BILAL ZAFAR Trenches in World War I One of the most remarkable features of World War I was the use

of trenches. By the end of 19th century many new weapons were introduced. Artilleries and Machine Guns made things difficult for the attacking army. Horse cavalry units were not as useful as they were in the era of Napoleon. It eventually became more difficult to survive on the battlefield without high casualties. Soon both sides understood the importance of the fortification of the borders. The static lines of defense or trenches were built near the No Man's Land. The main purpose of trench warfare to defend the positions and attack the enemy at the same time. As the war became more intense the distance between the opposite trenches became smaller. At some places the distance between two opposite trenches was only 30 yards. It is known that in a very famous race to the sea both the sides dug the trenches from north sea to the Swiss frontier. The slopes of the Alps mountains were used to build the trenches during this time. Construction of the Trenches: The construction techniques to build the trenches evolved with the war. To make the 250 m trench approx. 2700 of man-hours at night were required. Three Standard ways: Entrenching: It was the way of simultaneously digging of the trench by large group of diggers. Sapping: It involved two or three diggers extending the current trench by it's sides. Tunneling: Like sapping, tunneling involved extending the trench but keeping the roof intact. Zig-Zag pattern: The trenches were made in zig-zag pattern making soldiers difficult to see beyond 10m along the trench. These patterns also prevented enemy to open major attacks from side. The zig-zag pattern also made difficult for enemy aircrafts to map the trenches. Parapet and Parados:The side of the trench facing enemy is called as parapet and the rear side is known as parados. After capturing the trench, the attacking army used to change parados as parapet. The sides of trench were protected with sandbags, wooden frames and wire mesh while most of the times the floor was covered by wooden boards. The loopholes were made for soldiers to fire without exposing their heads. Life in the Trenches: During the war, even common man could not lead a normal life. The life in a trench was difficult. Usually a soldiers were deputed for two weeks in the front-line trenches. During the day time most

of the observations were carried out while the night time was kept for the movement and maintenance. The soldiers had to fight not only with enemy but also with the diseases. The poor hygiene and sanitary conditions, parasites and the weather (sometimes below zero degree Celsius) were causes for some major diseases which eventually gave slow death to the soldiers. In addition to this soldiers in the trenches had to cope up with very high psychological pressure. The wars in the trenches were so intense that 10% of the fighting soldiers were killed in the trench warfare and around 50% would get wounded. Trench System Between the trenches of opposing sides was a stretch of land known as no-man's land. It had already been deformed by shellfire, and in wet weather it was extremely hard to walk through this area. Behind no-man's land was barbed wire meters deep and it was almost impossible for troops to pass. Next was the front line. Being on the front line was extremely dangerous. You had to worry about shellfire as well as being hit by your own artillery behind you. Beyond the front line were the support and reserve trenches, followed by the communications trench. The communications trenches were used to transport men, equipment, and food supplies. Finally, at the back of the trenches was a lot of long-range artillery equipment. Soldiers usually served eight days on the font line, then four days in the reserve trench. That was followed by a four-day resting period away from the trenches. However, this system wasn't always followed when there was a shortage of men. Sometimes men would serve weeks on the front line.

Ambreen Najeeb Forts Fortresses were used in various countries; mainly used to protect important cities. They were defensive points armed with heavy artillery. One of the more important forts, such as Fort Douaumont , was protected by thick concrete, deep moats, and barbed wire.

Snipers Soldiers on the front line also had to worry about enemy snipers. Snipers were trained marksmen carrying rifles with telescopic sights. They would find a tree in no man's land, climb it, and wait. They wore camouflage clothing, and when an enemy soldier walked by, the sniper would shoot him in the head.

Tunneling During World War I miners often dug tunnels, and placed mines in them. The main objective of these mines was to destroy part of an enemy trench, and then attack during the confusion. Soldiers eventually developed strategies for discovering enemy tunnels. One method was to put one end of a stick in the ground, and the other end on your teeth to feel vibrations. Another method was to sink a water-filled oil drum into the floor of the trench, and lower your ear into the water to listen to noise being made by people tunneling. It took a long time to dig a tunnel. Sometimes it took a year. Occasionally miners would dig into their enemy's tunnels; starting an underground fight.

The Western Front

The Western Front was the name the Germans gave to a series of trenches that ran 700 kilometres from the Belgian coast to the Swiss border. To imagine this, think of a ditch deep enough to stand in zigzagging its way alongside the Hume Highway from Melbourne to Canberra. As at Gallipoli, machine-gun fire caused terrible casualties on the Western Front. Both sides had dug trenches, sometimes only metres apart, as their only protection from the murderous gun fire. But they were never safe from the explosive artillery shells that rained down on the front line soldiers every few seconds for days at a time. The British High Command needed troops urgently. So after the Gallipoli veterans were rested in Egypt, and had been strengthened by the fair dinkums from Australia, they were sent to France to fight Germany. But Gallipoli was not the last time the ANZACs fought the Turks. The Light Horsemen were sent to the Middle East where they took part in several battles, the most spectacular of which was the mounted charge at Beersheeba. Life in the trenches When the ANZACs arrived at the Western Front, the first thing they saw were the lines of wounded soldiers being taken to the rear. As they got closer, they could feel the earth shake, and hear the constant crump crump of artillery shells. The sound was loud enough to make their ears ring, and became their companion for the next three years.

