Original video from A.Ryan TH-cam channel. It’s not his content but the videos are from his channel. Check it out I guess… th-cam.com/video/zwoeCxfOVwk/w-d-xo.html
A point i wanted to make...Yes,perhaps to some trenches are a scary thing to consider,or defense positions...but you have to consider the fact that they protect you,and this is your safe place ...if anything happens you just charge the enemy... besides,it is best not to calculate everything...it wastes time and do no good
How effective could you make a trench at resisting fallout? Could you make a roof, even a few inches of soil and wood over your head would give decent shielding.
The Azerbaijan Armenia really makes me question this. If you cannot control the air, you're sending your men to slaughter. I saw the propaganda drone footage 😔😔 poor Armenians were sitting ducks.
Rotating manpower is essential. I've worked construction for years and seen what happens when you send the same people to do the most physically demanding jobs the quality and production goes down along with morale you need to rotate them give the guys a break and send in a refreshed worker. An excellent point made!
Basic routine of field fortification work in the Swedish army when I did my conscript training was for one member of the two man fire team to work while the other prepared a snack for the one working as well as inspecting the work for potential improvements and provide encouragement until it was time to switch.
You oughta talk to my last boss. 20 years, i was always the guy on the jackhammer, or getting to deal with the toxic chemicals. I've watch him burn out a lot of people sending them to environments they despise continuously. It took years, but yeah, my quality and production is tanking. I just stopped caring. Was never going to get a chance off the hammers until i couldn't hammer anymore. I quit a few months ago.
@@hosmerhomeboy kinda happened to me too I'd have to core manholes holding a 35lb hammer drill over your head every day for hours especially if you hit rebar and need to start over was brutal. They never rotated me because "I was dependable" "I was the fastest" "i had the most experience" "I was the best at it" all of which was true🤣 but Some days I could barely hold it up. I loved the work but it was brutal and has lead to shoulder issues. There was other things like the jumping Jack also only me on it right after coring a manhole. Loved that job though I miss it. Jack hammers are brutal after lengthy time though.
@@thrash208 yeah i do the handheld coring machines too. Nothing worse than over the head and hitting rebar. Last two years were a wake up for me. Did most of a year without any days off, then one day, i just could not get out of bed. I literally couldn't move. Was in traction from my neck all the way down. It's hard to find someone else who can even do half of it with me though. Luckily, i have a good apprentice who puts in about 30% of the time on the tougher jobs now.
@@Sparticulous Not really surprising, actually. Once the Russian offensive bogged down (that's a LONG story, for another place), trenches became inevitable, as they buy time in the short term, and cost extra time and effort to crack in the longer term.
Trenches were the most humane part of WW1 despite the reputation. Before that, people were mowed down wholesale by machine guns. Soldiers were pretty safe in the trenches too. It was only when they were ordered OUT of the trenches that things got really bad (generally speaking).
Wouldn't call them "humane" i'd call them "a natural reaction to being mowed down in the open is to dig yourself some cover". Trenches were used quite a lot in the US civil war for the same reason
It wasn't exactly humane. It was more like, "if we don't build these, we'll all die". On August 27, 1914, France lost 27,000 men in less than a day. Machine guns were that effective against armies.
Haha not me but my dad was in Iraq but Iran Iraq, and he was 55th airborne He rarely fought in trenches, and the iraqies did (Al faw) and the first siege of Iranian forces was a success with minimal cas BUT, the Iranian defence was a whole lot different stories Instead of hiding in trenches they had strong holds in mosques which did work but they got pushed back and lost 70-100 men And iraqies thousands Proving that trenches are affective at specific times lol Edit: But that was a different war to modern day warfare as only one side was mostly knowing what their doing (not getting political) and I think trenches are ineffective against modern warfare but agains waves of infantry and armour it is a good tactic to have in mind.
@@casekocsk There was this Vietnam-style entrenchment where they dug more mines than trenches... on second thought, they just lived up to the name "foxhole". Also, cities have metro and sewers and underground cables and urban warfare isn't going anywhere, so USA has a training program for tunnel warfare.
My lieutenant in the Finnish Army had a saying "When a soldiers movement forward ends it keeps going 3 feet down before it stops" Not the best translation but I hope you get the idea
@@e.s.6275 it's called a hasty fighting position. There are multiple phases of fighting position. An infantryman should always be improving their position. You usually aren't going to go right into trench digging unless it's a major strategic objective you know they'll be coming to attack and they're at least a few days away. Otherwise you're starting with the hasty. Moving on to an actual fox hole. Giving your foxhole cover / concealment. Then begin joining fox holes with a trench.
Loved seeing this video again. Back in 95 I was part of the troops that made this video. This was filmed in Valcartier with troops that had just completed our Pioneer course.
there is a saying among the Finnish Jaegers:``Jaeger is allways moving, if not forward then downwards`` learned this while served my time in finnish military
Imagine fighting in the trenches and then getting the order to charge the no mans land between the enemy trench and yours. Our grandfathers had big balls.
@@mehmetilbasan4383 doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that getting out of your trench and exposing yourself to a platoon's worth of rifle fire and machinegun fire will almost guarantee your death
It's really crazy actually, a lot of US Army units have started doing this type of training again, especially since the renewed effort to make us a Force on Force type of Army.
I’m up in Alaska and we haven’t been doing much trench digging but we’ve been going hard on the arctic training to prep for a fight with Russia. Just got back from two weeks in -30 to -60. Shit sucks.
@@chuckhainsworth4801 lol when I did my original mortar course, we had to dig our own (along with six bays, three for ammo three for sleeping) but from then on....engineers sorted the main dig, we just sorted it all out
3:1 for defensive, 5:1 for fortification not including force multiplier or int. Basically if you are planning for a raw engagement a 4:1 ratio is a good starting point. Remember the plan that survives contact with the enemy is a simple and clear one.
I was a South African conscript infantryman in 1990 and although I was too young to participate in the border war, we did train for conventional warfare, especially during JLs. Our doctrine was to dig stage 2 trenches and never beyond that. The reason was that squads were kept mobile all of the time. We never spent more than 2 nights in a trench. Hated sleeping in a trench when it rained.
I was in the US Army for twenty three years, and yes, I dug a lot of fighting positions, even though I was not infantry. The engineers have CEE (combat emplacement excavator) to help dig trenches and bunkers. The materiel such as sand bags, stakes and shoring would be supplied by the engineers at the brigade or battalion level. When I was in Germany, my unit had some problem with metric tons versus imperial tons. At one point, our S-3 commented that we would needs "a butt load of barrier material" The main support Battalion commander didn't miss a beat and asked, "Is that a metric or imperial butt load?"
in eastern block doctrine, you use the earth to build a raised protective barrier in front of you, then you can camouflage it with leaves and grass. You can even dig out a small tree or shrub and place in on top. NATO soldiers will definitely not think about the DAMN SHRUB shooting at them... Probably comes from russian manuals who really amstered hiding during ww2. Compared to what is shown in the video for example, Hungarian soldiers also trained with using their combat shovels to shallow individual trenches first, but with the soil used as extra height, it was done faster, and there was no need to dispose of soil. And when moving the same soil was just shoveled back into the trench.
Love the ground in Europe and North America in these films, all my digging experience in Australia was in ground packed like concrete with lots of large rocks. One hole went through three entrenching tools!
Hey! I found some lovely soft soil at home. Granted it was from Bunnings and I had to use a pickaxe to make the hole for it. But after hours of hot, sweaty, sweary work I had made enough space for a bush. Of course the bush died after a couple of weeks but that soil stayed soft for almost two days!
Nothing but clay in North Carolina. In Afghanistan, we used HE to try to hammer our stakes down for our wire. Bent the damn things. Some soil isn't meant to be dug, and only brute force can fix that problem.
I was temporarily on Gotland (Island in the baltic sea) and told the soldiers to dig foxholes. I came back a few hours later and asked if they where done, the said the foxholes was deep enough to lie in. I told them of and said they should be standing in them. Came back another few hours later and realised I hadn't considered the whole island is made of stone.
@@TheKiltedGerman 😆 I'm from Charlotte. I'll do every job I've ever had again accept dig holes. Fucking red clay. It's like digging through bricks for those of you that don't know.
In the Russian army we had a manual of surviving in the modern day battlefield and about 20% of the manual was dedicated to entrenched and 5 % to finding cover from artillery if there are no trenches or foxholes nearby.
If I may respectfully, I’d love to know your thoughts on the current war in Ukraine. Personally, as an American, I tend to believe that a sovereign democratic Ukraine has the right to exist, regardless, if it struggles with issues like corruption, and some people being far right fascist conservatives. I believe that Russia itself is far more fascist than Ukraine, and is led by an authoritarian dictator. I believe Russia illegally invaded Ukraine in an unprovoked aggression based on propaganda that honestly didn’t make much sense and continues to change. I find it fascinating that anyone can support this war. It reminds me of the second Iraq war, which I also think was illegal and unprovoked, even if Saddam Hussein did need to be removed from power. Wow, that war may have had noble goals along with flat out. Lies on why we invaded, ultimately our miss management, directly after we top of the government lead to disastrous results. America should not have invaded Iraq the second time and should not have managed the country the way it did after “winning.“ But back to Ukraine, I’d love to know your thoughts as a Russian, who is in the military. But I understand you might not be willing or able to give them as I know other Russians, who are really against the war, but don’t want to talk about it Online. Which honestly makes sense when you’re dealing with a fascist authoritarian dictatorship like Russia. Anyway, I really hope Ukraine removes Russia entirely including Crimea and is able to then join NATO and the European Union so they have some form of security and safety as they continue to try and grow and prosper as a sovereign democracy, who is truly independent and free.
I think that both countries are wrong in this war. Before the army i was in an organization which was aiming at toppling the government of 3 countries namely Russian Ukrainian and Belarusian and creative a confederate socialist country. Now this organization is illegal in Ukraine after our actions in a Ukrainian coup that has removed a pro-russian Ukrainian president. However we were unable to take the power. Upon being conscripted (forced into the Russian army) i couldn't have been associated with any political parties or movements (especially left radical ones). I think that this "war" (it's illegal to call it a "war" in Russia BTW as it's called "Special military operation"). So in short i wish that both Russian and Ukrainian people realize their main enemies (which are their own governments) and help each other liberate from them.
@@ttrestle I think a world where we all understand eachother, is a better world, so to pass on a few words. None of your opinions are 'bad' they are what one would expect from an American. America is a country that has the safety of two oceans to make being invaded unlikely, nonetheless it wants nearby countries to see things their way, the US uses a variety of tools today and historically to make sure latin america stays friendly to it, and is fairly hostile to them when they arent, see Cuba, Venezuela, the invasions of Grenada and Panama. This is the mindset of a great power, and Russia sees nations on it's borders in the same way, a Ukraine that is actively hostile to it and arming itself is threatening and humiliating alike. From the perspective of the Kremlin the war is pretty simple, and something that has been on the cards since 2014, something which really was an inevitability given the west from that moment on had the full intent to use Ukraine as a place to oppose Russia, calling it unprovoked is absurd (not to say it is justifiable or moral), and propaganda has nothing to do with it, that is a tool of the state to explain it's actions to the people. From the perspective of common people, most Russians simply are apathetic, not because they don't care about human life, but because they have grown up understanding they have no power over their government, so whether it's in the right or the wrong they don't have a reason to care, certainly not before it effects them personally. They will view it as a tragedy in the way every war is, amplified by a genuine view that Ukrainians are a brother people, they might be more positive towards the war or negative, but ultimately they try not to think about it. Of course there are Russians more openly critical, and more openly supportive. For those who support the war, the reasoning is simple, they are patriots and view serving their country as important, the propaganda might make it easier for them, convince more people in the middle surely, but someone who finds serving the motherland morally good, will do so regardless of propaganda. And importantly even if you aren't particularly pro war, once it starts, one naturally wants victory over the prospect of thousands of their sons and fathers having died for nothing. Especially if there are very real negative consequences that are easy to imagine from losing.
