What was trench war fare?

Answer 1

Trench warfare developed in the Boer war of 1899 and reached its peak in World War One. It involved the armies on both sides digging ziz-zag trenches right across the countryside, often only 50 yards from the enemy's trench, to protect themselves whilst they hurled shells and bombs into the enemy's trench. The land between the opposing trenches was called no-mans-land. The trenches were protected from enemy attack by masses of barbed wire and machine-guns. This type of warfare causes a stalemate and the generals have to dream up ways of breaking the stalemate. Usually this involved a heavy artillery barrage followed by a mad charge across no-mans-land, involving huge casualties. Other techniques tried were releasing poison gas when the wind blew in the right direction, digging tunnels underneath the enemy and filling them with explosives, charging the enemy trenches in tanks and so on. In WW1 the trenches stretched for over a hundred miles right across France and part of Belgium. They can be seen today at such places as Newfoundland Park in France where the Newfoundland Regiment were wiped out in the maddest charge of all in July,1916.

Answer 2

Primarily what you are dealing with in trench warfare are two opposing forces who are heavily fortified in their emplacements (trenches) with generally open terrain that was heavily littered with obstacles (barbed wire, mines, vehicle traps) in between. This area was referred to as 'no mans land' as the machine guns and artillery of opposing forces could easily decimate infantry there. The end result was what is called 'attrition warfare'; a combat tactic where you simply try to wear down and outlast your enemy in supplies, manpower, and morale... this was a particularly nasty form of warfare that saw huge casualties on all sides involved and weekly progress measured by the foot.