The Western Front: Trenches and the Somme

The Western Front stretched for 400 miles from the Channel coast to the Swiss border. By late 1914, the war of movement had become a static war of trenches, barbed wire, and machine guns. Neither side could break through the other's defensive lines.

Life in the trenches: The basic trench system consisted of a front-line trench, a support trench, and a reserve trench, connected by communication trenches. Conditions were often appalling: mud, rats, lice, trench foot (caused by prolonged immersion in cold water), and the constant threat of shell fire. "Going over the top" — attacking enemy trenches — was ordered by officers in response to orders from above, often with devastating results. "Shell shock" (what we now call PTSD) affected tens of thousands of soldiers. It was initially stigmatised as cowardice but increasingly recognised as a genuine medical condition.

The Battle of the Somme (July-November 1916): General Douglas Haig, commander of the British Expeditionary Force, planned a major offensive along the River Somme to relieve pressure on the French at Verdun and break through German lines. The plan assumed that a week-long artillery bombardment would destroy German barbed wire and machine gun posts, allowing infantry to walk forward and occupy the positions.