@@vladislavshevchenko634 you believe both countries are wrong with the war? Omg I just lost so much respect for you. Imagine someone broke into you home and killed some of your family and refused to leave some of your rooms. Would you believe both parties, the homeowner and the invader, are both wrong? Jesus Christ man. What has happened to so many Russians with the propaganda they’re soaking up from the fascist authoritarian dictatorship that runs the state media? It honestly reminds me of books I’ve read about Nazi German where the population grew ever more tired of war towards the mid 1940s yet still thought the illegal invasion and killing of civilians and soldiers of so many sovereign European democracies was justified just because German fascist civilians were so indoctrinated into state propaganda. It’s sad to think you are the same way. I hope you break free of mind forged manacles in the future and realize that a sovereign, independent, democratic Ukraine has the right exist… especially free from illegal invasion and occupation by a fascist authoritarian Russian dictatorship.
@@evangelosvasiliades1204 that’s fine to say we should all get along but you do realize that Ukraine never provoked Russia right? Even the leader of Wag er recently admitted that Ukraine was not shelling eastern Ukraine and Russia illegally invaded in 2014 and illegally annexed Crimea. I mean, it’s just so naïve to say we should all get along when one side is doing the unprovoked aggression, illegal invasion, and occupation. Ukraine literally just wants the right to exist as a free democratic country. They wouldn’t even care about joining NATO if Russia wasn’t constantly Acting like a fascist authoritarian dictatorship that kills civilians and politicians, illegally, invades, other countries like Georgia and Ukraine, etc. Yes, I’m an American, and maybe I am naïve to want a rules, based civilized global order where countries have the right to be independent and free. But guess what, that’s the right attitude to have. we are legitimately the good guys for thinking this way. Even if some countries are corrupt and need to improve, it’s better to be a sovereign democracy, working to improve that it is to illegal invade another country and kill rape in torture it’s civilians and soldiers.
What made WW1 unique was that entire armies were spread across the entire frontline in trenches, which had unfortunate results. Trenches themselves, however, have always been and probably always be an aspect of warfare.
Yeah. Underrated comment. Unlike what movies tell us, for example, sieges in the classical and medieval times involved a lot of digging, building ramps, wooden pallisades and other cover. Especially romans were known to be really proficient at this, which isn't really a commonly known thing it seems.
My most memorable experience in trenches was in Wainwright, Alberta. -40,trenches dug and as I scan the area with binoculars I see in the far distance a house, for we were at the very edge of the training area. As I peer into the big picture window, I see buddy boy on his lazyboy with beer in hand watching a hockey game. But I did keep warm cursing his dark soul!!🤪
Ahhhh camp wainwright Alberta Canada, I was there training back in 1980-81 I remembered the brutal onslaught of the black flies & mosquitoes during American/Canadian military exercise. I was in the 9th infantry division from Ft. Lewis WA. Had a great time, good time, great experience with you good neighbors. 👍
It's been awhile, but I remember the US Army (80's- 90's) used to dictate that the longer you are in a position, you would start building a defense. From hasty positions to fighting positions to more detailed and complex defenses. Overhead cover, defense in depth, LP/OP's, security patrols. At the time I served we were focused on fighting the Soviets in Europe, so there's that.
Even in the Vietnam War, it has been proven that although trenches are no more impervious to modern artillery and airpower, they still greatly reduce the potency of artillery bombardment. Modern portable AT weapons also make breaking through entrenched positions with tanks more risky.The same applies to MANPADs.The trenches are just more proactive in it's way of defense.
One thing that remains consistent throughout history all the way back until the iron age is every infantryman must become highly profficient with a shovel. Even before modern firearms, infantry were expected to dig fortifications around supply lines and intermediate fortifications.
I don't think this is referring to something like a trench. This quote is more related to having your soilders fight on an island vs an island with a bridge on which they can run away. A cornered animal fights harder than one that has the option to flee.
Sun Tzu also said, never entrap your enemy's soldiers such that they can always flee, because if you trap them, they will fight to the death more viciously than if they have the option to flee.
@@KyranFindlater the british even learned to master this principle with artillery. heavy shelling forces soldiers to stay down but if you keep it somewhat sporadic it gives those soldiers the opportunity to abandon their positions.
Three words/letters for you bud - OHP - overhead protetion. At least 60cm of earth hard pakced over wriggly tin, supported by thick wood or stell angle pickets. The real scary thing these days for troops in trecnches is thermobaric munitions which are designed to cause massive over pressure and can create vaccums too. Think fuel air explosion. I believe some countries have developed man portable versions, packaged like disposable anti tank weapons - scary AF.
@@1337flite Russia has one for the RPG-7, its a massive rocket. There are some videos floating around of their usage in chechnya and other conflicts. The USMC has one for the SMAW but I don't know how common it is. excellent weapon for dealing with bunkers, caves, or otherwise hard to destroy positions with conventional explosives.
@@1337flite Yep, a number of countries, including USA. Russia in particular is fond of thermobarics. They have bombs, artillery, rockets, and man-portable thermobarics in VERY large quantities and use them often. Check out the RPO (man-portable) and TOS-1 (Tank chassis with essentially a short-range mlrs turret). They're pretty badass if you're not on the recieving end lol.
9:43 - Neat training story behind this little bit. When I was going through Infantry OSUT during our one of our FTXs We as OPFOR had dug an entire entrenches position ontop of a small hill amongst a few shallower ones and even elevated the positions a little bit with sandbags. Fixing it up with transplanted grass we cut up : branches and small growth. 20 Guys all tucked down with 3 M240s, 2 .50s, and a bunch of SAWs and M4s and during the day 2 searching platoons never found us, walking right by us at the base of the hill. At night all 4 platoons were combing the area and we were so well camouflaged that they walked right through us at either side of the hill. 1 guy stepped into a 240 Shelf we had dug out for the 240 Tripod but since it was at night he thought he just stepped into a hog hole and kept going.
As a kid, I tried to bury a _treasure_ and I didn't get 10cm deep with my steel shovel! It was just stones held together by roots covered by a little dirt...
Yeah, even digging a grave for a pet is pretty hard. On top of that (heh), soil has layers, so there can be topsoil with roots, then a layer of stones mixed with clay and sand.
@@1Maklak bit off-topic: not far from where I live a storm toppled an old tree and the roots ripped a skeleton out of its grave! If I remember it correctly, the ribs showed indentations typical for stab wounds and thus it became a CSI. However, it turns out that the corpse lay there for 700 years! Another regional story gives me the chills: a peasant wanted to plant trees and dug up two big buckets with what he initially considered coins, but turned out to be all dog tags of 200 men who are still MIA since WWII!
@@1Maklak I once found a 100 year old stove apparently taken away by a really bad flood and my mother found quite a number of fossils, but they were thrown away and she got beaten because girls don't play with rocks... #catholic_parenting
Korea was another aspect of trench warfare also. Soldiers had to dig trenches along hillsides to maintain a defensive line. The Chinese and North Koreans did the same to hold strategic hills and points also.
"The addition of this easy to remove, overhead cover will further shield them from the heat of nuclear weapons..." You uh... sure about that? I guess in theory they'd quite away from ground zero but still...
The protection from the heat, gamma-burst and the blastwave are extremely noticeable. Most of the thermal effect from NW is transferred via light, that means - it travels in a straight line and is stopped by opaque materials. Just lying in a ditch or behind a car can cut the minimum survival distance up to 7 times. Blast wave is trickier, as it creates low pressure zones and pressure gradients, but a couple of meters of dirt can be a difference between torn eardrums and torn lungs. So, of course, you're not surviving in an epicenter, but at a distance even "duck and cover" DOES matter, and trenches are life saving.
@@LoisoPondohva agreed 18 inches of earth will stop you being zapped with gamma radiation and dissipate the heat but it's the blast wave and overpressure that will do the damage if your protection isn't constructed well!
If you doubt the value of protection against nuclear weapons, consider the case of Eizo Nomura. He survived Hiroshima at a range of 170 _meters_ from the hypocenter. Yes, you guessed it: he was in a concrete basement. Actually, there were supposedly 7 others who were able to walk away from that building, although none of the others made it out - but at least it wasn't instantly game over, and soldiers would know what they were dealing with and take steps to remedy the worst secondary effects.
When I served in 1979 our training included " friendly nuclear attack" which means using nuclear weapons to clear the way forward if conditions were failing and needed to use. But the poncho on top of fighting hole is to keep nuclear fall-out ( ash, dust, debris) but also gamma ray burst protection from being blinded from the light and also small false sense of security in order to keep yourself calm.. I remember digging a large 2 man fighting position in Washington State.... all 🪨rocks! Have fun, stay safe. Ft . Lewis 9th Infantry division.
Mobile fortifications have existed since ancient times. The most commonly known being the pavise, a huge stand alone shield crossbowmen hid behind when rewinding their weapons. They did have to carry them however until deployed. An undeployed pavise where typically carried on the back offering protection simply by turning around. Another solution we a mobile wall on wheels that soldiers pushed forward while enjoying its protection. Some of thease old ideas could probably, on occation, be useful even today, at least by the police's SWAT teams.
@@michaelpettersson4919 interesting. I came up with that exact same solution. I added on to it however; the wall can move around it's protection through folding and rotating joints. It would be similar to a mobile personell shield, but much more practical and operated standing up. This allows it to quickly give protection behind it in case of grenades and an attack from behind. Also, I came up with the idea that it can step with rotating feet rather than rolling. What do you think?
@@michaelpettersson4919 well actually, I reckon it should be rated to stop the highest expected round for it's situation. That could be NIJ standard level III for civilian threats, but whatever the case, it should provide maximum protection to multiple people behind it as it makes them a bigger target for explosives. Also, it definitely should have multiple personell utilizing it, at least three. Maybe it should hold a secondary assault shield or smaller wheeled body shield for when soldiers enter closer quarters combat. Maybe it should have the ability to add and remove panels, while operators carryy tack on handles as a part of their gear.
One important feature mentioned only briefly is angling the floor and digging a trench or pit in your trench for use as a grenade sump. In theory this will cause grenades to roll down in to the sump and contain some of the blast. This is also quite useful as a drain for rainwater to keep it less muddy. Can even be used as a latrine in a pinch if you absolutely cannot leave your position.
And here regularly i was thinking about how im hopeless on the modern battlefield as my mental specialty is digging in, fortification and defensive static positions, seeing that your saying trench warfare hasnt gone away at all. Means im still effective to some degree. WOO!
The best place to be during an artillery bombardment is somewhere else. I have seen film footage of heavy artillery fire hitting an area that included a perfectly set up low wire entanglement. The earth itself was heaving into the air, and the wire and obstacles would rise and fall along with it. Every subsequent shell seemed to have the same effect on the disturbed ground. Even with over head protection, the concussion would knock you senseless, and probably bury you, and all your sandbags and revetting material. It can be a delicate balance though. In World War One the Germans dug really deep whenever possible, and yet in the Gulf War the American armoured engineering vehicles basically buried the Iraqis in their own positions.
Have you been in or trained/fought in trenches in your service? What’s your experiences? If you haven’t then what do you think about the importance of trenches on the battlefield?
