War Diaries Talk

Amount of time spent in trenches

  • Stork by Stork

    In the diaries I've done so far, the units spent a maximum of a week in the trenches engaging the Germans before being relieved by another unit. In the diary I'm doing now, the 2 batteries have been in the trenches for 2 months straight without relief. These are small units, 4 officers and 40 men, so they can't be getting much time off. They're firing up to 400 rounds per day, and are being shelled constantly by the Germans. It rains frequently, so they must be up to their knees in mud. When they're not firing they're building dugouts and gun pits.

    Making the men live like this for 2 months straight just seems inhumane. So, I'm wondering what the army policy was for limiting the amount of time spent in trenches. Anyone know about it?

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  • ral104 by ral104 moderator, scientist

    Most units were rotated in and out very frequently. They'd spend time in the front line and support trenches, usually a week or so, then a few days in reserve and after that a bit of time off further back (although time off is a relative term, of course. It wasn't exactly full on relaxation!)

    Things were a bit different for artillery units, because their front line was a lot further back than the actual front line. But it sounds like you might be tagging a trench mortar battery. If you let us know, I'll try and give a bit more detail.

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  • cyngast by cyngast moderator

    I've tagged at least one trench mortar unit where it seemed as if they spent weeks, if not a couple of months, in the line without rotating out, but in reality the various sections were actually rotating in and out. You may see comments like "Section A relieved Section B" or "Inter-section relief." I tagged one diary that included the details of what the sections that were out of the line were doing and they were resting, having baths, playing football. That's what really clued me in to the routine.

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  • Stork by Stork

    Thanks for your replies. The diary is 1 DIVISION: Divisional Trench Mortar Batteries (30 Jun 1917 - 30 Jul 1919). The months I'm referring to are June, July + Aug 1918, and the two batteries are called X/1 and Y/1.
    On ral 104's reply: you're right, they are trench mortar batteries. There's no mention of them being in support or reserve.
    On cyngast's reply: there's never any mention of inter-section relief, and no mention of baths, rest or recreation. Just constant firing and being shelled for 2 months non-stop.

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  • ral104 by ral104 moderator, scientist in response to Stork's comment.

    It could just be down to that particular adjutant's style, of course. Some give more detail than others. But the period you mention also coincides with the German Spring Offensive and then the beginning of the Allied 100 Days Offensive, which capitalised on its failure. It was a period of intense fighting and may account for the conditions you describe.

    Trench Mortars were vital to both offence and defence, although were not universally beloved of other troops, tending to draw a lot of fire down on their position once the enemy had located them. I'm not 100% certain of the accuracy of this, but I've heard that early on during their formation, married men were discouraged from volunteering for them as they were considered to be such dangerous jobs.

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  • rsgrayson by rsgrayson scientist

    Very interested to see this discussion. I thought it worth flagging another discussion board item on this issue: https://talk.operationwardiary.org/#/boards/BWD000000l/discussions/DWD0001280 This contains a link to an article I wrote utilising data created by OWD voounteers.

    Richard Grayson

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