Training for the Trenches / A Practical Handbook Based upon Personal Experience During the First Two Years of the War in France

by Leslie Vickers

When a man has learnt what thickness of materials he needs to have to protect his life, it will be a good thing to take him out and let him see how far bullets are able to pierce these media by actually firing at them from point blank range. That will give him a respect for bullets and impress the lesson on him.

But he must also be told that cover that protects is only half what is required. It must be such as to allow him to become offensive while giving him defence. The problem is a simple one in actual trenches, where he has no alternative but to build them continuously and then fire over the top or through loopholes of steel. But when more open fighting develops he must learn that his business is not only to get reasonable protection for his own body but to be able to bring his rifle to bear on the enemy. This necessitates a certain amount of exposure. Certain devices have been developed during this war to allow a man to fire his rifle from beneath the parapet of the trench by means of specially adapted periscopes. These are of great use for snipers but cannot be used by all the men.

In open fighting men often make the mistake of seeking cover in what is obviously the most protected place from rifle bullets, but equally obvious to those of experience as the most likely place for the enemy to choose as marks for his artillery. Orchards, woods, houses, etc., come within this category, and it is only experience that will teach a man what places to choose and what places to avoid. Wherever the enemy can view the approaches to these shelters, either by direct vision from their positions or by means of aeroplanes or observation balloons, they become dangerous as cover.

Modern trenches are intended to give cover from fire and from view. They are seldom roofed over, so that, as a matter of fact, they can be seen from the air, but it is not by any means an easy task either for an aeroplane to drop bombs there (a ditch three feet wide) nor yet for the artillery to hit them. But we seldom are able to inherit trenches—they usually have to be dug under cover of darkness while the enemy is sniping. For this purpose each man in the British army carries a small entrenching tool on his back, as well as two sandbags. Every man is trained in the use of this valuable little tool, and soon learns never to be without it. When, during an advance, he needs to provide cover for himself, he throws himself down on the ground placing his rifle at his left side, and begins to dig away the earth at his right side, throwing the loose earth up in front of him. Just as soon as he can he takes the sandbags from his back and fills them, placing them in front of him. Under this imperfect cover he proceeds to deepen the hole till he can roll his body into it. This miniature trench should be two feet wide and three feet long. Then if time permits he should add small comforts such as a recess for his feet, drainage for water, etc. He will find that he needs to dig down to about two feet, all the time throwing the earth out in front and occasionally pushing it out a little so as to make it of sufficient width, for, of course, he will be seeking to get a parapet of about a yard in thickness at the top. If he has an opportunity of firing he should do so, not over the top of his cover but round the right side of it. To fire over it is to ask for trouble. The body and legs should be placed in such a position that they are covered as much as possible by the earth thrown up in front.

If an advance has to be made from this position, the small trench will have served its purpose in giving temporary shelter. But there are times when troops have to consolidate positions won in this way, and on the site of these primitive trenches, more elaborate ones have to be made. At the battle of Neuve Chapelle the troops took up a certain line, dug themselves in in a rough way, and then during the night they set to work to construct the very trenches that still shelter them to this day. But it was due to the entrenching tools and the few sand bags that they were able to hold the line during the hours of daylight, and when the next morning dawned they had a fairly adequate protection.

While the question of cover is very important, I do not wish to convey the impression that men should have this subject always in their minds. To use a rock or a tree or a mound of earth as a temporary shelter is one thing; but to continue to hide behind it at the time an advance is needed, is another. The man who hesitates to go forward when he has recovered his wind, but who takes care of his precious skin by remaining under cover, is worse than useless. The object of all troops must be to get into touch with the enemy and drive him out with the bayonet. Cover will help to keep a man alive for a little while to be able to do that work.

When through adverse circumstances—usually the presence of the enemy in superior force—an army has to go to ground, it sets to work in dead earnest to build its trenches. We have learned that the best fortifications that can be got are those that are constructed in the earth. The guns of Verdun have practically never been in operation—indeed at the present time there are no guns in the old forts—and the reason for this is that earth works of such strength were thrown up at a distance from the forts that the Germans were never able to get their heavy guns to bear on them. The forts of Liége, and Namur, and Antwerp all fell before the great howitzers, but the earth works of Verdun were too much for them. It is doubtful if large forts will ever again be used in inland places, for the earthworks have proved their great superiority.

Trenches are laid out and dug as shown in the accompanying diagram [[Figure 4]]. They do not consist of one long straight line, but what may be described as a succession of little rooms, about twenty feet long, seven feet deep and three feet broad. They are seldom roofed over. Each little room is connected to the ones on either side by a trench that runs behind the four-feet-square traverse that is of solid earth and which serves the purpose of localising the effect of shells, bombs, etc. If the trenches were in one straight line, a shell that fell there would be liable to injure a great many men; whereas under the present system the traverse acts as a buffer and limits the radius of its explosive force. The trench itself is dug about three feet deep, care being taken to lift off the top layer of grass and keep it aside to place over the front of the earth on completion of the trenches, to render them less visible. As the earth is lifted out it is thrown to the front and rear, and some of it put into sandbags which are then laid like stones as shown. The front part of the trench is then called the parapet and the rear part the parados. Both must be made strong, the parapet for reasons already given, and the parados in order to protect the men from the force of shells that fall just behind the trenches. About a foot from the ground there is placed a board that is called the "firing step," on which the men stand when they are about to fire. I have said that there is seldom any roof over the trenches. It is difficult to cover in the trenches because of the limited supply of materials. Then again it is questionable if roofing pays; for, admitting that they may be able to keep out small bombs and rifle bullets, they can never hope to be able to keep out shells. The Germans used to roof in a great deal—but then they were there to wage a defensive war and did not propose to move for a good while.

In some ground the earth will "hold itself up" at the sides of the trenches, in other ground it will have to be revetted. This is done with chicken wire, or with willows or old staves where they can be had. It is important to have the sides firm, or else in wet weather especially, they will prove a nuisance to the occupants of the trenches.