When I was about 9 I practiced building a trench system in our backgarden (it had a very large cultivated area and it was between crops) .. I used old field diagrams and made sure not to have any long straight bits... I could never get enough wood but made do with some old sheeting... do the army still intend to connect the indivisual fire positions into or with a main trench or is that not done for some reason (maybe aerial vulnerability)
When I was in the (Serbian) army, I was taught: "Take that shovel of yours and sharpen its edges. That is an awesome close quarters combat weapon! You can cut guys really nice with it And it's absolutely terrifying for the opponent"!
Sharpened e-tools were a favorite of soldiers as far back as the Great War, as they have more heft than a fighting knife and are less cumbersome than a rifle and bayonet for close quarters battle.
I experienced many trenches and foxholes in Vietnam 1968. Even dug a few, and filled many sandbags. Some of the trenches were sophisticated but most were rough. You definitely felt better in one than out in the open.
My ancestors fought yours in trenches 120 years ago, they have existed since ancient times even in siege battles etc. I doubt they will go anywhere either, though I have no direct military experience.
Nope, trenches are obsolete. They get more and more obsolete as weapons and tactics become more modern. 1. To defeat a trench, all you gotta do is form a spearhead and flank around the trench to attack targets in the rear and as the trench falls back to regroup the rear, you hit both the trench and the trench defenders who are out in the open - basically sandwiching the defenders. . 2. If a trench is long across, it just means the trench cannot possibly be heavily defended in all parts by defenses. You again, concentrate all forces into a spear tip and penetrate through the weakest line of the trench > then encircle its defenders. This is why trenches became pretty much useless in WW2 and Hitler's "blitzkrieg" aka mechanized warfare with tanks are designed to overcome trench warfare. However, the reason why Soviet trench systems were still effective was because they had "defense in depth" basically huge layered defenses (not one static line like WW1), but multiple decently defended lines where it can absorb and nullify a bulk of hitler's blitzkrieg at the battle of the kursk. 3. On a side note, the increase in air power and artillery power and the cheaper costs of fielding them means you just use enough firepower against the trench until the trench breaks...which it usually does. 4. Furthermore, penetrator ordanance and bunker busters make trenches even more obsolete.
@@fus132 I don't get what your comment means. I'm not the one that's just saying this, wiki says it too. Trenches are obsolete. There's a reason why static trenches are replaced with "defense in depth". And before trenches...CASTLES which were also static defenses became obsolete with the invention of GUNPOWDER and ARTILLERY. A static trench like I already mentioned and in the wiki can easily be flanked and destroyed.
@@davidyu3815 That's an exaggeration. You are safer in a trench than outside the trench. It's not like making a castle which take years to construct. You have manpower on hand in a static position and they increase their defensive advantage as they prepare the ground. There are the gamut of additional advantages with occupying the men in useful activity.
We use a soil auger to make infantrymen holes that later get extended to trenches by drilling additional holes ideally that reduces hand shoveling by 2/3 and time consumption by half We also make a shallow escape/reinforcement/resupply trench leading away additionally to the Nr 4 trench Its a 70cm deep 85cm wide trench you can crawl through it leads to the rear, into cover, like the back slope of your ridge
Everywhere army r&d tries mounting guns and rockets on robots. When they should build one that accompanies the troops on all terrains and shovels a 6' by 2.5' foxhole in 15 mins. (average 45-60 mins for us by hand)
US infantry here. We trained a lot for clearing trenches and bunkers, even doing live-fire exercises. And most of our small-arms ranges are set up as a trench defense of some sort, even if it's just a one-person foxhole made of vertical culvert pipe and some sandbags. But because of the time that it takes to dig, in training we usually don't dig more elaborate fighting positions.
A couple of years ago, during my last year at school, since it was the 100th anniversary of WW1, I did a Powerpoint about the technological evolution of the Great War. When I talked about the trenches, at the end, I inserted a slide titled "When trenches stopped being used". It only contained a video recorded from a Gopro in a muddy trench in Donbass in 2016. It was my way to say "Never".
I’ve dug plenty of fighting positions. Never an actual “trench” though. But, even when I was in mech units I never saw a frickin chainsaw..... Are those guys engineers???
Fieldworks are thousands of years old.. likely right back to prehistory .. They were proportionally greater during medieval times than in ww1 given the small population but propensity for sieges
16th century, as the figure of the handgunner rose and star fortresses were set. Sieges were basically advancing a trench until you were close enough to the walls the enemy couldn't point their cannons downwards, if I recall it.
@@janwitts2688 yeah but it took a while for warfare to develop to the point trench warfare became a thing, the 16th is broadly speaking where that turning point happened for most
@@cdgonepotatoes4219 even before that, you'd get a few sieges like the battle of Alesia. Where Ceaser built two layers of walls around a city. One to seige it, and another around that to defend from any reinforcements. Insane stuff just to take over a city.
During fighting in the Medak pocket, hastily made trenches were the game changer for Canadian forces in thwarting the superior number attacking them. I wasn't there at the time but reflections from friends in my unit (PPCLI), they described this in detail to me.
Once did an exercise at Army Corps level in Switzerland. Named "Mole" it meant we had three days to dig ourselves in the ground. Meaning transforming the landscape in a brown network of trenches, dugouts, deposits and posts. The next ten days were spent filling all the holes up.
@@MindBodySoulOk Bruh. “I dont want another civil war but...” is how every civil war starts. Just chill and wait a while, these things always blow over.
we were told when i was a young trooper there are two types of hole for a soldier one is a trench the other is a grave they are NOT made in the same way.
In the US Army we just called these fighting positions. Technically it is a trench but that term was more used for the long interconnected networks of fighting positions. As a combat engineer in mostly mechanized units we dug plenty of these things and even had a small excavator vehicle that could do most of the backbreaking work in minutes alongside a crew of M9 Ace earthmovers to dig fighting and hide positions for the vehicles.
This is one of the main reasons the Carl Gustav is amazing. Everything from airburst, thermobaric, to bunk buster rounds. It's essential in trench warfare.
Hi Max, this was a good topic to bring up as it is very rarely mentioned! The Roman Legions dug and made a fort every day on their march to whatever. Nothing has changed, march and dig, or die now instead of later. It’s when you can’t dig and you have to build (like a Sanger) using stones makes you aware of what the enemy can see and you modify very quickly. Working at night, moving from Jebel to the next high spot, making a defendable lie up point to rest during the day makes you concentrate your building techniques! The VC taught us how important it was to dig! Harera
yep, every day they marched ~20km and then set up a fort/camp for the night. Pretty good standard operating procedure! I bet those legionaries were tired though, after all that.
Trenches are the real deal. My great grandfather was in a battle somewhere in North Africa during WW1. He was a machine gunner in the British Army. His company was being charged by Ottomans on horseback. In the desert. For lack of a better reference, think of the scene from the Mummy where the French Foreign Legion was being charged at. Long story short, he caught a Sabre to the face, still lived. Bravery and trenches won the day that day. Mustard gas exposure did him in years later after the war.
Really like commentary and practical tips that I think some of us professionals forget. Having proper tools and not just your personal entrenching tool for a deliberate defense is critical in speeding up the work.
I was US light infantry and we trained to clear trenches regularly, but I don't think I dug one after initial training. Hasty positions, but nothing like an organized, deep trench. I guess HESCOs kinda replaced them for our kinda fighting.
Hescos are really good, but a huge downside is they reveal your fighting position to the enemy via ground-observable means or aerial recon. Trenches are more of a middle ground between established OPs and hasty fighting positions. Not to mention trenches can be set up under enemy fire relevantly easy while hescos you need at least a break in contact to set up. Either way, both have their place on the modern battlefield.
@@daepikduck Totally agree. Don't want to go advertising when fighting a near peer adversary. Not an issue when you're fighting the locals and couldn't hide squat from them.
I guess it depends on whether you're just training or building actual fortifications for combat ops. In my country, we use mainly HESCOs for training, but in war time we will get the combat engineers to assist in building trenches for the homeland defence to complement them. Basically, we don't want to tear up the entire forested training area every other week a new unit comes over to train.
I think it's zero improvement, just change in what miseries are involved. Depending on whether technology benefits defense or assault, the size and shape just shifts.
I would never want to be the opposition hearing Scots Guard saying "fix bayonets" followed by bagpipes. Or the yell "Ayo Gorkhali!". Like in the Falklands. were scared motionless
Trench warfare existed as old as the dawn of modern warfare - during the Thirty Years War, armies dug trenches when besieging highly impervious bastion forts to slowly creep in towards the walls while the earth offered excellent protection against musketballs and round shot.
@@ericferguson9989 if you are insurgent, you don't dig trenches. If you are weak ass military, you still have AA guns and drones are gone. So they are not an issue either way.
Had a buddy get trapped in a trench up to his nose. Broken ribs. Crushed wrist. He was lucky. Another guy on the crew dug him out by hand. Saved his life. A large rock had fallen next to him in the trench and every time they tried to use the excavator it just put more pressure on my friend. God was with him for sure.
Generally: Your life and the success in battle hugely depend on how you make use of the terrain, natural or artificial, like trenches and holes. It's as simple as that. There's a great video here on YT of Finish forces simulating a fierce battle of grenadiers and a Leo 2 from the top of a ridge against advancing tanks, that's shows the importance of cover very well.
Good video :) Yea still remember my time as a recruit we were only asked to dig a 2-person trench once. But it was on a 4 day training patrol and we only had our folding "Entrenching Tool" that was like 5+ hours of back breaking work. (fase 2 trench) What we would not have given for a real shovel :)
I’m a mortarman is the usmc, lately with the present eastern type threats and the capabilities they have specifically counter battery, we have take a significantly higher focus on digging holes, connecting them, and hide and shoots Edit: good point about not fighting clay and hard pack, that is one of the things I’ve learned from you and I’ll pass it on
Flashbacks from my trench digging time as that video was in my infantry era. We rarely build it up to a level 5 though, and one pain in the butt you forgot to mention is those dam roots! Keep doing these videos, you are a legend
@@thrash208 sands also really soft to dig in. I live on a big ass pit where sand used to be excavated from and do a good bit of digging out here, it goes fast because of how easy it is to dig the hardest thing is keeping the top soil back and everything camouflaged
Done the Russian trenches on Salisbury plain and up on sennybridge training area on section commander battle course and platoon sergeants battle course.
We had motion and sound sensor in Croatian independence war. We wired the cans of the food on the field. You think you don't hear them but you do up to 400m even if there is artillery or anything else. You just get used to these "normal" sounds but the ringing cans you hear like someone is sneezing in your face.
I remember on an excerxise in Kenya a few years ago. the whole platoon had been digging through rock-hard earth from around 9 am all through the afternoon and evening. we had made very little progress with us only going down by 0.4 meters. finally at 1 am the boss said to stop rest up. then the sappers turned up around 3am with a plant within 10 minutes we had us 4 trenches about 1.5m deep.
It is surprising how little can have a large impact on your survival when it comes to nukes. Simply being in the shadow of something opaque to infrared light can prevent you from getting nasty and lethal third degree burns on half your body. Hence the "cover" part of "duck and cover". Although dirt and revetment reflects a portion of IR light, so you can still get burned in a trench depending on the intensity, so having an opaque to IR cover over the trench can greatly reduce the heat you have to deal with. Regardless, being nearby a nuclear detonation will never be a pleasant situation. In the Priscilla Detonation (part of Operation Plumbbob) bunch of Marines were placed in a trench only 2 miles from a 38 kiloton nuke detonated at an altitude of 700 feet. They survived but got violent thrown back and forth on the sides of the trench. Priscilla was meant to only be a 14 kiloton detonation which wouldn't produce much fallout if detonated 700 feet above the ground; but since it ended up being 38 kiloton, the 700 ft airburst wasn't enough altitude and thus it showered the Marines in fallout.
