Communicating trenches were constructed,
leading back to the company kitchens, and finally to the open road
leading back to the rest billets of the armies.
When night raiding commenced, it was speedily seen that straight
trenches exposed whole companies of men to enfilading fire. Thereupon
bastions were made and new defenses presented by zig-zagging the
front-line trenches and the communicating ditches as well.
To the formidable obstacles presented by the trenches, equipped as they
were with sand-bag parapets and firing steps, were added barbed-wire
entanglements and pitfalls of various sorts. The greatest improvement
was made by the Germans, and they added "pill boxes." These were really
miniature fortresses of concrete and armor plate with a dome-shaped
roof and loopholes for machine gunners. Only a direct hit by a
projectile from a big gun served to demolish a "pill box." The Allies
learned after many costly experiments that the best method to overcome
these obstacles was to pass over and beyond them, leaving them isolated
in Allied territory, where they were captured at the leisure of the
attackers.
Trench warfare brings with it new instruments. There are the flame
projectors, which throw fire to a distance of approximately a hundred
feet. The Germans were the first to use these, but they were excelled in
this respect by the inventive genius of the nations opposing them.
Pages:
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305