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Trench construction diagram from a 1914 British infantry manual Indian infantry digging trenches, Fauquissart, France, 9 August 1915. Soldiers training in trench warfare, with well-defined fire bays connected by offset traverse trenches, with zigzag communication trenches leading to the rear area
A trench map shows trenches dug for use in war. This article refers mainly to those produced by the British during the Great War , 1914–1918 although other participants made or used them.. For much of the Great War, trench warfare was almost static, giving rise to the need for large scale maps for attack, defence and artillery use.
Despite the advent of new technologies like aircraft, machine guns, and armored vehicles, artillery was the primary weapon of land warfare in World War I. Artillery was the principal threat to ground troops in the war and was the main reason for the development of trench warfare.
In British and Canadian military argot it equates to a range of terms including slit trench, or fire trench (a trench deep enough for a soldier to stand in), a sangar (sandbagged fire position above ground) or shell scrape (a shallow depression that affords protection in the prone position), or simply—but less accurately—as a "trench".
Western Front; Part of the European theatre of World War I: Clockwise from top left: Men of the Royal Irish Rifles, concentrated in the trench, right before going over the top on the First day on the Somme; British soldier carries a wounded comrade from the battlefield on the first day of the Somme; A young German soldier during the Battle of Ginchy; American infantry storming a German bunker ...
The terms used most frequently at the start of the war to describe the area between the trench lines included 'between the trenches' or 'between the lines'. [11] The term 'no man's land' was first used in a military context by soldier and historian Ernest Swinton in his short story "The Point of View". [1]
Also, an enemy that has entered a trench is unable to fire down the length at the defenders, or otherwise enfilade the trench. A traverse trench is a trench dug perpendicular to a trench line, but extending away from the enemy. It has two functions. One function is to provide an entry into the main trench.
Before World War II, the events of 1914–1918 were generally known as the Great War or simply the World War. [1] In August 1914, the magazine The Independent wrote "This is the Great War. It names itself". [2] In October 1914, the Canadian magazine Maclean's similarly wrote, "Some wars name themselves. This is the Great War."