I guess you'd rather make them when forced to, when under fire with minimal protection. Nothing like sitting in a puddle with dirt in your every peace of clothing 👍
This is a new one on me. I had thought that things had more or less settled on a series of separate fighting holes positioned to provide for interlocking fields of fire. But I guess it could depend on how long somebody intended to hold the area for. Proper trenches obviously require a lot of work and a certain amount of material for decent reinforcement. So if you're planning on holding that area for an extended period of time it would make sense. But if you're only going to be there for a few days at most it wouldn't be worth the effort, and fighting holes would do just fine.
Knowing how to construct field fortifications by hand is a skill that too many forces are losing. HESCO spoiled a lot of folks, even given its usefulness -- HESCO won't be everywhere, and you may find yourself needing to fall back on the old ways. Empty sandbags are cheap, lightweight and easy to carry; if everyone in a squad carries 10 of them rolled up and duct-taped together, they'll have plenty of bullet- and shrapnel-resistant protection for most positions - that's a 7-Sandbag Sector, with three additional bags per person. Yes -- artillery in the modern day is extremely accurate...for the armies that have those accurate rounds and, frankly, the armies the armies that can afford super-accurate tubes and missiles. If the opposition is not at that tier, simple sandbagged fighting positions and communications trenches are still hugely effective: 2 sandbags will stop most .50 BMG-scale rounds, at least for a while.....Learn how things were done in the past -- the Grognards paid for the knowledge, the least you can do is learn from them.
What people often forget about modern trench warfare is that not only have the weapons to blow up trenches gotten quicker and more accurate, but trenches can now be dug and subsequently abandoned far quicker today.
And the right ones. In the US civil war machine guns was placed as artillery in WW1 they figured how to NOT fire at the enemy in front of you but to shoot in sn angle. That way they had more rows of targets to hit. Several maching gun nests doing that, defending each other, causing a massacre.
The right lessons. When offensive power greatly outstrips survivability, movemwnt becomes impossible and the most effective method becomes not to directly engage. When the army becomes sufficiently sized that the flanks can no longer be manouvered around the fronts stabilize. Trench warfare is the natural result of technology in the 1900s.
@@ineednochannelyoutube5384 US Civil War; Had trench warfare. Had underground trench warfare. Had Landmines. Hand grenades. Machine guns. Submarines. Iron Warships with turrets. Torpedoes. Artillery. ... An awful lot like WW1. After the Civil War, US leaders realized this was a bad way to fight, but the Europeans, having not fought the battles themselves, learned different lessons, and mimicked what they saw. WW2 had ALL of the same weapons and tech, plus more, and yet we didn't devolve into trench warfare. also, in WW1, the Europeans wanted the US to fight the same way they had up to that point in WW1, and our leadership was not ok with that. we implemented different strategies that were effective at breaking through trench lines. The US leadership did not view trench warfare as the right approach in WW1. Also, Woodrow Wilson proposed forgiving Germany much the way Lincoln forgave the South in the Civil War, but France/UK were having none of that and desired retribution from Germany...we all know what that led to. In WW2, the US dictated things and finally got to follow in Lincoln's footsteps and worked with Germany and Japan, rather than condemn them the way UK/France had. This is but a minor taste of how the Civil War influenced WW1, both right and wrong influences. Look also at other smaller conflicts post-Civil War, and pre-WW1 (Pancho Villa, Spanish American War, etc. and you will see the shift in doctrine away from trench fighting by the US, despite all these new weapons). Weapons continue to get more and more deadly ever since WW1, and we haven't yet returned to trench warfare as a dominant strategy since. Your conclusions are fundamentally flawed. Try applying the "deadly" WW1 tactics against dispersed, smaller, mobile units that are no longer entrenched. How well would those same WW1 tactics work? not so well. If you think trench warfare is the right way to fight in WW1, then you lack understanding of the fundamentals of warfare. I recommend reading, or rereading, the Art of War, slowly and carefully. Learn about "initiative", and the folly of trying to control every inch of ground. you need only control strategic positions, recourses, access points, etc. (bridges, port cities, raw material, production, key terrain...). Mindlessly defending worthless terrain is not the way to win.
@@SoloRenegade You are talking nonsense, so I wont read it. The us civil wr primarily consited of napoleonic style formation warfar, and had enormous casualities for that reason. Wwq started out like that, and tuened into trench warfare. The US had no clue in hell of its actual nature, and pointlessly lost quiet a lot of men before the commanders started listening to french advice.
@@ineednochannelyoutube5384 French advice? you mean the guys that fought trench warfare for 3yrs before the US finally joined the fight? You can't claim I'm talking nonsense if you didn't even read what I said, dismissing it out of hand. If you can prove anything I said was untrue, please do so. But just dismissing my comments out of hand is not a refutation of what I said. Not only that, but it ruins your own credibility.
Original video from A.Ryan TH-cam channel. It’s not his content but the videos are from his channel. Check it out I guess…
th-cam.com/video/zwoeCxfOVwk/w-d-xo.html
A point i wanted to make...Yes,perhaps to some trenches are a scary thing to consider,or defense positions...but you have to consider the fact that they protect you,and this is your safe place ...if anything happens you just charge the enemy...
besides,it is best not to calculate everything...it wastes time and do no good
surely this is more of a fox hole then a trench?
I love his videos. Takes me back to some of the training videos from the 90s.
How effective could you make a trench at resisting fallout? Could you make a roof, even a few inches of soil and wood over your head would give decent shielding.
wrong video? that link takes us to one that shows the loading process for a machine gun
To quote a captain I know, "as long as the ground keeps stopping bullets, we'll use it."
The Azerbaijan Armenia really makes me question this. If you cannot control the air, you're sending your men to slaughter. I saw the propaganda drone footage 😔😔 poor Armenians were sitting ducks.
@@Dan_Therapist thats why its called genocide...
Salve Imperator, my lord!
@@robinderoos1166 no, I mean the recent war faught of Ngorno Kharabakh like 3 months ago
@@robinderoos1166 Massacre not Genocide. no need to be soooooo dramatic.
As you pointed out, trenches never caught on as much in the navy.
Marianas trench!
They should have press ganged Moses.
@@PhazonSouffle ahahahaha
🤣 I mean, with technology nowadays chances are if something big enough hits the ship we're all fucked anyways.
imagine a battle in ocean where one ship have trenches and the other have it too
Rotating manpower is essential. I've worked construction for years and seen what happens when you send the same people to do the most physically demanding jobs the quality and production goes down along with morale you need to rotate them give the guys a break and send in a refreshed worker. An excellent point made!
Basic routine of field fortification work in the Swedish army when I did my conscript training was for one member of the two man fire team to work while the other prepared a snack for the one working as well as inspecting the work for potential improvements and provide encouragement until it was time to switch.
You oughta talk to my last boss. 20 years, i was always the guy on the jackhammer, or getting to deal with the toxic chemicals. I've watch him burn out a lot of people sending them to environments they despise continuously. It took years, but yeah, my quality and production is tanking. I just stopped caring. Was never going to get a chance off the hammers until i couldn't hammer anymore.
I quit a few months ago.
Send in the apprentices!
@@hosmerhomeboy kinda happened to me too I'd have to core manholes holding a 35lb hammer drill over your head every day for hours especially if you hit rebar and need to start over was brutal. They never rotated me because "I was dependable" "I was the fastest" "i had the most experience" "I was the best at it" all of which was true🤣 but Some days I could barely hold it up. I loved the work but it was brutal and has lead to shoulder issues. There was other things like the jumping Jack also only me on it right after coring a manhole. Loved that job though I miss it. Jack hammers are brutal after lengthy time though.
@@thrash208 yeah i do the handheld coring machines too. Nothing worse than over the head and hitting rebar. Last two years were a wake up for me. Did most of a year without any days off, then one day, i just could not get out of bed. I literally couldn't move. Was in traction from my neck all the way down. It's hard to find someone else who can even do half of it with me though. Luckily, i have a good apprentice who puts in about 30% of the time on the tougher jobs now.
Revisiting this, a year into the Russo-Ukraine War....Still meaningful, and still worth the watch....Rewatching a bunch of these videos.
Seems as relevant right now as it can get.
Indeed.
Extremely relevant. Surprised that the war became a trench war
@@baer0083 Seems more relevant
@@Sparticulous Not really surprising, actually. Once the Russian offensive bogged down (that's a LONG story, for another place), trenches became inevitable, as they buy time in the short term, and cost extra time and effort to crack in the longer term.
Trenches were the most humane part of WW1 despite the reputation. Before that, people were mowed down wholesale by machine guns. Soldiers were pretty safe in the trenches too. It was only when they were ordered OUT of the trenches that things got really bad (generally speaking).
I wouldn't describe the terribly poor conditions of the trenches humane. It's still better then running across an open field.
Wouldn't call them "humane" i'd call them "a natural reaction to being mowed down in the open is to dig yourself some cover". Trenches were used quite a lot in the US civil war for the same reason
It wasn't exactly humane. It was more like, "if we don't build these, we'll all die". On August 27, 1914, France lost 27,000 men in less than a day. Machine guns were that effective against armies.
Well, until the sappers get involved that is, then you realise that static defences can turn even the ground beneath you into your enemy.
Trench foot has entered the chat.
Iraq 2003 we dug in everywhere so did the Iraqi Army. Trench warfare ain’t going nowhere. We became experts on digging in fast and deep
Haha not me but my dad was in Iraq but Iran Iraq, and he was 55th airborne
He rarely fought in trenches, and the iraqies did (Al faw) and the first siege of Iranian forces was a success with minimal cas BUT, the Iranian defence was a whole lot different stories
Instead of hiding in trenches they had strong holds in mosques which did work but they got pushed back and lost 70-100 men And iraqies thousands
Proving that trenches are affective at specific times lol
Edit:
But that was a different war to modern day warfare as only one side was mostly knowing what their doing (not getting political) and I think trenches are ineffective against modern warfare but agains waves of infantry and armour it is a good tactic to have in mind.
They said war in the future will also be done under ground complex (tunnels and such)...
Building goes higher but war goes lower...
@@casekocsk There was this Vietnam-style entrenchment where they dug more mines than trenches... on second thought, they just lived up to the name "foxhole".
Also, cities have metro and sewers and underground cables and urban warfare isn't going anywhere, so USA has a training program for tunnel warfare.
Apparently they didn't have proximity or ICM for their artillery.
*Tries to resist not making a dirty joke*
There is an expression among a certain Army's infantry: "Either we bury ourselves or the enemy will do it for us."
Wartime humour is somewhat dark.
The swiss?
@@fan9775 indians
@@plebius At this point they could use shovels. In equal fight close range means death for any tank.
@@plebius Well, relatively equal happens sometimes, but politicians usually avoid war if they see equal chances.
The ancient Terran trench, the saviour of all guardsmen!
Imperial commisars, the bane of cowardous guardsmen!
And the home of the Death Korp
*Happy gas mask noises*
The Emperor Protects!
This strategy stood up for many millennia, tried and tested by Mankind.
My lieutenant in the Finnish Army had a saying "When a soldiers movement forward ends it keeps going 3 feet down before it stops"
Not the best translation but I hope you get the idea
3 feet is simply not enough in many cases
@@e.s.6275 its a field grave, we dont have time to dig a proper 6 feet.
