Artillery slit trench
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What is a artillery slit trench?
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A slit trench is a very shallow trench, usually dug for just one or two soldiers. It is usually just shallow enough for them to lie down in, though they may be slightly deeper.
Link and images of a slit trench: https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&rlz=1C1DSGL_enGB426GB426&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=Artillery+Slit+Trench+ww1
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by
ral104
moderator, scientist
It's a narrow trench which the soldiers would have used as shelter from shrapnel.
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by
David_Underdown
moderator
The artillery was behind the main trench lines. The guns themselves were usually in a gun pit. If German artillery units undertook counter-battery shoots then the artillerymen could take shelter in the slit trenches. They weren't always effective, Dartmoor Cemetery has several members of a gun crew buried together, including a father and son (George and Robert Frederick Lee). I managed to track the incident down in war diaries at one point (not entirely straightforward, it's not mentioned in the brigade war diary, and the brigade was on attachment to a different division at the time). An initial salvo buried the men in one slit trench, and when the others went to help them they were all caught in a second salvo.
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