The Trenches

In World War One, machine-gun and massed artillery fire drove both sides to develop extensive below-grade fortifications known as trenches. These systems ranged from concrete structures to simple ditches and allowed secure movement of troops and supplies while also providing places to defend and launch attacks. Soldiers often spent many long days and nights in the trenches, enduring enemy fire, poison gas attacks, and the elements. The trench system here had been stable since 1915, and both sides were deeply dug in, with extensive communication trenches, second-line trenches, belts of barbed-wire entanglements, dugouts, and protected gun emplacements. Many trees had been broken by shell bursts, and the land was pitted with shell holes, partly eroded, and overgrown with weeds.

Pennsylvania · United States