OVERVIEW:
KILLING FIELDS of WORLD
WAR ONE by Cotter
Bass is a visual narrative of World War One that chronicles four explosive
years between 1914 and 1918 when guns roared, soldiers and civilians perished,
and humankind trembled while holding its collective breath. Experience
firsthand the horrors of war with this chilling narrative of WWI, where
battlefields having familiar names like Verdun, Somme, Gallipoli, and Flanders
witnessed the deaths of millions. Contemporaneously
described as "the war to end all
wars,” WWI led to the mobilization of more than 70 million military
personnel, including 60 million Europeans, making it one of the largest wars
and one of the deadliest conflicts in recorded human history. An estimated 9 to
11 million combatants and 6 to 13 million civilians perished as a direct result
of the war, while wartime genocides and the 1918 influenza pandemic led to
another 50 to 100 million deaths worldwide. KILLING FIELDS of WORLD WAR ONE provides an explicit overview of the
battlefield horrors of WWI. Accordingly, readers are cautioned regarding the
graphic nature of the battlefield photographs presented in this chronicle.
The following excerpt from KILLING FIELDS of WORLD WAR ONE is titled 10. WAR IN THE TRENCHES:
10. WAR IN THE TRENCHES
DAILY ROUTINE IN THE TRENCHES
Routines varied among different
regions, nationalities, and individual platoons, but the groups shared many
similarities. Soldiers were regularly rotated through a basic sequence:
fighting in the front line, followed by a period in the reserve or support
line, and then later, a brief rest period. Those in reserve might be called
upon to help the front line if needed. Once the cycle was completed, it would
begin anew. Among the men on the front line, sentry duty was assigned in
rotations of two to three hours. Each morning and evening, just before dawn and
dusk, the troops participated in a "stand-to," during which men on
both sides climbed up on the fire step with rifles and bayonets at the ready.
The stand-to served as preparation for a possible attack from the enemy at a
time of day—dawn or dusk—when most attacks were likely to occur. Following the
stand-to, officers inspected the men and their equipment. Then breakfast was
served, at which time both sides (almost universally along the front) adopted a
brief truce. Most offensive maneuvers (aside from artillery shelling and
sniping) were carried out in the dark when soldiers could climb out of the
trenches clandestinely to conduct surveillance and carry out raids. The
relative quiet of daylight allowed the men to discharge their assigned duties
during the day. Maintaining the trenches required constant work: the repair of
shell-damaged walls, the removal of standing water, the creation of new
latrines, and the movement of supplies, among other vital jobs. Those spared
from daily maintenance duties included specialists such as stretcher-bearers,
snipers, and machine gunners. During brief rest periods, soldiers were free to
nap, read, or write letters home, before being assigned another task.
MISERY IN THE MUD
Life in the trenches was nightmarish, aside from the usual rigors of combat. Forces of nature posed as great a threat as the opposing army. Heavy rainfall flooded trenches and created impassable, muddy conditions. The mud not only made it difficult to get from one place to another; it also had other, more dire consequences. Many times, soldiers became trapped in the thick, deep mud; unable to extricate themselves, they often drowned. The pervasive precipitation created other difficulties. Trench walls collapsed, rifles jammed, and soldiers fell victim to the much-dreaded "trench foot." Similar to frostbite, trench foot developed as a result of men being forced to stand in water for several hours, even days, without a chance to remove wet boots and socks. In extreme cases, gangrene would develop, and a soldier's toes, or even his entire foot, would have to be amputated. Unfortunately, heavy rains were not sufficient to wash away the filth and foul odor of human waste and decaying corpses. Not only did these unsanitary conditions contribute to the spread of disease, they also attracted an enemy despised by both sides—the lowly rat. Multitudes of rats shared the trenches with soldiers and, even more horrifyingly, they fed upon the remains of the dead. Soldiers shot them out of disgust and frustration, but the rats continued to multiply and thrive for the duration of the war. Other vermin that plagued the troops included head and body lice, mites and scabies, and massive swarms of flies. As terrible as the sights and smells were for the men to endure, the deafening noises that surrounded them during heavy shelling were terrifying. Amid a heavy barrage, dozens of shells per minute might land in the trench, causing ear-splitting and deadly explosions. Few men could remain calm under such circumstances, and many suffered emotional breakdowns.
NIGHT PATROLS AND
RAIDS
Patrols and raids took place at night, under cover of darkness. For
patrols, small groups of soldiers crawled out of the trenches and inched their
way into No Man's Land. Moving forward on elbows and knees toward the enemy’s
trenches, they cut their way through the dense barbed wire. Once the men
reached the other side, the goal of the patrol was to get close enough to
gather information by eavesdropping or detecting activity in advance of an
attack. Raiding parties were much larger than patrols, encompassing about 30
soldiers. They, too, made their way to the enemy trenches, but their role was
more aggressive. Members of the raiding parties armed themselves with rifles,
knives, and hand grenades. Smaller teams took on portions of the enemy trench,
tossing in grenades and killing any survivors with a rifle or bayonet. They
also examined the bodies of dead soldiers, searching for documents and evidence
of name and rank. Snipers, in addition to firing from the trenches, also
operated within No Man's Land. They crept out at dawn, heavily camouflaged, to
find cover before daylight. Adopting a trick from the Germans, British snipers
hid inside "O.P." trees (observation posts). These dummy trees,
constructed by army engineers, protected the snipers, allowing them to fire at
unsuspecting enemy soldiers. Despite these strategies, the nature of trench
warfare made it almost impossible for either army to overtake the other.
Attacking infantry was slowed by the barbed wire and bombed-out terrain of No
Man's Land, making the element of surprise unlikely. Later in the war, the
Allies did succeed in breaking through German lines using the newly invented
tank.
You can find the complete eBook edition of KILLING FIELDS of WORLD WAR ONE by Cotter Bass at: https://tinyurl.com/278fcef3
Complete World War One works of author Cotter Bass and Moonshadow Publishing: https://tinyurl.com/4v68wcy8
Complete works of Cotter Bass and Moonshadow Publishing:
https://moonshadow-publishing-shop.fourthwall.com
Next time: OVER THE TOP by Arthur Guy Empey . . . . .
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