Post of Command

Underground dugouts near the front line were used to store supplies, house troops, and serve as communication centers, and many were built deep with heavy timbers and corrugated iron, often reinforced with steel rail and concrete to withstand artillery bombardment. A Post of Command served as the advance headquarters for a company or platoon on the frontline, usually in a dugout with sleeping quarters for company staff, and functioned as a front line office and communications center. In one company support position, a large dugout slightly to the rear housed the company command post and was connected by telephone to all platoon command posts and to the battalion command post. Narrow tunnels along the trench led down into dark, damp sleeping places where men had to stoop to enter, then move through widened level passages with short cross tunnels, amid rats, body lice, and bed bugs. At the far end, a shaft and ladder provided an escape route if shellfire caved in the entrance, and near the entrance a spur trench led to a trench latrine.

Pennsylvania · United States