What
@@outforlunch1258 meaning when you stop walking you dig yourself a foxhole there where you stopped
@@e.s.6275 it's called a hasty fighting position. There are multiple phases of fighting position. An infantryman should always be improving their position. You usually aren't going to go right into trench digging unless it's a major strategic objective you know they'll be coming to attack and they're at least a few days away. Otherwise you're starting with the hasty. Moving on to an actual fox hole. Giving your foxhole cover / concealment. Then begin joining fox holes with a trench.
Loved seeing this video again. Back in 95 I was part of the troops that made this video. This was filmed in Valcartier with troops that had just completed our Pioneer course.
How cool! Thanks Canuck! From Iowa.
After years in the army I went and transferred to the Navy...No Trenches and my bed was where I left it ... but also no where to hide on a Destroyer!
In the Army you might be able to walk/run away if things go wrong. In the Navy that is not usually an option.
@Christopher Hobbit Same thing with EOD too then. you see a "Juggernaut" run, you follow.
*flashbacks of Kriegsmarine incidents*
I envy you...you never experienced the gut wrenching realisation that you left some kit behind when you bugged out of it!
@@MichaelJohnson-qd7cq you can swim...
there is a saying among the Finnish Jaegers:``Jaeger is allways moving, if not forward then downwards`` learned this while served my time in finnish military
What is a "Jaeger"
@@monetum1392 It literally means “Hunter”. It usually refers to light infantry/skirmishers rather than line infantry.
@@monetum1392 basicly like rangers in usa army
@@jockjimmy9769 I'm german I know what it means it's the context that confused me so thank you
@@monetum1392 basically like the German Jägertruppe.
Imagine fighting in the trenches and then getting the order to charge the no mans land between the enemy trench and yours.
Our grandfathers had big balls.
Bc they didn't watch any movie which shows them how dangerous it is.
My grandfather survived both ww1 and the eastern front of ww2, I dont know how, but his balls must have been massive
@@mehmetilbasan4383 they knew how dangerous it was...
They would have been shot too if they didn't go over the top
@@mehmetilbasan4383 doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that getting out of your trench and exposing yourself to a platoon's worth of rifle fire and machinegun fire will almost guarantee your death
Two years later, we saw how this video is totally right
Ďakujeme.
"If you can´t remember, claymore is pointing your way."
- Murphy -
This actually happened to a guy on my basic..no joke
@@w.murphy5151 "FRONT TOWARDS ENEMY" Whatever do these mysterious scribings mean, I wonder?
@@BullsMahunny haha that's why everyone was so confused, "mate it's written on the bloody thing"
One would think it's dummy proof but in basic we had guys setting them up backwards.
Then you're your own worst enemy and the claymore is facing the right way. Front toward...
It's really crazy actually, a lot of US Army units have started doing this type of training again, especially since the renewed effort to make us a Force on Force type of Army.
Well... Technically the drainage of the Afghan and Pakistan countryside are the trench of the ISAF...
The US army has become the Cringe Nato forces
@@eyazz5410 I was thinking about a more emphasized certain type of trenches that involve a certain near peer style
I’m up in Alaska and we haven’t been doing much trench digging but we’ve been going hard on the arctic training to prep for a fight with Russia. Just got back from two weeks in -30 to -60. Shit sucks.
@@oban6051 fuck... that...
I was in Mortars, we had our trenched dug for us by the Engineers, we just finished them off
Luxury, bloody luxury. I was in a Canadian Mortar Platoon in the 70s, and we generally dug our own pits.
@@chuckhainsworth4801 lol when I did my original mortar course, we had to dig our own (along with six bays, three for ammo three for sleeping) but from then on....engineers sorted the main dig, we just sorted it all out
@@chuckhainsworth4801 plus, we were mechanised so stuck to our 432 most of the time
You killed the engineers?
@@haalstaag didn't have tracks in my Bn. Dodge 3/4 universal carrier, or one cramped, beat to hell, old truck.
3:1 for defensive, 5:1 for fortification not including force multiplier or int. Basically if you are planning for a raw engagement a 4:1 ratio is a good starting point. Remember the plan that survives contact with the enemy is a simple and clear one.
I was a South African conscript infantryman in 1990 and although I was too young to participate in the border war, we did train for conventional warfare, especially during JLs. Our doctrine was to dig stage 2 trenches and never beyond that. The reason was that squads were kept mobile all of the time. We never spent more than 2 nights in a trench. Hated sleeping in a trench when it rained.
I was in the US Army for twenty three years, and yes, I dug a lot of fighting positions, even though I was not infantry. The engineers have CEE (combat emplacement excavator) to help dig trenches and bunkers. The materiel such as sand bags, stakes and shoring would be supplied by the engineers at the brigade or battalion level. When I was in Germany, my unit had some problem with metric tons versus imperial tons. At one point, our S-3 commented that we would needs "a butt load of barrier material" The main support Battalion commander didn't miss a beat and asked, "Is that a metric or imperial butt load?"
Lol: yes
LOL
"It's important to not give away your position" (starts clearing brush with a chainsaw) XD
in eastern block doctrine, you use the earth to build a raised protective barrier in front of you, then you can camouflage it with leaves and grass. You can even dig out a small tree or shrub and place in on top. NATO soldiers will definitely not think about the DAMN SHRUB shooting at them...
Probably comes from russian manuals who really amstered hiding during ww2.
Compared to what is shown in the video for example, Hungarian soldiers also trained with using their combat shovels to shallow individual trenches first, but with the soil used as extra height, it was done faster, and there was no need to dispose of soil. And when moving the same soil was just shoveled back into the trench.
@@KorianHUN I was thinking more about the sheer noise. If you're trying to quietly dig in, chainsaws can be heard for miles away
@@DeadBaron yeah might as well use dynamite to dig trenches...
@@robinderoos1166 sounds american let's do it
@@KorianHUN It dawns on me that the camouflage needs to be fresh as well or it could give away the defensive position.
Love the ground in Europe and North America in these films, all my digging experience in Australia was in ground packed like concrete with lots of large rocks. One hole went through three entrenching tools!
Hey! I found some lovely soft soil at home. Granted it was from Bunnings and I had to use a pickaxe to make the hole for it. But after hours of hot, sweaty, sweary work I had made enough space for a bush. Of course the bush died after a couple of weeks but that soil stayed soft for almost two days!
Nothing but clay in North Carolina.
In Afghanistan, we used HE to try to hammer our stakes down for our wire. Bent the damn things.
Some soil isn't meant to be dug, and only brute force can fix that problem.
I was temporarily on Gotland (Island in the baltic sea) and told the soldiers to dig foxholes.
I came back a few hours later and asked if they where done, the said the foxholes was deep enough to lie in. I told them of and said they should be standing in them.
Came back another few hours later and realised I hadn't considered the whole island is made of stone.
Patrick Challis sounds like here in central Texas.
@@TheKiltedGerman 😆 I'm from Charlotte. I'll do every job I've ever had again accept dig holes. Fucking red clay. It's like digging through bricks for those of you that don't know.
In the Russian army we had a manual of surviving in the modern day battlefield and about 20% of the manual was dedicated to entrenched and 5 % to finding cover from artillery if there are no trenches or foxholes nearby.
If I may respectfully, I’d love to know your thoughts on the current war in Ukraine. Personally, as an American, I tend to believe that a sovereign democratic Ukraine has the right to exist, regardless, if it struggles with issues like corruption, and some people being far right fascist conservatives. I believe that Russia itself is far more fascist than Ukraine, and is led by an authoritarian dictator. I believe Russia illegally invaded Ukraine in an unprovoked aggression based on propaganda that honestly didn’t make much sense and continues to change. I find it fascinating that anyone can support this war. It reminds me of the second Iraq war, which I also think was illegal and unprovoked, even if Saddam Hussein did need to be removed from power. Wow, that war may have had noble goals along with flat out. Lies on why we invaded, ultimately our miss management, directly after we top of the government lead to disastrous results. America should not have invaded Iraq the second time and should not have managed the country the way it did after “winning.“ But back to Ukraine, I’d love to know your thoughts as a Russian, who is in the military. But I understand you might not be willing or able to give them as I know other Russians, who are really against the war, but don’t want to talk about it Online. Which honestly makes sense when you’re dealing with a fascist authoritarian dictatorship like Russia. Anyway, I really hope Ukraine removes Russia entirely including Crimea and is able to then join NATO and the European Union so they have some form of security and safety as they continue to try and grow and prosper as a sovereign democracy, who is truly independent and free.
I think that both countries are wrong in this war. Before the army i was in an organization which was aiming at toppling the government of 3 countries namely Russian Ukrainian and Belarusian and creative a confederate socialist country. Now this organization is illegal in Ukraine after our actions in a Ukrainian coup that has removed a pro-russian Ukrainian president. However we were unable to take the power. Upon being conscripted (forced into the Russian army) i couldn't have been associated with any political parties or movements (especially left radical ones). I think that this "war" (it's illegal to call it a "war" in Russia BTW as it's called "Special military operation"). So in short i wish that both Russian and Ukrainian people realize their main enemies (which are their own governments) and help each other liberate from them.
@@ttrestle I think a world where we all understand eachother, is a better world, so to pass on a few words. None of your opinions are 'bad' they are what one would expect from an American. America is a country that has the safety of two oceans to make being invaded unlikely, nonetheless it wants nearby countries to see things their way, the US uses a variety of tools today and historically to make sure latin america stays friendly to it, and is fairly hostile to them when they arent, see Cuba, Venezuela, the invasions of Grenada and Panama. This is the mindset of a great power, and Russia sees nations on it's borders in the same way, a Ukraine that is actively hostile to it and arming itself is threatening and humiliating alike. From the perspective of the Kremlin the war is pretty simple, and something that has been on the cards since 2014, something which really was an inevitability given the west from that moment on had the full intent to use Ukraine as a place to oppose Russia, calling it unprovoked is absurd (not to say it is justifiable or moral), and propaganda has nothing to do with it, that is a tool of the state to explain it's actions to the people.
From the perspective of common people, most Russians simply are apathetic, not because they don't care about human life, but because they have grown up understanding they have no power over their government, so whether it's in the right or the wrong they don't have a reason to care, certainly not before it effects them personally. They will view it as a tragedy in the way every war is, amplified by a genuine view that Ukrainians are a brother people, they might be more positive towards the war or negative, but ultimately they try not to think about it. Of course there are Russians more openly critical, and more openly supportive. For those who support the war, the reasoning is simple, they are patriots and view serving their country as important, the propaganda might make it easier for them, convince more people in the middle surely, but someone who finds serving the motherland morally good, will do so regardless of propaganda.
And importantly even if you aren't particularly pro war, once it starts, one naturally wants victory over the prospect of thousands of their sons and fathers having died for nothing. Especially if there are very real negative consequences that are easy to imagine from losing.
@@vladislavshevchenko634 you believe both countries are wrong with the war? Omg I just lost so much respect for you. Imagine someone broke into you home and killed some of your family and refused to leave some of your rooms. Would you believe both parties, the homeowner and the invader, are both wrong? Jesus Christ man. What has happened to so many Russians with the propaganda they’re soaking up from the fascist authoritarian dictatorship that runs the state media? It honestly reminds me of books I’ve read about Nazi German where the population grew ever more tired of war towards the mid 1940s yet still thought the illegal invasion and killing of civilians and soldiers of so many sovereign European democracies was justified just because German fascist civilians were so indoctrinated into state propaganda. It’s sad to think you are the same way. I hope you break free of mind forged manacles in the future and realize that a sovereign, independent, democratic Ukraine has the right exist… especially free from illegal invasion and occupation by a fascist authoritarian Russian dictatorship.
