Trench warfare, in which opposing armed forces attack, counterattack, and defend from relatively permanent systems of trenches dug into the ground. The opposing systems of trenches are usually close to one another. Trench warfare is resorted to when the superior firepower of the defense compels the opposing forces to “dig in” so extensively as to sacrifice their mobility in order to gain protection.A trench system may begin simply as a collection of foxholes hastily dug by troops using their entrenching tools. These holes may subsequently be deepened so that a soldier can safely in one of them, and the individual foxholes may be connected by shallow crawl trenches. From this beginning a system of more permanent may be constructed. In making a trench, soil from the excavation is used to create raised parapets running both in front of and behind the trench.
Within the trench are firing positions along a raised forward step called a fire step, and duckboards are placed on the often muddy bottom of the trench to provide secure footing.The ancestor of modern trench warfare was the system of progressively extended trenches developed by the French military engineer for the attack of fortresses in the 17th century. Trenches remained merely a part of siegecraft until the increasing firepower of and compelled both sides to make use of trenches in the (1861–65). The trench lines of the in the final months of that war were the foremost example of trench warfare in the 19th century. Trench warfare reached its highest development on the during (1914–18), when armies of millions of men faced each other in a line of trenches extending from the Belgian coast through northeastern to. These trenches arose within the first few months of the war’s outbreak, after the great offensives launched by and France had shattered against the deadly, withering fire of the and the rapid-firing piece. The sheer quantity of bullets and shells flying through the air in the battle conditions of that war compelled soldiers to burrow into the soil to obtain shelter and survive. Get unlimited access to all of Britannica’s trusted content.The typical trench system in consisted of a series of two, three, four, or more trench lines running parallel to each other and being at least 1 mile (1.6 km) in depth.
Each trench was dug in a type of zigzag so that no enemy, standing at one end, could fire for more than a few yards down its length. Each of the main lines of trenches was connected to each other and to the rear by a series of communications trenches that were dug roughly perpendicular to them. Food, ammunition, fresh troops, mail, and orders were delivered through these trenches. The intricate network of trenches contained command posts, forward supply dumps, first-aid stations, kitchens, and latrines. Most importantly, it had machine-gun emplacements to defend against an assault, and it had dugouts deep enough to shelter large numbers of defending troops during an enemy bombardment.
The first, or front, line of trenches was known as the outpost line and was thinly held by scattered machine gunners distributed behind dense entanglements of. The main line of resistance was a parallel series of two, three, or four lines of trenches containing the bulk of the defending troops.
Trench Warfare Game 1944
The defenders’ artillery was posted to the rear of the main line of trenches. Each main line of trenches was fronted by fields of barbed wire intended to slow down and entangle attacking.
As World War I progressed, both sides, but particularly the Germans, developed trench systems of progressively greater depth and strength in order to ensure that the enemy could not achieve a breakthrough at any particular point. The Germans evolved an extremely elaborate defense system using pillboxes, i.e., concrete shelters for machine guns. Behind the pillboxes were more lines of barbed wire and more trenches and dugouts reinforced with concrete to withstand artillery bombardment. Behind these defenses were still more lines of trenches that were effectively out of range of the enemy’s artillery fire. By 1918 the Germans had constructed some trench systems that had a depth of 14 miles (22 km).Throughout most of World War I, the opposing armies on the Western Front tried to break through the enemy’s trench system by mounting infantry assaults preceded by intense artillery bombardments of the defending trenches. These attacks usually failed, partly because the preliminary bombardment alerted the defenders to the imminence of an attack, thus allowing them time to bring up reserves for a counterattack, and because the bombardments themselves turned the “no-man’s-land” between the opposing sides into rough, shell-pocked terrain that slowed down the attacking infantry.
The crucial elements in attacking a trench system, surprise and overwhelming numbers of infantry, were thus almost impossible to attain. The Allies’ increased use of the in 1918 marked the beginning of the end of trench warfare, however, since the tank was invulnerable to the machine gun and fire that were the trenches’ ultimate defense.Relatively little use was made of trenches in the mobile warfare of in Europe. By contrast, the Japanese in the Pacific theatre, faced with overwhelming American artillery and airpower, heavily fortified many of their islands with chains of deeply dug caves and bunkers. Similar were used by the North Korean and Chinese forces in the when confronted with American airpower.
Trench Warfare Game Mission 4 Burner Build
In the (March 13–May 8, 1954), which resulted in the French expulsion from Indochina, the -led used classic 18th-century siege methods and drove forward an elaborate system of trenches to negate the effects of French artillery and airpower, preparatory to the battle. Classic trench warfare reappeared in the (1980–88), a basically static war in which such mobile weapons as tanks and aircraft were in short supply.
In the subsequent (1990–91), Iraq built an elaborate system of defensive trenches, ditches, and berms, but it was overwhelmed by airpower, innovative tactics, and the demoralization of its frontline troops.
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