Princess Elizabeth in Wartime

The Western Front

The old British front line at Trescault; A German photograph of the old British front line at Trescault, 10 December 1917. The dominance of artillery led to trench warfare on the Western Front. This image shows a fairly typical British trench, constructed with a zigzag pattern designed to limit the impact of an artillery shell to a small section of trench. The artillery-scarred landscape shows the heavy fighting that had occurred in this location near Cambrai, which had seen first British advances and then German counter-attacks in late 1917.

The old British front line at Trescault

A German photograph of the old British front line at Trescault, 10 December 1917. The dominance of artillery led to trench warfare on the Western Front. This image shows a fairly typical British trench, constructed with a zigzag pattern designed to limit the impact of an artillery shell to a small section of trench. The artillery-scarred landscape shows the heavy fighting that had occurred in this location near Cambrai, which had seen first British advances and then German counter-attacks in late 1917.

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The Western Front was the decisive battleground of the First World War.

After the initial shock of 1914, the power of artillery forced both sides to seek shelter. Shallow scrapes in the ground evolved into complex trench systems protected with...

The Western Front was the decisive battleground of the First World War.

After the initial shock of 1914, the power of artillery forced both sides to seek shelter. Shallow scrapes in the ground evolved into complex trench systems protected with barbed wire. The battlefield became a battle zone tens of miles in depth and stretching from the Belgian coast to the Swiss frontier. Activity never stopped, involving a daily routine of hostilities punctuated by major battles.

The invading forces of Germany were determined to hold captured ground. Allied forces were compelled to dislodge them. Both sides struggled to find the formula for success, experimenting with new technology such as poison gas and tanks. The key battles of this attritional phase – Verdun, the Somme and Third Ypres – have dominated the memory of the conflict.

In 1918 breakthrough became possible. Both sides were near exhaustion, but had found a method that worked. The Allies were forced back by the German Spring Offensives, but after months of desperate fighting launched their own devastating counter-attacks. By November the war on the Western Front was over.

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  • British troops advancing across no man’s land

    photographs

    British troops advancing across no man’s land; Photograph showing British troops advancing across no man’s land through a cloud of poison gas, as viewed from the trench they have just left, the Battle of Loos, 25 September 1915. This remarkable photograph was taken by a soldier of the London Rifle Brigade from a front line trench during the first British use of poison gas at the Battle of Loos. The weather conditions blew back some of the gas towards the British trenches. In 1915 gas was an experimental weapon, used by both sides in an attempt to solve the problem of trench warfare on the Western Front.

  • Shrapnel shells bursting over Canadian infantry

    photographs

    Shrapnel shells bursting over Canadian infantry; Shrapnel shells bursting over Canadian infantry sheltering in a reserve trench, the Battle of Flers-Courcelette, 15-22 September 1916. Trenches were designed to save lives. They were a response to the firepower of modern artillery, which caused huge casualties in the open fighting of the initial months of the war. Even in the cover of trenches, troops could still be vulnerable to accurate shellfire. This image also highlights the purpose of the British designed steel helmet; its distinctive shape was to attempt to lessen the impact of shrapnel exploding from above.

  • Oppy Wood, 1917. Evening, by John Nash

    art

    Oppy Wood, 1917. Evening, by John Nash; Oppy Wood, 1917. Evening, 1918, by John Nash. The British artist John Nash experienced front line service on the Western Front with the Artists Rifles, including at Oppy Wood near Arras. This painting typifies the nature of the Western Front by 1917: a landscape pitted with shell holes, criss-crossed with trenches and dominated by artillery. Two men stand by the parapet of the trench, which is well constructed with duckboards. The beauty of the sky contrasts with the destruction below.