Trench System

1915 Europe - reserve

On the Western Front in Flanders, both sides dug in with an extensive system of trenches. A rotation system developed for trenches, 2 days in front-line, 2 days in support trenches, 2 days in reserve trenches, 6 days in rear-line billets. Out of 18,000-man division of 12 battalions in 3 brigades, only 2000 men in front-line trenches at a time. Before dawn every day, all had to "Stand-to" for one hour with bayonet fixed in the trenches, to prepare against morning German attack, until "Stand-down" order given. Each morning every soldier in the trenches received 2-tablespoon rum ration. The men cooked breakfast of bacon and biscuits with bread and jam and tea. Work parties repaired trenches, buried the dead, carried supplies, officers wrote reports, snipers looked for targets. German snipers operated in 2-man teams that crawled into No Man's Land. Overhead an occasional flock of birds attracted attention, or airplane, or heavy calibre artillery shell that cast a brief flickering shadow and could actually be seen passing overhead. The Germans began to use the 17-inch Big Bertha howitzers at Ypres that had been used against the Liege forts. An artillery barrage would collapse trench walls and bury men alive. British artist Bruce Bairnsfather drew cartoons with Old Bill character depicting life in the trenches, seen by soldiers who read magazines and newspapers and listened to the gramophone. At dusk, another hour-long "Stand-to" and the evening meal of canned Bully Beef or canned stew made by the Macanochie Company. After dark, wire parties laid barbed wire, scouts manned listening posts in No Man's Land, or an occasional trench raid into German lines 200 yards away. Germans fired green flares, and British fired Very Lights, named after their inventor.

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