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There was a huge difference between the German and British trenches. The idea on the British side was that comfortable (read "liveable") trenches would suck the
by stan_rogers 6y ago
There was a huge difference between the German and British trenches. The idea on the British side was that comfortable (read "liveable") trenches would suck the fight out of the men. Even the officers' dugouts were rather crude. The Germans, conversely, realised early on that aerial reconnaissance combined with poor mobility, unbelievable amounts of artillery and machine guns meant that the trenches were going to be a thing for a good long time, and you might as well settle in and be as safe as you can until the next spell of horror.
- jeffdn 6y agoThe Germans were also rather deep inside France, and thus more content to build systems of defensive fortifications. The British and French were of the mindset that the next offensive would have them making territorial gains, and so whichever trenches they currently occupied were only temporary.
- stormdennis 6y agoYes this is what I understand to be the case also.
- dcolkitt 6y agoBeing in occupied territory also meant that the Germans had a huge supply of slave labor from Belgians and Frenchmen, which they weren't shy about using.[1] Even to the extent that the Entente occupied hostile territory (which was much rarer), they had a much greater respect for human rights. The British, French and Americans had strong liberal democratic traditions, whereas Germany was a highly autocratic and militaristic society verging on totalitarianism by the time the war started. [1] https://www.americanheritage.com/belgians-deported-slave-labor-camps https://www.americanheritage.com/belgians-deported-slave-lab...