WW12+Trench+Warfare

=The nature of trench warfare and life in the trenches dealing with experiences of Allied and German soldiers=


 * Focus Questions**
 * **What were the main features of the trench system on the Western Front?**
 * **What weapons were used to fight trench warfare?**
 * **What weapons were developed during the war?**
 * **What tactics were used to fight trench warfare?**

**Main features of the trench system** **Study sources A, B and C below.****Identify and explain the main features of the trench system.** Cross-section of a trench (Source: //Evidence of War//, Anne McCallum)
 * Source A**

//A British trench near the Albert-Bapaume road at Ovillers-la-Boisselle, July 1916 during the Battle of the Somme.// //The men are from A Company, 11th Battalion, The Cheshire Regiment.// //(Source: )//
 * Source B**


 * Source C**



//An aerial reconnaissance photograph of the opposing trenches and no-man's land between Loos and Hulluch in Artois, France, taken at 7.15 pm, 22 July 1917. German trenches are at the right and bottom, British trenches are at the top left. The vertical line to the left of centre indicates the course of a pre-war road or track.// //(Source: )//


 * At the start of the war, the belligerent nations expected a war of movement. They were not prepared for trench warfare.
 * Trenches were expected to be temporary protection for soldiers until the war of movement began again. As the war dragged on they became more solid and permanent in their construction and appearance.
 * The weapons used in the war gave a great advantage to defence. The machine gun and barbed wire made it easier to defend a trench line than attack one.
 * The trench system was haphazard and different along the whole of the western front. It depended on local terrain and existing building where and how trenches would be dug.
 * As trench warfare developed, the trench system became more complex. The front-line trenches were linked to support trenches and reserve trenches by communications trenches. They were often given street names by the soldiers to provide some familiarity and reminders of normal life in this alien situation.
 * Enemy bombardment destroyed trenches. They had to be constantly maintained and rebuilt. If new territory was taken from the enemy new trenches were immediately dug. Trenches were dug by digging, sapping, or tunnelling.


 * Features of trenches**:
 * The trenches were deep enough for a man to stand up in safely.
 * **duckboards**: to keep the soldiers’ feet out of the mud
 * **sump**: below the duckboards where water and mud could gather
 * **firestep**: a raised platform for firing over the front of the trench
 * **sand bags**: to strengthen and reinforce the trenches and absorb enemy gun fire
 * **barbed wire**: to prevent the enemy from easily attacking a trench
 * **dugout** and **funk hole**: for sleeping
 * **ammunition shelf**
 * **elbow rest**: to assist in firing over the front of the trench
 * **parapet**: the raised section at the front of a trench, strengthened with sandbags, to protect the soldiers from enemy fire and to provide protect when firing at the enemy
 * **parados**: a raised section at the back of the trench to protect soldiers from an explosion behind the trench


 * The trench system**:
 * Types of trenches:
 * **front line** trenches: soldiers fired across no man’s land at the enemy and defended against an enemy attack. Soldiers went ‘over the top’ from the front line trenches during an offensive. The front line trenches contained observation posts and machine gun nests.
 * **support** trenches: provided a place for front line soldiers to retreat to during artillery bombardment
 * **reserve** trenches: for reserve troops
 * **communication** trenches: traverse trenches linking front line, support and reserve trenches
 * **saps**: traverse trenched dug out into no man’s land to establish a listening post
 * trenches were not straight – they were usually dug in a zigzag pattern. This limited the injury that an enemy soldier could inflict if he raided the trench. This zigzag pattern was the same for communications trenches and saps.
 * The Germans particularly constructed large, deep dugouts under the front line trenches to protect soldiers from artillery bombardment.
 * No man’s land was the area between the opposing front lines. It was often filled with craters from artillery bombardment and dead bodies. It could be extremely muddy, or frozen in winter. Soldiers wounded in no man’s land or stuck on the barbed wire often could not be rescued and were left to die.

If you want to find the old battalion, I know where they are, I know where they are, I know where they are, If you want to find the old battalion, I know where they are – They’re hanging on the old barbed wire. I’ve seen ’em, I’ve seen ’em, Hanging on the old barbed wire, I’ve seen ’em, I’ve seen ’em, Hanging on the old barbed wire. // Soldiers’ song from World War One, adapted from a traditional tune. //

The weapons of trench warfare //A 1908 RSAF Enfield .303 Calibre Short Magazine Lee-Enfield Mk III Rifle// //Photograph taken by Coggansfield, 2006 and .//
 * Rifles**. Accurate up to 500 m. Magazine loaded – could be fired quickly, up to 15 rounds per minute. German: Mauser 1898-pattern rifle. British: Lee Enfield.


