The Front

Muddy roads, camouflaged trails, and communication trenches led soldiers to the front line trench, which manuals prescribed as deep positions with reinforced walls, a firing step, a sandbagged lip, and floorboards to keep feet out of the mud, though shelling and the shifting battlefield often reduced them to little more than muddy ditches. Their zig-zag design was meant to lessen the effects of flying shrapnel from artillery rounds and to hinder easy enfilading fire if an enemy entered part of the line. A normal front-line tour was supposed to last about two weeks, followed by two weeks in the reserve line and two weeks in the rear area beyond enemy artillery, but this ideal schedule varied greatly for the American Expeditionary Forces. Mechanic Donald D. Kyler of Company G, 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Division, recalled his platoon following a constantly curving and gradually deepening trench for perhaps a mile to a position on high ground where the trench was about seven feet deep in the middle, with a dirt or board shelf on each side for standing to fire, curving in zig-zag bays and leading forward to a cross trench occupied by another platoon.

Pennsylvania · United States