This has always bothered me. I mean, when did they dig the trenches and how did they do it without the other side shooting at them?
Or did they start digging before the other guys could get there, but then how did the other guy do it?
Start with one small fox hole. Enlarge. Connect with next fox hole. Repeat.
Once you are below ground level making a trech longer isn’t that hard.
As I understand it, at first the allied forces (France and Britain) refused to give the men shovels fearing just what did eventually happen. then when so many men were killed because of improved firepower they began to dig in…the trenches reached for three hundred miles or more and there were not always enemy forces across “no man’s land”…so maybe there was time to dig while no one was there? I would be interested to read what others more knowlegable would say… The original movie of “All Quiet On The Western Front” from 1929 is a pretty good source for this stuff… since it was made by people who knew what they were talking about…Dont get the Richard Thomas 1990 something remake…I am glad you asked this question… i dont “get it” either…
Shovels.
Simple.
Step 1. Dig trench.
Step 2. Wait for enemy to show up in front of your trench.
A lot of the time, trenches changed hands reguarly as troops attacked and retreated or manuevered. Not uncommon to go back into the trench they were in the previous week.
Other than that, yes, once you have a few foxholes to extend you have cover while digging out wards. Even easier when you build trenches to fall back to or in preparation for an attack.
The driving force of the ground war was the machine gun. Maxim’s invention was used by both sides to slaughter men on the other side in numbers unimaginable before the war. There was no defense against the machine gun – either you dug in or you went home. Going home wasn’t an option, so they dug in or died.
IIRC, there was something of a network of trenches in place before hostilities began, but it grew drastically once the fighting began.
Its amazing how fast you can dig in when someone is shooting at you!
Much of the work of digging trenches–and the constant upkeep–was done at night, by both sides. This was the only time you could move around above ground with any degree of safety; however, both sides had the habit of sending up flares at irregular intervals. When this happened, the best thing to do was stand stock-still; any movement would bring down fire.
The Germans built deep dugouts, and used concrete; the British and Allies did not, mainly because the British Command thought that deep, safe, dry dugouts would encourage softness, and the troops might lose “the offensive spirit.” So our boys spent four years in the mud and rain.
Here is an excellent account of how the trenches were to be contructed, taken right from the British Army trench manual of the time:
Sadly, a huge percentage of the guys dug in AND died.
Of course, after the trenches were dug they started digging down to try and get under the other side’s trenches.