A German soldier with a saw tooth bayonet stands in a dugout wearing his brow plate slid down to his neck, World War I
One of the most nightmarish parts of World War I was trench warfare, a part of the battle that every country in the battle took part in. This military tactic goes back to the Civil War and sees soldiers digging out deep, ditches that serve as a protective defense as well as a last stand for anyone who finds themselves doing battle in the trench.
Throughout the Western Front – specifically northern France and Belgium – troops made their way through long, narrow trenches dug deep into the ground by troops who lived in them for weeks at a time.
Many of the mass casualties from World War I were caused by the trenches, specifically soldiers rising from the trenches to face oncoming forces. This put them in “no man’s land” and made them a sitting duck for gunfire.
