Trench Warfare

Soldiers spent up to a week at a time in the trenches and conditions were harsh. Trenches were often waterlogged and infested with rats. Work, such as repairs to the barbed-wire defences, was done at night and the soldiers had to try to sleep during the day. In addition to the casualties sustained during a major offensive, or during a raid on the enemy’s lines, sniping and artillery fire took a constant toll on the troops in the trenches.

Soldiers have continued to dig-in under fire, such as in the Falklands War of 1982, but trench warfare has all but vanished because of the emergence of advanced land weaponry such as mobile rocket launchers and improved armoured vehicles, and the combination of these with air attacks on land forces. In the 1991 Gulf War the Iraqi trenches were easily breached or outflanked by the Coalition’s tanks and armoured infantry.