Trench warfare

1. Trench warfare

2. WWI was the first time that “trench warfare” was used extensively in battle. • After the Battle of the Marne in 1914, the two sides became “entrenched” in an area that became known as the “Western Front”

3. In order to get enough troops to the front to stop the German advance at the Marne, the French even used taxis to move their soldiers!

5. The Western Front was a line of trenches that stretched from the English Channel, through Belgium and France to the Swiss border • This “conflict” was supposed to be over by Christmas, yet the two sides reached “stalemate” and neither side could move forward without significant losses • The trench line was somewhat “flexible”… moving forward and backward as battles were won and lost and territory gained and lost

6. 2 trench lines were soon dug into the earth: - usually 6-7 feet deep depending on terrain - often only 100’s of meters from the enemy - a series of frontline trenches with supply and communication trenches behind them

7. Soldiers lived in their trenches for weeks at a time before being rotated back to the supply trenches • mud, water, rats, lice, the constant threat of snipers and shelling, wounded men and animals, dead and dying soldiers…

12. Between the trenches was an area known as “No Man’s Land” – mud, craters from shelling, barbed wire, sniper and machine gun fire, bodies…

13. In order to attack the enemy’s trench, soldiers had to “go over the top” – this mean climbing out of their trench and trying to cross no man’s land, usually at night