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. The stalemate of trench warfare was only broken in 1918 on the Western Front by the innovative use of tanks and the Allies enjoying an overwhelming numerical superiority over the enemy.
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 side was obliged to better protect its armies by first digging simple holes and then, as the war dragged on, increasingly sophisticated networks of trenches and underground bunkers. Most trench systems involved digging into the mud to create three lines of trenches. There was a front trench, then a support trench, and finally a third reserve trench in the rear. 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. Communication between commanders and trench sections was achieved using telephones (with buried lines), runners, signal lamps, horns, and even pigeons.
There were machine gun posts situated at regular intervals, usually between the front and second trench lines, while the main artillery was positioned behind the reserve trench. German machine gun posts tended to be better built using concrete. Attacks by both sides involved a heavy artillery barrage followed by an infantry charge, but these rarely got beyond the front trench of the enemy before the machine gun posts and reserve units turned the tide. The trench systems became more sophisticated and deeper, especially on the German side and notably in the stretch known as the Hindenburg Line (from Arras to Laffaux). The Allies were under an obligation to remove German troops from French and Belgian territory and so launched more offensive operations, while the Germans were satisfied with holding on to what they had already gained. The German forces could choose the best defensive ground but also make attacks when an opportunity arose. Ultimately, the soldiers on both sides of the Western Front became stuck in a deadly game of attrition and survival that lasted four long years.
Often, the casualty figures in this war of attrition were horrendous. For example, 143,000 French soldiers died in the Champagne Offensive of December 1914, but the German trench system remained intact. Similarly, at the Battle of Loos in September-October 1915, the British, over three weeks, gained a two-mile (3.2 km) salient, but at the cost of 16,000 dead and 25,000 wounded. In battles like the Battle of the Somme and Battle of Passchendaele, the casualty figures were even higher. Not until the Allies used tanks and overwhelming numbers was this terrible static front finally broken in 1918.
⇒ Trench Warfare on WWI's Western Front
