Trench warfare

Trench warfare is a form of war in which both opposing armies have static lines of fortifications dug into the ground, facing each other. Trench warfare arose when there was a revolution in firepower without similar advances in mobility and communications. Periods of trench warfare occurred during the American Civil War (1860s) and the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, and reached peak brutality and bloodshed on the Western Front in the First World War.

Background

Fortification is almost as old as warfare itself; however, because of the relatively small size of the armies and the lack of range of the weapons, it was traditionally not possible to defend more than a short defensive line or an isolated strongpoint. The very long fortifications of the ancient world, such as the Great Wall of China or Hadrian's Wall, were exceptions to the general rule and were in any case not designed to completely prevent entry of enemy troops, but simply to make it difficult for the invader to mount a penetration in strength. The Great Wall of China, for example, was not intended to keep raiders out, but merely to prevent them from bringing their horses.

Related Topics:
Great Wall of China - Hadrian's Wall

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Although both the art of fortification and the art of weaponry advanced a great deal in the second half of the second millennium, the advent of the longbow, the muzzle-loading musket, and even of artillery did not substantially change the traditional rule that a fortification required a large body of troops to defend it. Small numbers of troops simply could not maintain a volume of fire sufficient to repel a determined attack.

Related Topics:
Longbow - Musket - Artillery

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Siege warfare

Most of the techniques used in trench warfare had existed for years in siege warfare. It was the implementation of these techniques between two armies in the field which was new.

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Julius Caesar in his Gallic Wars describes how at the Battle of Alesia the Roman legions created two huge fortified walls around the city. The inner circumvallation, 10 miles, held in Vercingetorix's forces, while the contravallation kept relief from reaching them. The Romans held the ground in between the two walls. The besieged Gauls, facing starvation, eventually surrendered with their relief force standing by helpless. Thucydides describes a similar, but unsuccessful, siege of Syracuse by the Athenians during the Peloponnesian War.

Related Topics:
Julius Caesar - Gallic Wars - Battle of Alesia - Roman - Legion - Circumvallation - Vercingetorix - Contravallation - Gauls - Thucydides - Syracuse - Athenians - Peloponnesian War

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Once siege guns were developed the techniques involved in assaulting a town or a fortress became well known and ritualised. The attacking army would surround a town. Then the town would be asked to surrender. If they did not comply the besieging army would invest (surround) the town with temporary fortifications to stop sallies from the stronghold or relief getting in. The attackers would then build a length of trenches parallel to the defences and just out of range of the defending artillery. They would then dig a trench towards the town in a zigzag pattern so that it could not be enfiladed by defending fire. Once within artillery range another parallel trench would be dug with gun emplacements. If necessary using the first artillery fire for cover, this process would be repeated until guns were close enough to be laid accurately to make a breach in the fortifications. In order that the Forlorn Hope and their support troops could get close enough to exploit the breach, more zigzag trenches could be dug even closer to the walls with more parallel trenches to protect and conceal the attacking troops. After each step in the process the besiegers would ask the besieged to surrender. If the first wave stormed the breach successfully, the defenders could expect no mercy.

Related Topics:
Zigzag - Enfiladed - Forlorn Hope

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Maori Pas

The Maori of New Zealand had built stockades called Pa on hills and small peninsulas for centuries before European contact. These resembled the small Iron age forts which dot the British and Irish landscapes. When the Maori encountered the British they developed the Pa into a very effective defensive system of trenches, rifle pits and dugouts, and which pre-dated similar developments in America and Europe. In the Maori Wars for a long time the modern Pa effectively neutralized the overwhelming disparity in numbers and armaments. At Ohaeawai Pa in 1845, at Rangiriri in 1864, and again at Gate Pa in 1864 the British and Colonial Forces discovered that a frontal attack on a defended Pa was both ineffective and extremely costly.

Related Topics:
Maori - New Zealand - Pa - Iron age fort - Maori Wars - Ohaeawai - Rangiriri - Gate Pa

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At Gate Pa during the Tauranga Campaign, in 1864 the Maori withstood a day long bombardment in their bomb shelters. One authority calculated that Gate Pa absorbed in one day a greater weight of explosives per square metre than did the German trenches in the week-long bombardment leading up to the Battle of the Somme. Having destroyed the pallisade, the British troops entered the Pa whereupon the Maori fired on them from hidden trenches, killing 38 and injuring many more in the most costly battle for the Pakeha of the Maori Wars. The Maori then abandoned Gate Pa. The Maori developed their ideas on Pa design over a very short period, from the stone age to the level of World War One in little over 30 years.

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