But the ANZACs were soon to realise that the Germans were not the only enemy. The winter of 1916 was one of the worst on record. Living in these trenches was to cause nearly as many casualties as the fighting. The ANZACs had only two blankets each and had to sleep as close as possible to one another just to survive. Imagine a winter so cold that water was carried to the soldiers as blocks of ice. Think how cold it must have been to wake after a few hours sleep only to find your eyelids frozen shut. And imagine if you had to keep a bottle of ink in your pocket, otherwise the ink would freeze. Imagine your feet swelling to three times their normal size because you had been standing for a week in water up to your knees. And think how cold it must have been when ice formed around the rim of a boiling cup of tea after you had carried it only 20 paces.

FERAS The ANZACs first major battle in Europe was near a town called Fromelles (From-el) . For many it was also their last. The men received orders to attack the third line of the Germans trenches. They marched across no-mans-land and quickly captured the first trench. From here, they fought their way forward and successfully captured the second trench. Despite the intense fire, they leapt from the second trench and went looking for the third and final trench where they could finally seek shelter. But there was no third trench. Meanwhile, the Germans had fought their way back into the first and second trenches, and by now the ANZACs were out in the open. They dived into bomb craters and filled sand bags with mud, anything to protect them from the deadly machine-gun fire. Here they lay until night fell, when they slowly tried to crawl back past the German trenches to the Australian line. The British High Command did not allow the rescue of wounded men in the open, in case the rescuers themselves should become wounded. The Australians disobeyed. They could not leave their mates stranded and calling for help. One officer walked across the battlefield and made a truce with the Germans. He even offered himself as a prisoner while his men tried to find all the Australian wounded. In the 27 hours after the Australians first attacked the German trenches, 5533 ANZACs had been killed or wounded. This was twice as many casualties as the landing at Gallipoli. A section of the Western Front called the Somme, named after the river flowing through the area, was described by one ANZAC in August 1916 as a place so terrible that a raving lunatic could never have imagined it. In the middle of the Somme was a township called Pozires (Pozzy-air) , which was built on one of the few high points in the area. Whoever held the ridge could see everything the enemy was doing. The British had tried to capture Pozires, and in one day alone suffered 60,000 casualties. The ANZACs were chosen to relieve the British, and were ordered to continue the attacks. The Australians launched seven bloody attacks on the German defences over a six-week period. They concentrated on two main strong points, Gibraltar and the Windmill. On 4 August 1916, the ANZACs finally captured the ridge line and what little was left of the town.

One out of every two ANZACs who fought here at the Somme became a casualty. In all they lost more than 22,000 men. Through their determination and courage, and in the most dreadful conditions, the ANZACs had proven themselves capable of doing the impossible. Unfortunately this was not the last time the British High Command would expect the impossible from the ANZACs. The Australians who fought in the First World War never forgot the experience. The war changed their lives. But it also changed the lives of the many French and Belgian civilians who lived in the towns the ANZACs fought to save. In fact, they promised never to forget the role the ANZACs played in gaining their freedom. HASNAT SHER In 1917, the French village of Bullecourt (Bull-cor) sat in the middle of the Hindenburg Line a mass of barbed wire joining concrete block houses and trenches. In some places the wire was 100 metres thick, and no Army had yet been able to break through it.

On the night of 11 April 1917 the Australians attacked the Germans in Bullecourt. The ANZACs had no artillery, and the tanks that were supposed to break through the wire broke down or bogged in the snow-covered ground. Major Percy Black, who was leading part of the attack, called to his men: Come on boys, bugger the tanks! and charged towards the wire. His men leapt through with him, and fought their way into the German trenches. They were the first soldiers to break through the Hindenburg line. Proudly they looked for Major Black. But he lay dead on the wire. So many ANZACs had been killed in the attack that only a handful of men were left alive to hold the trenches. The Germans realised this, and counter-attacked on three sides. Overwhelmed, the ANZACs were forced to withdraw. The only order given was to fight it out like Australians. The ANZACs returned three weeks later, and again captured the German trenches. For two weeks they survived vicious counter-attacks until the Germans finally gave in. When the smoke cleared from the battlefield, 10,000 Australians had been killed or wounded trying to save this small French village. In 1918, the Germans planned one final great offensive in an effort to win the war. At first the Allies were taken by surprise, and the Germans captured many towns and soon were within sight of the town of Amiens. The British High Command feared that if Amiens were captured, the war may be lost. The ANZACs were raced back from Belgium as storm troops special fighting soldiers who would be put into battle where they were needed most. At first, the ANZACs fought at Dernancourt (Dern-an-cor) , a town on the road to Amiens, where 4000 Australians beat off an attack by 25,000 Germans. AMMAR REHMAN Next the Germans attacked the French village of Villers-Bretonneux (Bret-on-er) , after first using poisonous gas and artillery. When night fell, the ANZACs stormed from their trenches and counterattacked. A British General, who himself had won a Victoria Cross for bravery, called the ANZACs attack perhaps the greatest individual feat of the war. The ANZACs then had to enter the village and fight from house to house. Finally, Australian and French flags were raised over Villers-Bretonneux. The ANZACs stopped to bury their dead 1200 Australians had been killed saving the village. It was not until they were putting the date on some makeshift crosses that they realised the date it was ANZAC Day 1918, three years to the day since they had stormed ashore at Gallipoli. The Australian flag is still flown at Villers-Bretonneux. It flies atop the Australian National Memorial, on which is listed the names of the 10,982 Australians killed in France who have no known grave. The French have called the main road through Villers-Bretonneux, Rue de Melbourne. The town has a restaurant called Restaurant le Kangarou, and the school, called Victoria College, was built from the donations of Victorian school children in the 1920s. Above every blackboard are the words Noublions jamais lAustralie never forget Australia.

