Five "insurmountable problems" → trench warfare:
1. STRATEGIES for open warfare failed
• Fr. Plan 17 & Ger. Schlieffen Plan failed → huge losses.
• 'Race to the Sea' = failed attempts to outflank enemy.
2. Weapons’ TECHNOLOGIES made open battlefield deadly
• Artillery fired 7km, used new explosives (melinite).
• Small arms (e.g. Enfield rifle) = multi-round clips.
• MGs (e.g. Vickers) = 500 bullets/min.
3. Armies struggled to co-ordinate infantry & artillery
• Early artillery tech = inaccurate, rolling barrage failed.
• Aerial reconnaissance couldn’t identify targets well.
4. Problems of command & control of huge armies
• Millions of men, telephone tech inadequate.
• Wireless messages EN CLAIR → intercepted.
5. Supply problems
• Infantry = on foot, artillery = horse-drawn → slow advance.
• Railheads far → food, ammo, fodder supply issues.
• TRAINS could rush men & supplies to key points fast.
• Shortages of SHELLS → attacks limited.
Life in the Trenches
1. Trench system
• ≠ just 2 front lines, but system
of MULTIPLE LINES w. comms & supply trenches.
• Ger. trenches = well-built & safer; Allied = makeshift & deadly.
2. Army organization
• Section: ~10 men (led by NCO: Cpl/Sgt)
• Platoon: 2-3 sections (~30 men, Lt.)
• Company: 2+ platoons (~150 men, Maj./Capt.)
• Battalion: 3+ companies (~1,000 men, Lt. Col.)
• Brigade: 3 battalions (~4,000 men, Brig.)
• Division: 3 brigades (~15,000 men, Maj.-Gen.)
• Corps: 2-3 divisions (Lt.-Gen.)
• Army: 2+ corps (~150,000 men, Gen.).
• WWI Br. Army = 11 armies.
3. Soldiers’ routines, exp. & trench culture
• Ideal rotation: 3 days front-line, 1 week reserve, 2 weeks R&R.
• R&R = games, prostitutes, ‘chatting’ (lice), trench-digging.
• Front line = mostly waiting, ≠ constant fighting.
• Modern historians stress:
◦ Bottom-up (soldiers' exp.) vs top-down (plans & orders).
◦ How most avoided
BREAKDOWN; Sassoon/Owen ≠ represent all.
◦ Role of religion (padres), home contact, patriotism,
COMRADESHIP and resignation.
◦ New trench culture: social/moral codes, slang, humour.
◦ Film: All Quiet on the Western Front → alienation from home.
What happened during an attack
1. Attacks varied (small raids → mass assaults). Typical sequence:
• ARTILLERY bombardment.
• ‘CREEPING BARRAGE’ lifts (cuts enemy support).
• Signal to attack (e.g. whistle, football kicked out).
• MINES exploded under enemy lines.
• Troops go ‘OTT’.
• Race across No Man’s Land.
• Defenders open MG fire.
• (If successful) Jump into trench, fight w. bayonets/grenades.
• Signal to retire (e.g. red flares).
• [Defenders counter-attack].
2. Later war → better tactics:
• Whereas, at the Somme, men marched in lines → later:
RAN-AND-FELL in small groups, used craters.
• Attacks still = mass slaughter till war’s end.
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