It was a real quagmire, where the two rival sides in the conflict spent years immobilized without being able to advance into enemy territory. Started in 1914 because of economic and geopolitical disputes, World War I pitted the Central Powers (Germany, Austro-Hungarian Empire and Turkey) against the Allies (France, England, Russia and, in the end, the United States).
It lasted until 1918, ending with Allied victory after the deaths of over 20 million people! On the Western Front, the trenches became the center of military operations. Because of them, the First War experienced years of stalemate, as neither side had enough strength to overcome the defense lines dug by the enemy.
“For more than two years both sides in combat advanced less than 15 kilometers in either direction,” says American historian John Guilmartin Jr. of Ohio University. The battlefields where the trenches were located were a constant quagmire and an extremely dangerous place. Studies indicate that nearly 35% of all casualties suffered on the Western Front were soldiers killed or wounded while in a trench!
in the biggest pit
In the daily life of the soldiers, there was a lack of water and food and there was an excess of rats, mud and diseases.
TIGHT HOLE
A typical trench was just over 6 feet deep and about 6 feet wide. Fore and aft, wide rows of sandbags, nearly four feet high, added protection. There was also a firing step, 0.5 m above the ground. It was used by lookout sentries and when shooting at the enemy.
WITHOUT DISCHARGE
The “bathrooms” were latrines: holes in the ground 1.5 m deep. When they were almost full, they were covered with earth and new holes were dug – work usually done by soldiers who were being punished. When there was no time to get to the latrine, the way was to have a look at the nearest bomb crater…
TOCA “VIP”
The front line for the enemy was not the only trench. There were other lines at the rear, linked by paths dug into the earth. These paths also led to shelters used as hospitals, command posts or warehouses. Propped up by wood, they were underground shelters and not in the open air like trenches.
BREAD AND WATER
Most of the food was canned. The British Army’s daily ration only allowed for a piece of bread, some biscuits, 200 g of vegetables and 200 g of meat. To refill the canteen with water, many soldiers resorted to puddles left by the rain… To alleviate the suffering, daily supplies of rum, wine or brandy were offered to the troops.
WALKING ON THE PLANK
Most of the trenches were made in regions below sea level, where any hole would spurt water. The constant rain made the situation worse, creating a layer of muddy water on the trench floor. To avoid all this mud, wooden planks were placed a few centimeters above the ground.
TIME OFF WELL ENJOYED
In periods of lull, each soldier spent eight days in front-line trenches. Then he spent four days in the quieter rear trenches. Then finally came four days off, spent in military camps miles from the battlefield – often with brothels full of prostitutes in the vicinity
I’M TIRED OF IT
Cheap and efficient protection, sandbags were able to stop enemy fire. The rifle bullets of the time only penetrated about 40 cm in them. They were so useful that each soldier always carried two empty bags, which he could fill quickly to protect himself.
INSANE LIFE
The terror of war and the almost unbearable life in the trenches drove many soldiers mad. Some would injure themselves to be sent home – fraud which, if discovered, could be punished by firing squad! The most desperate left the trench to be killed by the enemy.
ANIMAL ATTACK
Decomposing bodies, buried in shallow graves near the trenches, attracted rats, which proliferated without control. In addition to transmitting diseases, they even stole food from the soldiers’ pockets and gnawed the bodies of the wounded! In the total lack of hygiene, lice spread trench fever, a disease contracted by more than 10% of soldiers
DANGEROUS SILENCE
Most of the time there were no offensives against the trenches. It was a waiting war, but still very dangerous. Shooters spent the day keeping an eye out for any soldier who poked his head out of the hole. Mining experts were trying to tunnel into the enemy line to blow up the trenches from below!
WHERE THEY STAYED
Known as the Western Front, the scene where the trenches became famous in World War I stretched for about 1,000 kilometers, stretching from the North Sea coast to the Swiss border. Along this entire length faced the trench lines of the Germans and the Allies.
In the heat of battle!
In difficult attacks on enemy trenches, soldiers even used flamethrowers
DANGEROUS PROFESSION
During offensives, soldiers were instructed not to stop to tend to wounded colleagues. Each one carried an emergency kit and had to take care of themselves until stretcher bearers arrived, who removed the wounded on stretchers. Because of the crossfire and the mud that hindered movement, it was a very risky job.
IT WAS BAD THERE…
The «friendly fire» caused heavy casualties. In the confusion that ensued during an offensive, soldiers could be hit by machine guns from their own trenches. It is estimated that, in the British Army alone, about 75,000 soldiers were killed by their own artillery.
WILD TERRITORY
To conquer an enemy trench you had to cross no man’s land, the space between the two opposing lines. The distance between the lines varied from 100 m to 1 km, in a muddy terrain full of bomb craters. In the attack, the soldiers ran in zigzag to try to escape the shots.
FREE WAY
On the way to the enemy trench, it was necessary to dodge rolls of barbed wire up to 2 m high – and under many shots… To destroy these barriers, trained soldiers carried a 2 m stick with explosives at the end. They introduced the baton in the middle of the wire and detonated the explosive, opening the way for the troops.
HUMAN TORCH
The flamethrower was first used in combat in World War I. Two men operated the equipment, launching jets with a range of 25 to 40 m. Its operators were in great danger: a single shot in the fuel tank and they were blown up!
CHAOTIC TRANSIT
The battles caused a traffic jam in the communication trenches, which interconnected the front and rear lines. Reinforcement troops arrived through them and wounded departed, in addition to carrying ammunition. In the confusion, in this tight labyrinth, several soldiers got lost along the way.
POISONOUS TACTICS
In World War I, over 91,000 soldiers were killed by poison gas and other chemical weapons. These products could be launched by artillery shells or by grenades carried by soldiers. Substances such as chlorine gas were used, which caused asphyxiation in the victims.
PUMPING FROM BEHIND
Soldiers advancing against the enemy line had artillery support. The cannon batteries were at the rear – about 10 km behind the front lines – and fired just before the troop’s offensive. As communication was precarious, the synchrony was not always perfect. Sometimes bombs fell on the troops themselves…
DEADLY MACHINE
The most powerful weapon to stop the attacks were the casemates with machine guns. Much used by the Germans, they were mini fortresses with thick walls and slits where the machine gun fired. They produced so many casualties that their occupants were the most hated soldiers: a captured machine gunner was usually executed on the spot!
HEAVY WEIGHT SOLDIER
The personal equipment and armament of soldiers, more or less common to all armies, weighed about 30 kg. The weight of the equipment hindered movement and several armies tried to reduce it during the course of the war.
INSIDE THE FLAMETHROWER
1. A flamethrower had three cylinders: two filled with liquid fuel (such as diesel fuel) and one filled with a pressurized flammable gas. When the gun was fired, gas entered the cylinders with fuel, forcing it out with great pressure through the hoses.
2. In the body of the weapon, there was an ignition system: in general, an electrical resistance, activated by a battery. It heated the combustible liquid until it caught fire and came out of the flamethrower in the form of an incendiary jet.