 * Machine Guns**. Responsible for the defensive nature of the war and the huge casualty rate in major battle (Somme, Verdun, Passchendaele). A single machine gun could defend against hundreds of advancing troops. Machine gun nests were set up at strategic points along the front-line trenches.
 * German: Maxim.
 * British: Vickers. Could fire more than 450 rounds per minute. Heavy and could not be easily moved to support advancing troops.

//A French 75mm field gun - photographed in the Musée de l'Armée, Paris//
 * Artillery**. Large guns fired from behind the trench lines into the enemy trenches. Aim was to destroy fortified positions, and to destroy enemy troops and trenches a large push.
 * 75mm guns – range of 8 km.
 * 200 and 250 mm guns – range of 20 km.
 * “Big Bertha” – 420mm German howitzer. Used to bomb Paris from behind the German lines. Nicknamed after the daughter of Alfred Krupp the industrialist who manufactured it.
 * Ypres was destroyed by German artillery bombardment despite not being occupied by the Germans at any stage of the war.

//Big Bertha//


 * Other weapons**.
 * Grenades – portable – could wipe out an enemy machine gun nest.
 * Flame throwers
 * Mortars
 * periscope – not a weapon but a tool to observe the enemy front line

//Royal Flying Corps Sopwith Camel in 1914-1916 period.//
 * Aircraft**. Most useful during WWI for reconnaissance. Made it difficult to stage a large-scale surprise offensive.


 * Gas**.
 * First used by the Germans in 1915 at Ypres.
 * Gas canisters were fired into the enemy trenches, where they exploded and released the gas.
 * The aim was to clear the trench so that advancing soldiers could easily occupy it.
 * Was an unreliable weapon because of shifting winds.
 * Types of gas: chlorine, mustard, phosgene, chloropicrin, prussic acid.
 * Effects of gas: burn skin and throat (mustard); destroy the lungs (phosgene); attack the nervous system (prussic acid)
 * Development of effective gas masks neutralised the impact of the weapon.

//**Dulce et Decorum est**//

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge, Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs, And towards our distant rest began to trudge. Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots, But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame, all blind; Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots Of gas-shells dropping softly behind.

Gas! GAS! Quick, boys! -- An ecstasy of fumbling Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time, But someone still was yelling out and stumbling And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime. -- Dim through the misty panes and thick green light, As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams before my helpless sight He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace Behind the wagon that we flung him in, And watch the white eyes writhing in his face, His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin, If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs Bitter as the cud Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues, -- My friend, you would not tell with such high zest To children ardent for some desperate glory, The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori.

//Wilfred Owen// //British Mark V* Male in the scrapyard at Bovington, late 1920s.//
 * Tanks**.
 * Developed by the British and first used on the Somme in 1916 (Mark I). Initially ineffective – too slow, cumbersome, difficult to manoeuvre. Became bogged in mud and could get out of trenches. Hot and noisy – became a death trap for soldiers.
 * First used effectively at Cambrai in Nov. 1917. 400 Mark IV tanks were used to break the German lines.

Battle tactics for trench warfare
 * Big offensives: There were a number of big offensives designed to break through the enemy line and end the stalemate and/or to wear down the enemy (attrition). See the next section and Verdun, Somme and Passchendaele.
 * Defence: For much of the trench line, defence was the priority. This involved establishing a solid trench system with well-placed machine gun nests.
 * Saps: Saps were dug out into no man’s land to establish listening posts so that enemy plans could be discovered.
 * Night trench raids on the enemy trenches were aimed at capturing prisoners for intelligence of enemy plans and to keep the enemy on their toes. This involved crawling through no man’s land, diving in a crater or remaining motionless when a flare went up, cutting through the enemy barbed wire and making a surprise attack on the enemy front line trench.

**Source Based Questions:** **1. Using Source A and Source B (above) and your own knowledge, describe the nature of trench warfare.** **2. Assess how useful Sources A and B would be for an historian studying the nature of trench warfare on the Western Front.****In your answer, consider the perspective provided by the TWO sources and the reliability of each source.**


 * Some more trench photos**

Periscope use in a French first line trench, 1915 (Source: )

French soldier, observer, in trench, Hirtzbach Woods, Haut-Rhin, France, with Adrian helmet 16 June 1917 //(Source: World War I Color Photos)//

Soldiers of the 1st Battalion, The Lancashire Fusiliers fixing bayonets prior to the attack on Beaumont Hamel. They are wearing ‘fighting order’, with the haversack in place of the pack, and with the rolled groundsheet strapped to the belt below the mess-tin which contained rations. The officer in the foreground (right) is wearing other ranks’ uniform to be less conspicuous. Trench sign indicates 'King St' Date : 1 July 1916 (Source: )