The Building of the Trenches
By the end of 1914, the trenches had stretched 475 miles, starting at the North Sea and ending in the Swiss Frontier. It became obvious that the trench warfare would not be a temporary thing. So, the way the trenches were built was important because they were going to be there for a while. The build of the trenches generally depended on the terrain they were on. The front wall, called the parapet, averaged to be about 10 feet high and occasionally had sandbags piled up, and there was a ditch directly below it. The trenches were lined with sandbags top to bottom; the purpose of the sandbags was to provide protection, but they also blocked the view of the soldiers. Next was a ledge, called the fire-step, which was built into the lower part of the ditch and allowed the soldiers to see over the top (there was usually a peephole through the sandbags). In some situations periscopes and mirrors were used to help them see. The back wall, known as the parados, was lined with sandbags to protect them against rear assaults. All of the walls of the trenches had to be reinforced with sandbags, logs, and branches due to constant shelling and very frequent rainfall. In some trenches there were dugouts which were below the level of the trench floor. Some dugouts had luxuries like beds, furniture, and stoves. The German dugouts were much more sophisticated and sometimes had toilets, electricity, ventilation, and even wallpaper. The trenches were all dug in a zigzag pattern because if an enemy soldier entered their trench, they didn't want them to be able to shoot straight down the line. A typical trench line included 3-4 trenches; there was a front line (outpost or fire line), support trench, and the reserve trench. All of the trenches were built parallel to each other about 100-400 yards apart. Each trench was connected by communicating trenches; these allowed for delivery of messages, supplies, and soldiers. The fire line (front line) was located generally about 50-300 yards from the Germans' front line and the space in between the two was called "no man's land".