Trench

A trench is a narrow ditch, usually deeper than it is wide, dug by troops with the primary function of providing a place of shelter from enemy small arms fire. In pre-firearm eras the use of trenches were often intended for defensive purposes, however, since the advent of more advanced weaponry, trenches have since been used for a wider scope of functions evolving to include a whole network or trench systems that, especially during the First World War, stretched for many miles. The development of the trench naturally evolved into trench warfare and a war of attrition, noted as being a "military strategy consisting of belligerent attempts to win a war by wearing down the enemy to the point of collapse through continuous losses in personnel and materiel."

Aerial view of opposing trench lines between Loos and Hulluch, July 1917. German trenches at the right and bottom, British at the top-left.

Trench systems, in addition to the primary front line trench, which was adjacent to No Man's Land, often included secondary and tertiary lines. This was a design feature to allow for troops to fall back to a second or third line of safety should the front line be overrun with enemy troops. Various other forms of communication trenches allowed for messages to be moved freely without immediate danger of enemy machine gun or sniper fire, however, trenches did not provide safety from a direct hit from trench mortars and artillery fire. An effective barrage directed on trenches had devastating effects, in many cases reducing an entire trench system to nothing more than mounds of earth. Communication trenches were also used for the moving of provisions from supply dumps located at the rear of any front line trench system. Trenches sometimes included duckboards, which was essential in aiding movement between trenches. Incessant heavy downpours often made these redundant as they would become submerged in mud or several feet of water.

Compendium entry: This is a collection of words and knowledge relative to the specific analysis of the Lonsdale Battalion and the wider Border Regiment, predominantly in connection with their actions and the places they were known to have been stationed or fought during the 1914-1918 period. Much of this information has come from primary sources including, but not limited to, the Lonsdale records and the Border Regiment War Diaries. Please feel free to expand and improve this resource.