Race to the Sea and the Dawn of Trench Warfare

Did you know that in November 1914, Britain, France, and Germany began constructing their first proper trenches?

In the opening weeks of the First World War, as Germany invaded France and Belgium and began to advance on Paris it did not appear as though they could easily be stopped. By the end of August, the French army had lost over 75,000 men during the Battle of the Frontiers, with 27,000 of them dying on 22 August 1914 alone.

The British Expeditionary Force had been forced back by the German army at Mons, and soon both the British and French began a period of retreat in the face of the invading enemy. Their stand at the Battle of the Marne managed to check the German momentum and push them back over ground they had just taken.

With the possibility of a quick  victory decreasing for both sides, a change in tactics was required.

Race to the Sea

With the route to Paris now blocked and the German army in possession of a significant portion of north-eastern France and much of Belgium, it was clear that frontal assaults from either combatant would not bring about an immediate victory.

Captain Willoughby Clive Garsia, Hampshire Regiment in a trench near Ypres, known as International Trench, using a periscope to carry out reconnaissance for an attack which was successfully carried out with the aid of a gun which was brought up into the trenches. - Image Courtesy of the Imperial War Museum (IWM Q 56706)

Captain Willoughby Clive Garsia, Hampshire Regiment in a trench near Ypres,  using a periscope to carry out reconnaissance for an attack. – Image Courtesy of the Imperial War Museum (IWM Q 56706)

However, the distribution of forces meant that if either side could make use of the empty space to the north, they would be able to envelope the flank of the enemy and cut them off. What followed was a month long ‘race to the sea‘ as both the German and Franco-British armies attempted to outflank each other by heading towards the Channel as quickly as possible. What resulted was a series of attempted ‘leapfrog’ manoeuvres up through northern France and into Belgium.

As both sides began to close with the channel, available space to try and break through became limited. In response, the Germans launched an attack against the Belgian town of Ypres. Jointly held by British, French, and Belgian forces, the defensive positions at Ypres formed a small salient protruding into the German line.

If the German army was to break through the allied flank, then Ypres would have to be taken.

The First Battle of Ypres attack began on 19 October 1914 and lasted until 22 November.

The German army made repeated attempts to break through the defenses and the town was shelled by artillery for the duration of the assault. Though the Germans did make breaches in the defensive lines, they were slow to exploit them and the allied defenders were able to force them back.

By the close of the battle in November, thousands of men on both sides had lost their lives and the race to the sea was over.

Ypres would continue to be the scene of fierce fighting throughout the war and the town was effectively destroyed in the conflict.

Trenches

The uses of trenches in warfare pre-dated the First World War. Building defensive positions out of ‘field works’ was a tactic regularly used by armies since the Roman Empire and was of particular use during the Napoleonic Wars and other conflicts during the 19th century when armies needed to reinforce a defensive line against an advancing enemy.

The early trenches of the First World War were seen as being temporary arrangements that provided both limited protection against enemy fire and also a useful position from which to launch attacks. Whilst the war was mobile in its earliest months, the movement of forces would often leave trenches behind.

Ruins of the Cloth Hall (Lakenhalle) and St Martin's Cathedral in Ypres, 23 January 1916. - Image Courtesy of the Imperial War Museum (IWM Q 29055)

Ruins of the Cloth Hall (Lakenhalle) and St Martin’s Cathedral in Ypres, 23 January 1916. – Image Courtesy of the Imperial War Museum (IWM Q 29055)

Once the defensive lines on both sides solidified, trenches began to offer a variety of benefits. Much of the fighting was taking place in open ground with little available cover. In the absence of alternative options, digging downwards into the ground and then below the surface allowed the competing armies a degree of safety.

This was particularly important, as defensive weapons were proving to be far more useful than offensives ones at this period in the war.

Furthermore, trenches were easier to defend than fortifications built upwards as they presented much less of a target for attacking artillery guns.

Following the First Battle of Ypres, both sides began constructing increasingly intricate trench positions. The Germans in many cases had the benefit of high ground for their positions as well as the added psychological boost of now holding land they wanted to defend, rather than the French who had to try and force them out.

Rather than a single line of trenches, defenses on the Western Front often incorporated multiple parallel lines of trenches, made up of the front line, support lines, and reserve lines. All of these were connected by communication trenches. These trenches were rarely straight lines, and had regular right angles built into them to obscure line of sight and make them more defensible if enemy soldiers were to take a portion of the line.

Battle of St. Quentin Canal. Men of the 137th Brigade (46th Division) on the slope of the St. Quentin Canal, near Bellenglise, which they crossed on 29 September. Photograph taken on 2 October 1918. - Image Courtesy of the Imperial War Museum (IWM Q 9538)

Battle of St. Quentin Canal. Men of the 137th Brigade (46th Division) on the slope of the St. Quentin Canal, near Bellenglise, which they crossed on 29 September. Photograph taken on 2 October 1918. – Image Courtesy of the Imperial War Museum (IWM Q 9538)

Sandbags and barbed wire were used to protect the trenches facing no man’s land, and the Germans in particular often built fortified concrete bunkers into their trenches to protect the men.

Soldiers rarely spent more than three or four days in front line trenches in any one period and they would then work their way back through reserve trenches and then behind the line.

The desire to try and break the stalemate of trench warfare saw the development of many new weapons such as poisonous gas and the tank.

However, the trenches continued to hold on the Western Front until the German Spring Offensive in 1918 and the subsequent allied counter-attacks.

By the closing months of the war, the conflict had once again become mobile and the breaching of the infamous ‘Hindenberg Line‘ by British, American, and French forces in September 1918, particularly during the Battle of St Quentin Canal, marked the end of large scale trench fortifications and, shortly after, the war.