred yards back) • Men and supplies that could immediately assist front line • Reserve trench (several hundred yards further back) • Men and supplies available for emergencies, should be first overrun • Connecting-communication trenches • Allowed movement of messages, supplies, and men • German Trenches • Elaborate and sophisticated tunnel structures • Some had living quarters 50 ft. below surface • Had electricity, beds, toilets, and other necessities • Greatly contrasted from the open air trenches of the allies

5. Conditions “[The bodies] we could not get from the German wire continued to swell…the caller of the dead faces changed form white to yellow-grey, to red, to purple, to green, to black…” –Robert Graves, Poet, Novelist, Critic • Trench soldiers used contaminated water supply from shell cavities, which would cause dysentery • In order to purify chloride of lime was added • Frontline trenches were dangerous due to enemy artillery shells which would land in trenches • Trenches plagued with water and mud, especially for those at sea level (were water logged when rained) • Rain filled up craters from shells of guns • Food, scraps, and corpses scattered across trenches, attracting rats • Most fallen soldiers buried right in trenches

6. Trench Foot • 20,000 British soldiers treated for trench foot from winter of 1914-1915 • Due to the cold, wet, muddy conditions in the trenches • Basically causes the skin to erode and the bones to poke through the foot (usually the heel bone) • Toes also become deformed Severe case of trench foot

7. Trench Rats “I saw some rats running from under the dead man’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 form the yawning mouth leapt a rat.” a soldier’s experience • Single pair of rats could produce 880 offspring in one year • Stole the men’s food “The rats were huge, they were so big they would eat a wounded man if he couldn’t defend himself.” a soldier’s experience

8. A French gas attack on German lines in Belgium, 1916 Gas Attack of 1916 • Throughout entire war, total of 91,198 deaths from gas attacks by both sides of WWI • Was after a hard night of fighting • Twice the Germans had gained foothold in the trenches • Had been driven out by the counter-attacks • Wind coming from the side of the enemy • Cold • Gas kept closer to the ground • “There’s a sort of greenish, yellow cloud rolling along the ground out in front, it’s coming…” • By that time for many, it was too late • To put on gas masks: • Pull over head • Two “windows” or eye openings • Made of cloth soaked in chemicals that countered the gas • Rubber tube in which exhaled (inhaled through nose) • Made sure no toxic gas could be inhaled

9. Stalemate of WWI • Germany invaded Belgium, as rumors spread of German mistreatment of Belgian civilians • Consequently, France launched unsuccessful invasion of eastern border of Germany/France – French lost 27,000 soldiers in one day • Germany invaded France, but failed to destroy French/British resistant on river Marne • Resulted in stalemate with trenches all along Western Front French observer with Adrian helmet in trench, Hirtzbach Woods, Haut-Rhin, France, 1917

10. Factors Contributing to Stalemate • Territory between trenches • Craters produced from shelling eliminated all vegetation • Surrounded by barbed wire • Machine guns and long-range rifles severely reduced enemy movement in fields • Military offensives on trenches restricted to nighttime; daytime attacks on trenches were easily defeated • Communication trenches made sure that neither side was short on supplies • Severely limited effectiveness of frontal assault • Stalemate was reduced to attrition warfare in which each side waited for enemy to be worn down 1st Lancashire Fusiliers, in communication trench near Beaumont Hamel, Somme, 1916

11. Alternate Battle Strategies • Rush small groups of soldiers • Attack the weakest sections of enemy trenches, rather than targeting strong points • Use tanks for necessary mobility; trenches rendered useless in defense • Combined arms efforts of aircraft, artillery and tanks would clearly stop trench defense