Trench warfare is a slow attrition war where both sides occupy trenches for defense. It was caused by advances in ballistics and supply tactics. Soldiers in the trenches suffered awful conditions and psychological problems. Military actions included gas, artillery, snipers, and small commando teams. The war resulted in a stalemate. The brutality of trench warfare has been immortalized in books and films.
Trench warfare is a type of warfare characterized by the establishment of trench-housed defensive positions, with both sides occupying the trenches for the purpose of maintaining a defensive position. This type of war becomes a very slow attrition war, with both sides attacking each other in an attempt to gain an advantage. It is infamously brutal and horrific, and is perhaps most closely associated with World War I, in which notorious trenches in France were occupied from 1914 to 1918.
Several factors came together to create the phenomenon of trench warfare. The first was huge advances in ballistics that made traditional frontal assaults logistically difficult. The greater accuracy of the guns and the greater lethality of the artillery turned a traditional charge into suicide, necessitating more defensive approaches. He also contributed to the development of better supply tactics, making it possible to hold an area for an extended period of time with the assistance of supplies from trains and trucks approaching the trenches from the rear.
In trench warfare, both sides establish fortifications including sandbags, walls, and barbed wire fences as they dig trenches. Trenches are designed to provide cover from artillery. Once established in a trench, an occupying force is extremely difficult to dislodge, because even though casualties may be suffered, reinforcements can be brought in from the rear. The area between trenches occupied by rival forces, known as “no man’s land,” can be used as a staging area for charges and sorties, although soldiers in no man’s land are very vulnerable to attack from the other side.
In the trenches, life is nothing short of awful. During World War I, corpses might lie in shallow pits in the floors and walls of trenches, contributing a strong odor to the already intense stench of unwashed bodies and overflowing latrines. Food supplies, while available, were usually not of the highest quality, and soldiers were typically covered in lice and prone to severe infections that could kill them before they even fired a rabies shot. The conditions in the trenches were also extremely stressful, with soldiers subject to artillery barrage from the other side and sniper bullets if they dared to stick their heads beyond the fortifications. This contributed to the development of psychological problems among the soldiers stationed in the trenches. Many servicemen responded to psychological problems with a firing squad, ordering soldiers to be executed for perceived acts of cowardice or desertion.
Military actions in the trenches could be carried out in various ways. German forces in WW1 famously used gas to kill or incapacitate rival soldiers before going “over the top” of their emplacements so they could storm and occupy trenches held by rival forces. Artillery was also used in an attempt to subdue enemy forces before launching an attack, and both sides used snipers and small commando teams to maintain a constant state of tension and fear. For most of the time, the rival forces ended up in a stalemate, with both successfully holding their trenches but no movement occurring in either direction.
When soldiers have successfully occupied enemy trenches, they may find themselves within striking distance of enemy forces, who have typically given ground reluctantly, retreating far enough to get to safety. The new occupants also inherited all the comforts that could have been left behind, from food supplies to gramophones with record stocks.
The brutality of trench warfare has been immortalized in numerous films and books, including books by soldiers who actually endured it. All Quiet on the Western Front and Life in the Grave are two examples of World War I novels written by veteran trench warfare survivors.
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