Trench warfare
From the Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can change
Trench warfare is a war tactic, or way of fighting. It was commonly used on the Eastern Front in the First World War.
In trench warfare, the two sides fighting each other dig trenches in a battlefield. These trenches have many different parts, such as bunks, headquarters, artillery, and machine gun bunks. Between the two trenches on a battlefield, there was an area called "no man's land". This area was often covered with barbed wire and land mines. Soldiers on either side would try to cross the no man's land to get to the enemy's trench and attack. Tanks were commonly used to cross this land.
Trench warfare was used because it gave soldiers cover while defending themselves against attack. It also gave soldiers bunks to sleep in, although the bunks were very unclean and uncomfortable.
[change] Literature
Ashworth, Tony: Trench warfare 1914–1918, 2000: Macmillan Press, London.
[change] Other websites
- Johnson, Patrick, In Depth: A century of mud and fire, BBC News, 27 June 2006
- Association for World War Archaeology
- Photograph of soldiers digging trenches during The First World War
