Trench Warfare: A Manual for Officers and Men

TRENCH WARFARE
A MANUAL FOR OFFICERS AND MEN
BY J. S. SMITH
SECOND LIEUTENANT WITH THE BRITISH EXPEDITIONARY FORCE
NEW YORK E. P. DUTTON & CO. 681 FIFTH AVENUE
COPYRIGHT, 1917, By E. P. DUTTON & CO.
Printed in the United States of America
TO THE AMERICAN OFFICERS AND MEN WHO SERVED AND ARE SERVING THEIR COUNTRY UNDER ALIEN FLAGS
It is a safe bet that when the German army started for Paris they had plans for use in the event of disaster. The disaster occurred, and a new type of warfare requiring the highest courage, skill and endurance was born. I say born because although trench warfare was known before, it died in birth compared to this war, for the amount of science, energy and variety of weapons used.
More earth has been removed by a combination of man, pick and shovel in making these trenches than was excavated to make the Panama Canal possible, and in less time.
It is my object in this book to give a faint idea and knowledge of the trenches, and to approximately explain the way warfare is carried on, and I offer the information contained herein as a basic foundation on which to use the further knowledge you will gain as an officer, and which, for obvious reasons, I will not and cannot give here.
The notes are all taken from different courses of instruction, and observations made during thirty-one months of service, fifteen of which was spent on the Belgian and French fronts, both as private and officer in the infantry service.