ADIL QURESHI In May 1918, the ANZACs were finally commanded by one of their own. The officer chosen was General Sir John Monash. Monash had seen too many ANZACs killed, and was determined that the Australians were from now on were to be used properly. In his first battle, at a place called le Hamel , Monash used aircraft, tanks and artillery to soften the enemy before he sent in the ANZACs. He also rehearsed the attack time and time again. Monash had planned it to last 90 minutes. After 93 minutes, his men had taken 1500 prisoners, caused 2000 German casualties and captured nearly 180 machine guns. But perhaps his best attack took place at Mont St Quentin , where the Germans held several thousand of their best men in reserve. The German General had decided that no one would be foolish enough to attack the hill, but just in case ordered his best-trained units to hold to the death. With less than a thousand men who had already been in combat for nearly three weeks, Monash planned his greatest attack. The ANZACs stormed the hill from three directions, and in two days had not only secured the hill, but had also captured 2500 prisoners. Victoria Crosses were awarded to another seven ANZACs for this action. It was to be the last great fight of their war. World war 1 A Day in the Trenches Apart from dodging bullets and avoiding death from enemy shells, there was a daily routine in the trenches of World War 1. It started 1 hour before dawn with the morning "stand to" the men were roused from sleep and sent to the "fire step", with bayonets fixed to their rifles to be on guard for a dawn raid by the enemy. Many raids were carried out at dawn by both sides although it was common knowledge that the opposing armies were both preparing to deal with them. As the first light of day approached machineguns, shells, and even handguns would be fired toward the enemy trenches. Some people said that this was to test the weaponry. Others said it was to relieve the tension, and others said it was to ward off a dawn raid. Whatever the reason the first hour of the soldier's day became known, as "The morning hate." After the "Stand to" rum was issued to the soldiers who would be cleaning their rifles, before an inspection by senior officers. Then it was time for breakfast, unofficially breakfast time was a time of truce between both sides, both sides respected this truce for most of the time, but it was broken now and again when a senior officer heard about it and put his foot down ordering the men to open fire on enemy lines. . After breakfast the soldiers would face an inspection by their commanding officer, this was followed by the daily chores, each man would be given a specific chore. Daily chores included the refilling of sandbags, the repair of the duckboards on the floor of the trench and the draining of trenches, repairing the trenches and preparing the latrines. During the rest of the day movement was restricted in the trenches, snipers and lookout posts from either side constantly watched the front lines and shots would be fired at the first sign of movement. Soldiers used this time to catch up on some much needed sleep write letters to their sweethearts and home and some soldiers spent the time producing ornaments and useful items from used shell and bullet casings, these items are very popular these days and are sold as trench art.

With dusk came the second "Stand to" of the day. Soldiers would be sent to the fire step as darkness approached in preparation for surprise attacks. With the darkness of the night the trenches came to life, men were sent to fetch vital food, water, and maintenance supplies whilst others were sent to the fire step for sentry duty, 2 hours Was the limit for the soldiers on the fire step before they were replaced, incase the men fell asleep, if a man fell asleep at the fire step the punishment would be death by firing squad. Patrols into no-mans land would also be carried out under cover of darkness, to repair breaks in the barbed wire and some were sent out as "Listening posts" hoping to over hear information from the enemy. Sometimes enemy patrols would meet in No Man's Land. They were then faced with the option of hurrying on their separate ways or else engaging in hand to hand fighting. They could not afford to use their handguns whilst patrolling in No Man's Land, for fear of the machine gun fire it would inevitably attract, deadly to all members of the patrol. The cover of darkness also allowed the frontline troops to be changed over, those who had completed their tour of duty would be swapped over with fresh troops. Then it was time to start the daily routine again with the morning "stand to"