@@evangelosvasiliades1204 that’s fine to say we should all get along but you do realize that Ukraine never provoked Russia right? Even the leader of Wag er recently admitted that Ukraine was not shelling eastern Ukraine and Russia illegally invaded in 2014 and illegally annexed Crimea. I mean, it’s just so naïve to say we should all get along when one side is doing the unprovoked aggression, illegal invasion, and occupation. Ukraine literally just wants the right to exist as a free democratic country. They wouldn’t even care about joining NATO if Russia wasn’t constantly Acting like a fascist authoritarian dictatorship that kills civilians and politicians, illegally, invades, other countries like Georgia and Ukraine, etc. Yes, I’m an American, and maybe I am naïve to want a rules, based civilized global order where countries have the right to be independent and free. But guess what, that’s the right attitude to have. we are legitimately the good guys for thinking this way. Even if some countries are corrupt and need to improve, it’s better to be a sovereign democracy, working to improve that it is to illegal invade another country and kill rape in torture it’s civilians and soldiers.
What made WW1 unique was that entire armies were spread across the entire frontline in trenches, which had unfortunate results. Trenches themselves, however, have always been and probably always be an aspect of warfare.
Yeah. Underrated comment. Unlike what movies tell us, for example, sieges in the classical and medieval times involved a lot of digging, building ramps, wooden pallisades and other cover. Especially romans were known to be really proficient at this, which isn't really a commonly known thing it seems.
My most memorable experience in trenches was in Wainwright, Alberta.
-40,trenches dug and as I scan the area with binoculars I see in the far distance a house, for we were at the very edge of the training area.
As I peer into the big picture window, I see buddy boy on his lazyboy with beer in hand watching a hockey game.
But I did keep warm cursing his dark soul!!🤪
Well at least he wasn't watching you guys with binoculars
Ahhhh camp wainwright Alberta Canada, I was there training back in 1980-81 I remembered the brutal onslaught of the black flies & mosquitoes during American/Canadian military exercise. I was in the 9th infantry division from Ft. Lewis WA. Had a great time, good time, great experience with you good neighbors. 👍
It's been awhile, but I remember the US Army (80's- 90's) used to dictate that the longer you are in a position, you would start building a defense. From hasty positions to fighting positions to more detailed and complex defenses. Overhead cover, defense in depth, LP/OP's, security patrols. At the time I served we were focused on fighting the Soviets in Europe, so there's that.
Always improve your fighting position!
Still a thing
Even in the Vietnam War, it has been proven that although trenches are no more impervious to modern artillery and airpower, they still greatly reduce the potency of artillery bombardment. Modern portable AT weapons also make breaking through entrenched positions with tanks more risky.The same applies to MANPADs.The trenches are just more proactive in it's way of defense.
Fox-holes > Open Ground
Trenches > Fox-holes
Caves > Trenches
@@Marinealver Cave are just free bunkers and everyone love free stuffs.
@@minhducnguyen674 *insert free real estate meme*
@@minhducnguyen674 Fires HEAT rounds just above the cave.
@@josephpostma1787 >laughs in Iwo Jima
One thing that remains consistent throughout history all the way back until the iron age is every infantryman must become highly profficient with a shovel. Even before modern firearms, infantry were expected to dig fortifications around supply lines and intermediate fortifications.
"Throw your soldier's into positions they cannot escape, and they will prefer death to flight"
-Sun Tzu The art of war
I don't think this is referring to something like a trench. This quote is more related to having your soilders fight on an island vs an island with a bridge on which they can run away. A cornered animal fights harder than one that has the option to flee.
@@JustinHunnicutt or cornering the enemy on a beach or any impassable terrain
Sun Tzu also said, never entrap your enemy's soldiers such that they can always flee, because if you trap them, they will fight to the death more viciously than if they have the option to flee.
@@KyranFindlater the british even learned to master this principle with artillery. heavy shelling forces soldiers to stay down but if you keep it somewhat sporadic it gives those soldiers the opportunity to abandon their positions.
@@JustinHunnicuttI think he's referring to the Russian conscripts who have no motivation to be in Ukraine
Everyone feels gangsta in theyr trench untill the airburst ammo starts raining.
Three words/letters for you bud - OHP - overhead protetion. At least 60cm of earth hard pakced over wriggly tin, supported by thick wood or stell angle pickets.
The real scary thing these days for troops in trecnches is thermobaric munitions which are designed to cause massive over pressure and can create vaccums too.
Think fuel air explosion.
I believe some countries have developed man portable versions, packaged like disposable anti tank weapons - scary AF.
Need a light? 🔥
@@1337flite Probably the best counter for trenches these days.
@@1337flite Russia has one for the RPG-7, its a massive rocket. There are some videos floating around of their usage in chechnya and other conflicts. The USMC has one for the SMAW but I don't know how common it is. excellent weapon for dealing with bunkers, caves, or otherwise hard to destroy positions with conventional explosives.
@@1337flite Yep, a number of countries, including USA. Russia in particular is fond of thermobarics. They have bombs, artillery, rockets, and man-portable thermobarics in VERY large quantities and use them often. Check out the RPO (man-portable) and TOS-1 (Tank chassis with essentially a short-range mlrs turret). They're pretty badass if you're not on the recieving end lol.
9:43 - Neat training story behind this little bit. When I was going through Infantry OSUT during our one of our FTXs We as OPFOR had dug an entire entrenches position ontop of a small hill amongst a few shallower ones and even elevated the positions a little bit with sandbags. Fixing it up with transplanted grass we cut up : branches and small growth.
20 Guys all tucked down with 3 M240s, 2 .50s, and a bunch of SAWs and M4s and during the day 2 searching platoons never found us, walking right by us at the base of the hill. At night all 4 platoons were combing the area and we were so well camouflaged that they walked right through us at either side of the hill. 1 guy stepped into a 240 Shelf we had dug out for the 240 Tripod but since it was at night he thought he just stepped into a hog hole and kept going.
As a kid, I tried to bury a _treasure_ and I didn't get 10cm deep with my steel shovel! It was just stones held together by roots covered by a little dirt...
No wonder my plastic beach spade didn't work!
Yeah, even digging a grave for a pet is pretty hard. On top of that (heh), soil has layers, so there can be topsoil with roots, then a layer of stones mixed with clay and sand.
@@1Maklak bit off-topic: not far from where I live a storm toppled an old tree and the roots ripped a skeleton out of its grave! If I remember it correctly, the ribs showed indentations typical for stab wounds and thus it became a CSI. However, it turns out that the corpse lay there for 700 years!
Another regional story gives me the chills: a peasant wanted to plant trees and dug up two big buckets with what he initially considered coins, but turned out to be all dog tags of 200 men who are still MIA since WWII!
@@edi9892 Nice, I only ever find trash, rocks and animal bones.
@@1Maklak I once found a 100 year old stove apparently taken away by a really bad flood and my mother found quite a number of fossils, but they were thrown away and she got beaten because girls don't play with rocks... #catholic_parenting
Korea was another aspect of trench warfare also. Soldiers had to dig trenches along hillsides to maintain a defensive line. The Chinese and North Koreans did the same to hold strategic hills and points also.
Crazy how relevant was video became since it was put out
"The addition of this easy to remove, overhead cover will further shield them from the heat of nuclear weapons..."
You uh... sure about that? I guess in theory they'd quite away from ground zero but still...
The protection from the heat, gamma-burst and the blastwave are extremely noticeable.
Most of the thermal effect from NW is transferred via light, that means - it travels in a straight line and is stopped by opaque materials. Just lying in a ditch or behind a car can cut the minimum survival distance up to 7 times.
Blast wave is trickier, as it creates low pressure zones and pressure gradients, but a couple of meters of dirt can be a difference between torn eardrums and torn lungs.
So, of course, you're not surviving in an epicenter, but at a distance even "duck and cover" DOES matter, and trenches are life saving.
@@LoisoPondohva agreed 18 inches of earth will stop you being zapped with gamma radiation and dissipate the heat but it's the blast wave and overpressure that will do the damage if your protection isn't constructed well!
@@darthsarcastus1064 The lethality of those effects is much less with increasing distance.
If you doubt the value of protection against nuclear weapons, consider the case of Eizo Nomura. He survived Hiroshima at a range of 170 _meters_ from the hypocenter. Yes, you guessed it: he was in a concrete basement. Actually, there were supposedly 7 others who were able to walk away from that building, although none of the others made it out - but at least it wasn't instantly game over, and soldiers would know what they were dealing with and take steps to remedy the worst secondary effects.
When I served in 1979 our training included " friendly nuclear attack" which means using nuclear weapons to clear the way forward if conditions were failing and needed to use. But the poncho on top of fighting hole is to keep nuclear fall-out ( ash, dust, debris) but also gamma ray burst protection from being blinded from the light and also small false sense of security in order to keep yourself calm.. I remember digging a large 2 man fighting position in Washington State.... all 🪨rocks! Have fun, stay safe. Ft . Lewis 9th Infantry division.
Until someone figures out a better way to create cover without carrying it, trenches will never go away.
Mobile fortifications have existed since ancient times. The most commonly known being the pavise, a huge stand alone shield crossbowmen hid behind when rewinding their weapons. They did have to carry them however until deployed. An undeployed pavise where typically carried on the back offering protection simply by turning around.
Another solution we a mobile wall on wheels that soldiers pushed forward while enjoying its protection. Some of thease old ideas could probably, on occation, be useful even today, at least by the police's SWAT teams.
@@michaelpettersson4919 interesting. I came up with that exact same solution. I added on to it however; the wall can move around it's protection through folding and rotating joints. It would be similar to a mobile personell shield, but much more practical and operated standing up. This allows it to quickly give protection behind it in case of grenades and an attack from behind. Also, I came up with the idea that it can step with rotating feet rather than rolling. What do you think?
@@lawrencemorris2261 Sounds good. Should be good against small arms fire at least, hench why I mentioned SWAT teams.
@@michaelpettersson4919 well actually, I reckon it should be rated to stop the highest expected round for it's situation. That could be NIJ standard level III for civilian threats, but whatever the case, it should provide maximum protection to multiple people behind it as it makes them a bigger target for explosives. Also, it definitely should have multiple personell utilizing it, at least three.
Maybe it should hold a secondary assault shield or smaller wheeled body shield for when soldiers enter closer quarters combat. Maybe it should have the ability to add and remove panels, while operators carryy tack on handles as a part of their gear.
@@lawrencemorris2261 Be careful not to put on too many features thou or you may as well call in an APC! 😉
Death Korps of Krieg: My Time has come.
One important feature mentioned only briefly is angling the floor and digging a trench or pit in your trench for use as a grenade sump. In theory this will cause grenades to roll down in to the sump and contain some of the blast. This is also quite useful as a drain for rainwater to keep it less muddy. Can even be used as a latrine in a pinch if you absolutely cannot leave your position.
17:09 that claymore says practice on it… and it’s blue!
And here regularly i was thinking about how im hopeless on the modern battlefield as my mental specialty is digging in, fortification and defensive static positions, seeing that your saying trench warfare hasnt gone away at all. Means im still effective to some degree. WOO!
