Trench warfare is a type of land warfare using occupied lines largely comprising military trenches, in which combatants are well-protected from the enemy’s small arms fire and are substantially sheltered from artillery. It became archetypically associated with World War I (1914–1918), when the Race to the Sea rapidly expanded trench use on the Western Front starting in September 1914.
Trench warfare proliferated when a revolution in firepower was not matched by similar advances in mobility, resulting in a grueling form of warfare in which the defender held the advantage. On the Western Front in 1914–1918, both sides constructed elaborate trench, underground, and dugout systems opposing each other along a front, protected from assault by barbed wire. The area between opposing trench lines (known as “no man’s land”) was fully exposed to artillery fire from both sides. Attacks, even if successful, often sustained severe casualties.
The development of armored warfare and combined arms tactics permitted static lines to be bypassed and defeated, leading to the decline of trench warfare after the war. Following World War I, “trench warfare” became a byword for stalemate, attrition, sieges, and futility in conflict.
These incredible photos were found by Haverkamp that show inside the trenches during the First World War.
“Brunnenwache” (literally “Fountain Guard”), 9. Kompanie, Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 78, 1916
“Eben gestürmter französischer Graben.” – “A French trench that has just been stormed.”
“Im Mienenfeuer” – “Under mortar fire”
“Sentry at the front. 15.6.16” An unusually deep and unusually elaborate trench. Either a very quiet front section or a training area
“Telefon Unterstand […] Absch. […]. Mai 1915.” – “Telephone dugout […] May 1915.”
Leave a Reply