Trench Warfare

Trench Warfare Definition

Trench warfare was a type of warfare that saw the participating armies of the First World War fight numerous battles against each other by the use of a man-made system of trenches that spanned hundreds of miles in total. The territory that separated the opposing trenches was called the "no man's land".

Trenches gained importance with the advent of new technology that was mainly used for war. In addition to the existing technological advancements. Trench warfare also accelerated the process of creating weapons such as the machine gun, an innovative firearm that revolutionized the age of the rifle. These new weapons were to be used specifically from trenches.

Machine guns and mobile artillery such as tanks made attacking a fortified position extremely difficult and dangerous. This was because both machine guns and tanks were recent inventions. These inventions were not made for trench warfare as they were designed to be utilised in more mobile conditions. Tanks, in particular, were designed to defeat trenches. The difficult conditions of trench warfare, however, forced most of the soldiers to use their trusty rifles and operate as cover shooters from the trenches.

Fig. 1: British soldiers in the trenches of the Somme

Trenches were constructed almost on all battlefields from Europe to Mesopotamia, but the most violent and casualty-heavy battles were fought on the western front. Soldiers in the trenches had never experienced the devastation that had come with new, powerful and long-ranged artillery.

The arrival of tanks, mortars and similar artillery contributed heavily to what became known as 'shell shock'. This was a post-traumatic stress disorder caused by the extremely loud and frequent bombardment of the battlegrounds, which the soldiers were exposed to and had to endure for long periods of time.

Fig. 2: Victim of shell shock

Trench Warfare WW1 Conditions

Life in the trenches was squalid. With conditions so poor, that made the war outside the trenches look more manageable. The trenches were dug from one to two meters wide and three meters deep, so movement was deliberately quite restricted. In addition, natural causes had made trenches a terrible place to be.

Rain was common, especially on the western front. As it had turned out, the rain was among the worst things to occur to soldiers in the trenches. Just imagine, a 3-meter deep system of trenches, with little or no irrigation. The soldiers were either constantly wet from the rain, or constantly dirty from the mud that followed the rain.

Living in the trenches also meant that pests such as rats were a constant problem for the soldiers. What usually attracted these critters were the stockpiles of food and dead bodies that were waiting to be transported back home. These rats were no ordinary rats either, many soldiers expressed in their diaries that the rats were as big as cats.

Trench Warfare WW1 Diseases

Poor health conditions in the trenches eventually led to diseases. The main diseases found in the trenches were typhoid, influenza, trench fever and the infamous trench foot. The first two were common causes that were caused by outbreaks of viruses in the trenches. However, the last two were directly linked to life in the trenches.

Fig. 3: A World War Two-era poster instructing soldiers to keep their feet dry to avoid trench foot.

Trench foot was a condition that cost many soldiers to amputate their feet or even legs. Trench foot usually but not exclusively occurred during the winter. With poor equipment on top of already poor conditions, soldiers had to endure standing in the snow and the rain. Their feet never dry. Eventually, the soldier's feet would experience gangrene. This meant that due to the death of tissue in their feet, blood could no longer circulate in their feet, turning the soldier's foot black.

Fig. 4: Extreme case of trench foot

Apart from trench foot, another disease that reared its head in the trenches was trench fever. Again, due to the poor conditions and pests present in the trenches, lice also became a big issue. Due to overcrowding, lice began to spread in the trenches, transporting many illnesses from soldier to soldier.