The best place to be during an artillery bombardment is somewhere else. I have seen film footage of heavy artillery fire hitting an area that included a perfectly set up low wire entanglement. The earth itself was heaving into the air, and the wire and obstacles would rise and fall along with it. Every subsequent shell seemed to have the same effect on the disturbed ground. Even with over head protection, the concussion would knock you senseless, and probably bury you, and all your sandbags and revetting material. It can be a delicate balance though. In World War One the Germans dug really deep whenever possible, and yet in the Gulf War the American armoured engineering vehicles basically buried the Iraqis in their own positions.
The Germans may have dug deep but not as deep as the Brits.
Peeky Blinders.
@@whereswaldo5740 that one time the brits dug under the Germans and blew up like an entire regiment
Have you been in or trained/fought in trenches in your service? What’s your experiences? If you haven’t then what do you think about the importance of trenches on the battlefield?
Dig in. Dig deeper. Camo. And most importanly - HAVE SEVERAL WAYS TO GT*O is the thing hits the fan.
One of the most memorable "isms" that my NCOs told me was that "sweat saves lives"
When I was about 9 I practiced building a trench system in our backgarden (it had a very large cultivated area and it was between crops) .. I used old field diagrams and made sure not to have any long straight bits... I could never get enough wood but made do with some old sheeting... do the army still intend to connect the indivisual fire positions into or with a main trench or is that not done for some reason (maybe aerial vulnerability)
I live in Canada and I want to join the army I am 14 any advice?
SWAPO dug trenches around their bases in Angola but it didn't help them much when the SADF attacked them.
When I was in the (Serbian) army, I was taught: "Take that shovel of yours and sharpen its edges. That is an awesome close quarters combat weapon! You can cut guys really nice with it And it's absolutely terrifying for the opponent"!
Swedish army does the same. We call it Klas. Agronym for Kort Lätt Attack Spade; in english Short Light Attack Shovel. SLOS.
A sharp shovel also slices through dirt to make digging easier.
@@ExperiencesAndEquipment good for chopping roots too
Sharpened e-tools were a favorite of soldiers as far back as the Great War, as they have more heft than a fighting knife and are less cumbersome than a rifle and bayonet for close quarters battle.
It’s all wagner prison slaves get on their meat marches now
I experienced many trenches and foxholes in Vietnam 1968. Even dug a few, and filled many sandbags. Some of the trenches were sophisticated but most were rough. You definitely felt better in one than out in the open.
My ancestors fought yours in trenches 120 years ago, they have existed since ancient times even in siege battles etc. I doubt they will go anywhere either, though I have no direct military experience.
Nope, trenches are obsolete. They get more and more obsolete as weapons and tactics become more modern.
1. To defeat a trench, all you gotta do is form a spearhead and flank around the trench to attack targets in the rear and as the trench falls back to regroup the rear, you hit both the trench and the trench defenders who are out in the open - basically sandwiching the defenders. .
2. If a trench is long across, it just means the trench cannot possibly be heavily defended in all parts by defenses. You again, concentrate all forces into a spear tip and penetrate through the weakest line of the trench > then encircle its defenders. This is why trenches became pretty much useless in WW2 and Hitler's "blitzkrieg" aka mechanized warfare with tanks are designed to overcome trench warfare.
However, the reason why Soviet trench systems were still effective was because they had "defense in depth" basically huge layered defenses (not one static line like WW1), but multiple decently defended lines where it can absorb and nullify a bulk of hitler's blitzkrieg at the battle of the kursk.
3. On a side note, the increase in air power and artillery power and the cheaper costs of fielding them means you just use enough firepower against the trench until the trench breaks...which it usually does.
4. Furthermore, penetrator ordanance and bunker busters make trenches even more obsolete.
@@davidyu3815 Singling out the trench outside of the counters of it's counters makes your point completely null and void.
@@fus132 I don't get what your comment means. I'm not the one that's just saying this, wiki says it too. Trenches are obsolete. There's a reason why static trenches are replaced with "defense in depth".
And before trenches...CASTLES which were also static defenses became obsolete with the invention of GUNPOWDER and ARTILLERY.
A static trench like I already mentioned and in the wiki can easily be flanked and destroyed.
@@davidyu3815 damn you need to let the world's militaries know
@@davidyu3815 That's an exaggeration. You are safer in a trench than outside the trench. It's not like making a castle which take years to construct. You have manpower on hand in a static position and they increase their defensive advantage as they prepare the ground. There are the gamut of additional advantages with occupying the men in useful activity.
We use a soil auger to make infantrymen holes that later get extended to trenches by drilling additional holes ideally that reduces hand shoveling by 2/3 and time consumption by half
We also make a shallow escape/reinforcement/resupply trench leading away additionally to the Nr 4 trench
Its a 70cm deep 85cm wide trench you can crawl through it leads to the rear, into cover, like the back slope of your ridge
Everywhere army r&d tries mounting guns and rockets on robots. When they should build one that accompanies the troops on all terrains and shovels a 6' by 2.5' foxhole in 15 mins. (average 45-60 mins for us by hand)
I've seen trench digging machinery from ww2.
It’s called a backhoe 🙃
Why do that when shovels work just as well, and are cheaper?
In the U.S. this is called a "fighting position", trench implies a continuous zigzag line as is commonly depicted in WW1 footage.
Explosion force waves couse less trauma in a 90 degree zig zag becouse the steep turns take some of that force. Ingenius I have to say.
@@jekabsojarsulskis9740 it's also because if an enemi jumps in the trench, they don't have a direct line of fire
A short trench is one type of fighting position
US infantry here. We trained a lot for clearing trenches and bunkers, even doing live-fire exercises. And most of our small-arms ranges are set up as a trench defense of some sort, even if it's just a one-person foxhole made of vertical culvert pipe and some sandbags. But because of the time that it takes to dig, in training we usually don't dig more elaborate fighting positions.
A couple of years ago, during my last year at school, since it was the 100th anniversary of WW1, I did a Powerpoint about the technological evolution of the Great War.
When I talked about the trenches, at the end, I inserted a slide titled "When trenches stopped being used".
It only contained a video recorded from a Gopro in a muddy trench in Donbass in 2016.
It was my way to say "Never".
I’ve dug plenty of fighting positions. Never an actual “trench” though. But, even when I was in mech units I never saw a frickin chainsaw..... Are those guys engineers???
Chainsaws are really handy for creating road blocks in woods too.
Old 12b here, the chainsaws were kept for those times where speed was more important, ripsaws are preferred when opfor scouts may be about.
Fieldworks are thousands of years old.. likely right back to prehistory ..
They were proportionally greater during medieval times than in ww1 given the small population but propensity for sieges
16th century, as the figure of the handgunner rose and star fortresses were set.
Sieges were basically advancing a trench until you were close enough to the walls the enemy couldn't point their cannons downwards, if I recall it.
By the late 1450s they had mortars
@@janwitts2688 yeah but it took a while for warfare to develop to the point trench warfare became a thing, the 16th is broadly speaking where that turning point happened for most
@@cdgonepotatoes4219 even before that, you'd get a few sieges like the battle of Alesia. Where Ceaser built two layers of walls around a city. One to seige it, and another around that to defend from any reinforcements. Insane stuff just to take over a city.
During fighting in the Medak pocket, hastily made trenches were the game changer for Canadian forces in thwarting the superior number attacking them. I wasn't there at the time but reflections from friends in my unit (PPCLI), they described this in detail to me.
Once did an exercise at Army Corps level in Switzerland.
Named "Mole" it meant we had three days to dig ourselves in the ground.
Meaning transforming the landscape in a brown network of trenches, dugouts, deposits and posts.
The next ten days were spent filling all the holes up.
If someone could sell a t-shirt that had "front toward enemy practice" printed on the front. I would buy it.
there are a few if you google search for it.First one i found was by rjoapparel (front-toward-enemy)
Of all the wars I wouldn't want to fight in, the American Civil War is at the top of the list, but WWI is just a hair lower.
I hope we don't relive the American Civil War but I think the left can't help themselves and will push us into one.
@@MindBodySoulOk Bruh. “I dont want another civil war but...” is how every civil war starts. Just chill and wait a while, these things always blow over.
at least, there was no gas used during civil war. that's why it was used during WW1. to get the soldiers out of their trenches
@@MindBodySoulOk I'm sorry WHO THE FUCK STORMED THE CAPITOL if I may ask?
@@monetum1392 lol
we were told when i was a young trooper there are two types of hole for a soldier one is a trench the other is a grave they are NOT made in the same way.
In the US Army we just called these fighting positions. Technically it is a trench but that term was more used for the long interconnected networks of fighting positions. As a combat engineer in mostly mechanized units we dug plenty of these things and even had a small excavator vehicle that could do most of the backbreaking work in minutes alongside a crew of M9 Ace earthmovers to dig fighting and hide positions for the vehicles.
This is one of the main reasons the Carl Gustav is amazing. Everything from airburst, thermobaric, to bunk buster rounds. It's essential in trench warfare.
How many times I heard the mumbling profanities as we re-entered our defensive line and got caught in our own wire
Hi Max, this was a good topic to bring up as it is very rarely mentioned! The Roman Legions dug and made a fort every day on their march to whatever. Nothing has changed, march and dig, or die now instead of later. It’s when you can’t dig and you have to build (like a Sanger) using stones makes you aware of what the enemy can see and you modify very quickly. Working at night, moving from Jebel to the next high spot, making a defendable lie up point to rest during the day makes you concentrate your building techniques! The VC taught us how important it was to dig! Harera
yep, every day they marched ~20km and then set up a fort/camp for the night. Pretty good standard operating procedure! I bet those legionaries were tired though, after all that.
Trenches are the real deal. My great grandfather was in a battle somewhere in North Africa during WW1. He was a machine gunner in the British Army. His company was being charged by Ottomans on horseback. In the desert. For lack of a better reference, think of the scene from the Mummy where the French Foreign Legion was being charged at. Long story short, he caught a Sabre to the face, still lived. Bravery and trenches won the day that day. Mustard gas exposure did him in years later after the war.
Send your critical information to historians, immediately!
Really like commentary and practical tips that I think some of us professionals forget.
Having proper tools and not just your personal entrenching tool for a deliberate defense is critical in speeding up the work.
This certainly aged well!
Ill say. Recorded before the peak of the Russo-Ukrainian War and everything on point.
I was US light infantry and we trained to clear trenches regularly, but I don't think I dug one after initial training. Hasty positions, but nothing like an organized, deep trench. I guess HESCOs kinda replaced them for our kinda fighting.
Hescos are really good, but a huge downside is they reveal your fighting position to the enemy via ground-observable means or aerial recon. Trenches are more of a middle ground between established OPs and hasty fighting positions. Not to mention trenches can be set up under enemy fire relevantly easy while hescos you need at least a break in contact to set up. Either way, both have their place on the modern battlefield.
@@daepikduck Totally agree. Don't want to go advertising when fighting a near peer adversary. Not an issue when you're fighting the locals and couldn't hide squat from them.
I guess it depends on whether you're just training or building actual fortifications for combat ops. In my country, we use mainly HESCOs for training, but in war time we will get the combat engineers to assist in building trenches for the homeland defence to complement them. Basically, we don't want to tear up the entire forested training area every other week a new unit comes over to train.
How much did trench warfare improved since the last couple of centuries?
You'd be surprised how similar it is to 100 years ago.
I think it's zero improvement, just change in what miseries are involved. Depending on whether technology benefits defense or assault, the size and shape just shifts.
Nothing can beat the infantryman in a ditch with artillery bombarding the enemy.
Now with mobile direct fire guns
Ah you see friend we made the hole 1 feet deeper.
0
I would never want to be the opposition hearing Scots Guard saying "fix bayonets" followed by bagpipes.
Or the yell "Ayo Gorkhali!".
