History of Trench Warfare
WW1 was the first war to utilize the tactic of trench warfare. During the beginning of WW1, the summer of 1914, German and French forces anticipated large-scale infantry movement, with German armies sweeping through Belgium and parts of France. France was periodically losing territory, and was hard pressed to repel the German offensive.
However, the First Battle of the Marne marked a major change in the pace of the war. In September, 1914, Allied forces clashed with German troops. The Allied forces were able to repel the German offensive, and in order to prevent losing ground, German forces dug themselves into protective trenches to help hold the land they had gained. The Allied troops were unable to drive the German forces back with the system of defensive trenches, so Allied infantry were forced to build defensive trenches as well in order to provide cover. By October, 1914, neither army was making any significant progress, as artillery and modern guns could mow down any infantry or cavalry charge that tried to take a defended trench.
Generals at first thought that such tactics were temporary, but as neither side was able to advance and the infantry clash settled into a stalemate, trench warfare became the defining characteristic of warfare along the Western Front for the majority of the war.
War of Attrition
A majority of a soldier's time was spent defending and living in the trenches, rather than on an offensive. Soldiers slept and ate in their trenches, and were under constant threat of death due to 2 major sources:
-Enemy artillery could shoot a shell into a trench which would kill or wound the defenders, often as a prelude to a frontal attack by enemy infantry
-Enemy snipers were constantly sniping soldiers who appeared above the top of the trenches, meaning that simply taking a look over the top of a trench could spell death
The major attribute of trench warfare was a sense of a stalemate. Both sides employed a sort of "bite and hold" strategy peppered with sporadic efforts to gain ground. Since the defenders of trenches had such a large advantage over the charging attackers, most infantry attacks were easily repelled, meaning that soldiers in trenches would alternate between defending their own lines and mounting near suicidal attacks on the enemy lines.
To put this into perspective, in the 6 months before 1916, British forces along the Western front were in a relatively "quiet" sector, yet suffered 107,776 casualties.
As the war progressed and tactics adapted to the new weapons and method of fighting, several important changes occurred which fundamentally changed trench warfare. One thing was that as commanders realized the folly of head on charges, trench raiding and infiltration became more important. Trench raiders would attempt to quickly overrun an enemy trench and seize valuable information, rations, and munitions, destroy high-value objectives such as machine guns, then abandon the trench. This was important as a form of reconnaissance, and was a fundamental part of Britain's strategy in trench warfare to keep up troop morale as well as its other purposes. Typically, a raid would begin with an artillery bombardment on the targeted trenches in order to destroy the barbed wire and hopefully kill off the front-trench garrison, then switch into a "box" bombardment surrounding the trench in order to prevent a counterattack by enemy forces. It is interesting because trench raids were often conducted with fairly simple efficiency, as the infiltrators would usually be armed with nothing more than a pistol and some sort of close-combat weapon like a knife or a sharpened spade.
Grenadier units also became very popular because they could attack men inside enemy trenches without being in real danger themselves.
The eventual end to a war dominated by trench warfare came about with the development of tanks, which provided very strong anti-trench capability, as they would be near impervious to enemy small-arms fire, and could drive through barbed wire.
Going over the top...(and World War I!?!?!?!?!??)
Probably the most feared expression in all of World War I...
No really!
This common saying today had its roots in World War I...
And it was the scariest thing that any World War I soldier heard.
Going over the top meant that the soldier was supposed to climb out of the protection of the trench and run or crawl their way to the closest enemy trench in as a way to capture it. This meant making one's way through 50 to 1750 yards of "no-man's land" which was heavily obstructed with barbed wire and was easy picking for the enemy soldiers. Many soldiers lost their lives in this method, notable examples including the first day of the Battle of the Somme, where the British forces suffered 57,000 casualties attempting to charge German fortifications.
Going over the top came to mean: orderly suicide march (or the WWI version of the banzai charge...)
However, the First Battle of the Marne marked a major change in the pace of the war. In September, 1914, Allied forces clashed with German troops. The Allied forces were able to repel the German offensive, and in order to prevent losing ground, German forces dug themselves into protective trenches to help hold the land they had gained. The Allied troops were unable to drive the German forces back with the system of defensive trenches, so Allied infantry were forced to build defensive trenches as well in order to provide cover. By October, 1914, neither army was making any significant progress, as artillery and modern guns could mow down any infantry or cavalry charge that tried to take a defended trench.
Generals at first thought that such tactics were temporary, but as neither side was able to advance and the infantry clash settled into a stalemate, trench warfare became the defining characteristic of warfare along the Western Front for the majority of the war.
War of Attrition
A majority of a soldier's time was spent defending and living in the trenches, rather than on an offensive. Soldiers slept and ate in their trenches, and were under constant threat of death due to 2 major sources:
-Enemy artillery could shoot a shell into a trench which would kill or wound the defenders, often as a prelude to a frontal attack by enemy infantry
-Enemy snipers were constantly sniping soldiers who appeared above the top of the trenches, meaning that simply taking a look over the top of a trench could spell death
The major attribute of trench warfare was a sense of a stalemate. Both sides employed a sort of "bite and hold" strategy peppered with sporadic efforts to gain ground. Since the defenders of trenches had such a large advantage over the charging attackers, most infantry attacks were easily repelled, meaning that soldiers in trenches would alternate between defending their own lines and mounting near suicidal attacks on the enemy lines.
To put this into perspective, in the 6 months before 1916, British forces along the Western front were in a relatively "quiet" sector, yet suffered 107,776 casualties.
As the war progressed and tactics adapted to the new weapons and method of fighting, several important changes occurred which fundamentally changed trench warfare. One thing was that as commanders realized the folly of head on charges, trench raiding and infiltration became more important. Trench raiders would attempt to quickly overrun an enemy trench and seize valuable information, rations, and munitions, destroy high-value objectives such as machine guns, then abandon the trench. This was important as a form of reconnaissance, and was a fundamental part of Britain's strategy in trench warfare to keep up troop morale as well as its other purposes. Typically, a raid would begin with an artillery bombardment on the targeted trenches in order to destroy the barbed wire and hopefully kill off the front-trench garrison, then switch into a "box" bombardment surrounding the trench in order to prevent a counterattack by enemy forces. It is interesting because trench raids were often conducted with fairly simple efficiency, as the infiltrators would usually be armed with nothing more than a pistol and some sort of close-combat weapon like a knife or a sharpened spade.
Grenadier units also became very popular because they could attack men inside enemy trenches without being in real danger themselves.
The eventual end to a war dominated by trench warfare came about with the development of tanks, which provided very strong anti-trench capability, as they would be near impervious to enemy small-arms fire, and could drive through barbed wire.
Going over the top...(and World War I!?!?!?!?!??)
Probably the most feared expression in all of World War I...
No really!
This common saying today had its roots in World War I...
And it was the scariest thing that any World War I soldier heard.
Going over the top meant that the soldier was supposed to climb out of the protection of the trench and run or crawl their way to the closest enemy trench in as a way to capture it. This meant making one's way through 50 to 1750 yards of "no-man's land" which was heavily obstructed with barbed wire and was easy picking for the enemy soldiers. Many soldiers lost their lives in this method, notable examples including the first day of the Battle of the Somme, where the British forces suffered 57,000 casualties attempting to charge German fortifications.
Going over the top came to mean: orderly suicide march (or the WWI version of the banzai charge...)
http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/glossaryofmilitaryterms/g/overthetop.htm