Like in the Falklands.
were scared motionless
BAYONETS ARE NEVER OBSELEET! So fear them!
The cry "ayo gurkhali" is also feared in India and for a good reason.
@@jekabsojarsulskis9740 Democrats even hate bayonet mounts.
Trench warfare existed as old as the dawn of modern warfare - during the Thirty Years War, armies dug trenches when besieging highly impervious bastion forts to slowly creep in towards the walls while the earth offered excellent protection against musketballs and round shot.
This video aged so well
Like good wine
Very good wine
Every drone footage I've seen is that trenches are a big barrel... a barrel of camofish.
Better than flopping around like a fish on bare ground.
@mandellorian no need to be so dramatic. people have learned. the ones that matter have. thats what they do.
For them when they had no control over their sky’s, if you have at least partial control it’s a hard environment for drones to operate in effectively
@mandellorian That popped immediately into my mind. Previously I sort of dismissed drones - well, no longer!
@@ericferguson9989 if you are insurgent, you don't dig trenches.
If you are weak ass military, you still have AA guns and drones are gone. So they are not an issue either way.
As a construction worker,,trenches can be terrible hot,,muddy,,collapse danger
Had a buddy get trapped in a trench up to his nose. Broken ribs. Crushed wrist. He was lucky. Another guy on the crew dug him out by hand. Saved his life. A large rock had fallen next to him in the trench and every time they tried to use the excavator it just put more pressure on my friend. God was with him for sure.
Generally:
Your life and the success in battle hugely depend on how you make use of the terrain, natural or artificial, like trenches and holes.
It's as simple as that.
There's a great video here on YT of Finish forces simulating a fierce battle of grenadiers and a Leo 2 from the top of a ridge against advancing tanks, that's shows the importance of cover very well.
Like the Vietcong.
can you name the video please? I cant find it
@@ShahjahanMasood
th-cam.com/video/Q7FUjVHx46c/w-d-xo.html
Good video :)
Yea still remember my time as a recruit we were only asked to dig a 2-person trench once.
But it was on a 4 day training patrol and we only had our folding "Entrenching Tool" that was like 5+ hours of back breaking work. (fase 2 trench)
What we would not have given for a real shovel :)
I’m a mortarman is the usmc, lately with the present eastern type threats and the capabilities they have specifically counter battery, we have take a significantly higher focus on digging holes, connecting them, and hide and shoots
Edit: good point about not fighting clay and hard pack, that is one of the things I’ve learned from you and I’ll pass it on
Flashbacks from my trench digging time as that video was in my infantry era. We rarely build it up to a level 5 though, and one pain in the butt you forgot to mention is those dam roots! Keep doing these videos, you are a legend
I'd imagine digging a trench in sand would be a nightmare as well
@@thrash208 not really, about a foot down, sand is usually moist enough to stay put until you get support materials to make it safe.
@@thrash208 sands also really soft to dig in. I live on a big ass pit where sand used to be excavated from and do a good bit of digging out here, it goes fast because of how easy it is to dig the hardest thing is keeping the top soil back and everything camouflaged
Tree roots, those bastards, I still hate them and it was 20 years since I did my army service.
Done the Russian trenches on Salisbury plain and up on sennybridge training area on section commander battle course and platoon sergeants battle course.
Honking, especially the one on sennybridge. Always flooded.
@@ianmills9266 the approach is horrendous
@@colp9492 yep, hate clearing them. Also not a fan of defending it. Wait around in muddy water for ages is even less fun in the winter.
@@ianmills9266 🤮
@@colp9492 fun fact I'm up the trenches working for mabway next week
I guess at stage 12 you're going to install a jacuzzi and cable TV.
"Dig you beggars, dig! When those whizzbangs come over you will always wish you'd dug deeper!"
French : " We use trench warfare and the Vietnamese kick our butt."
Vietnamese : "French warfare is very funny."
Vietnamese trenches were tunnels weren’t they?
@@rpm6085 practically yes
their accent is quebecois thus from Canada.
The viet would tunnel like ants into a hillside , dangerous stuff for both sides.
At which level of trench do you get to wear a trenchcoat? And how many trenches do you have to dig until you get the rank of Franz?
You were looking into the future. Making this video right before the war in Ukraine where trench warefare is now the norm.
Trenches: exist
Siberian permafrost: I'm about to end this man's whole career
Думаешь в декабре 41 земля была мягче?
We had motion and sound sensor in Croatian independence war. We wired the cans of the food on the field. You think you don't hear them but you do up to 400m even if there is artillery or anything else. You just get used to these "normal" sounds but the ringing cans you hear like someone is sneezing in your face.
I remember on an excerxise in Kenya a few years ago. the whole platoon had been digging through rock-hard earth from around 9 am all through the afternoon and evening. we had made very little progress with us only going down by 0.4 meters. finally at 1 am the boss said to stop rest up. then the sappers turned up around 3am with a plant within 10 minutes we had us 4 trenches about 1.5m deep.
In the Royal Engineers building battle trenches is still part of ower basic combat engineer training.
I'm like: oh ok that's a nice position, wait heat of nuclear weapons!?!?
It is surprising how little can have a large impact on your survival when it comes to nukes. Simply being in the shadow of something opaque to infrared light can prevent you from getting nasty and lethal third degree burns on half your body. Hence the "cover" part of "duck and cover".
Although dirt and revetment reflects a portion of IR light, so you can still get burned in a trench depending on the intensity, so having an opaque to IR cover over the trench can greatly reduce the heat you have to deal with.
Regardless, being nearby a nuclear detonation will never be a pleasant situation. In the Priscilla Detonation (part of Operation Plumbbob) bunch of Marines were placed in a trench only 2 miles from a 38 kiloton nuke detonated at an altitude of 700 feet. They survived but got violent thrown back and forth on the sides of the trench. Priscilla was meant to only be a 14 kiloton detonation which wouldn't produce much fallout if detonated 700 feet above the ground; but since it ended up being 38 kiloton, the 700 ft airburst wasn't enough altitude and thus it showered the Marines in fallout.
@@josephburchanowski4636 dont think op will read this
@@fulcrum2951 but I do
@@fulcrum2951 Doesnt matter because I did.
Aged like wine
Man you were spot on with this video my man, when the armys of different countries meet the trench will rise to the occasion
This aged very welll
Who has time for a trench? Foxhole baby. They are just trench apartments.
I guess you'd rather make them when forced to, when under fire with minimal protection.
Nothing like sitting in a puddle with dirt in your every peace of clothing 👍
This is a new one on me. I had thought that things had more or less settled on a series of separate fighting holes positioned to provide for interlocking fields of fire. But I guess it could depend on how long somebody intended to hold the area for. Proper trenches obviously require a lot of work and a certain amount of material for decent reinforcement. So if you're planning on holding that area for an extended period of time it would make sense. But if you're only going to be there for a few days at most it wouldn't be worth the effort, and fighting holes would do just fine.
Knowing how to construct field fortifications by hand is a skill that too many forces are losing. HESCO spoiled a lot of folks, even given its usefulness -- HESCO won't be everywhere, and you may find yourself needing to fall back on the old ways. Empty sandbags are cheap, lightweight and easy to carry; if everyone in a squad carries 10 of them rolled up and duct-taped together, they'll have plenty of bullet- and shrapnel-resistant protection for most positions - that's a 7-Sandbag Sector, with three additional bags per person. Yes -- artillery in the modern day is extremely accurate...for the armies that have those accurate rounds and, frankly, the armies the armies that can afford super-accurate tubes and missiles. If the opposition is not at that tier, simple sandbagged fighting positions and communications trenches are still hugely effective: 2 sandbags will stop most .50 BMG-scale rounds, at least for a while.....Learn how things were done in the past -- the Grognards paid for the knowledge, the least you can do is learn from them.
A really good video, more of this please
What people often forget about modern trench warfare is that not only have the weapons to blow up trenches gotten quicker and more accurate, but trenches can now be dug and subsequently abandoned far quicker today.
Late reply but do they use any machinery to dig trenches?
Oh this brings back memories. Nothing like a month in a trench with Over Head Protection, sleeping bays, spiders and scorpions. Pure luxury...
boy o boy has this video aged well in 2023
A lot of WW1 trench warfare was also a result of Europeans observing the US Civil War, and learning the wrong lessons.
And the right ones. In the US civil war machine guns was placed as artillery in WW1 they figured how to NOT fire at the enemy in front of you but to shoot in sn angle. That way they had more rows of targets to hit. Several maching gun nests doing that, defending each other, causing a massacre.
The right lessons.
When offensive power greatly outstrips survivability, movemwnt becomes impossible and the most effective method becomes not to directly engage.
When the army becomes sufficiently sized that the flanks can no longer be manouvered around the fronts stabilize.
Trench warfare is the natural result of technology in the 1900s.
@@ineednochannelyoutube5384 US Civil War;
Had trench warfare.
Had underground trench warfare.
Had Landmines.
Hand grenades.
Machine guns.
Submarines.
Iron Warships with turrets.
Torpedoes.
Artillery.
...
An awful lot like WW1. After the Civil War, US leaders realized this was a bad way to fight, but the Europeans, having not fought the battles themselves, learned different lessons, and mimicked what they saw.
WW2 had ALL of the same weapons and tech, plus more, and yet we didn't devolve into trench warfare. also, in WW1, the Europeans wanted the US to fight the same way they had up to that point in WW1, and our leadership was not ok with that. we implemented different strategies that were effective at breaking through trench lines. The US leadership did not view trench warfare as the right approach in WW1. Also, Woodrow Wilson proposed forgiving Germany much the way Lincoln forgave the South in the Civil War, but France/UK were having none of that and desired retribution from Germany...we all know what that led to. In WW2, the US dictated things and finally got to follow in Lincoln's footsteps and worked with Germany and Japan, rather than condemn them the way UK/France had. This is but a minor taste of how the Civil War influenced WW1, both right and wrong influences. Look also at other smaller conflicts post-Civil War, and pre-WW1 (Pancho Villa, Spanish American War, etc. and you will see the shift in doctrine away from trench fighting by the US, despite all these new weapons).
Weapons continue to get more and more deadly ever since WW1, and we haven't yet returned to trench warfare as a dominant strategy since. Your conclusions are fundamentally flawed.
Try applying the "deadly" WW1 tactics against dispersed, smaller, mobile units that are no longer entrenched. How well would those same WW1 tactics work? not so well. If you think trench warfare is the right way to fight in WW1, then you lack understanding of the fundamentals of warfare. I recommend reading, or rereading, the Art of War, slowly and carefully. Learn about "initiative", and the folly of trying to control every inch of ground. you need only control strategic positions, recourses, access points, etc. (bridges, port cities, raw material, production, key terrain...). Mindlessly defending worthless terrain is not the way to win.
@@SoloRenegade You are talking nonsense, so I wont read it. The us civil wr primarily consited of napoleonic style formation warfar, and had enormous casualities for that reason. Wwq started out like that, and tuened into trench warfare. The US had no clue in hell of its actual nature, and pointlessly lost quiet a lot of men before the commanders started listening to french advice.
@@ineednochannelyoutube5384 French advice? you mean the guys that fought trench warfare for 3yrs before the US finally joined the fight?
You can't claim I'm talking nonsense if you didn't even read what I said, dismissing it out of hand. If you can prove anything I said was untrue, please do so. But just dismissing my comments out of hand is not a refutation of what I said. Not only that, but it ruins your own credibility.
I am digging two lines of small trenches in my garden. It is hard, but tis realy fun.
on the front trench a am 1, 65 m deep and have made a doug out .