But WWI trenches weren't those kind of six foot deep trenches that are dug out by a squaddie and a spade. Trenches (at least on the less mobile German side) we

But WWI trenches weren't those kind of six foot deep trenches that are dug out by a squaddie and a spade. Trenches (at least on the less mobile German side) were underground bunkers, concrete and steel reinforced that could survive literally hundreds of tons of high explosives. The shit fired here would be laughed at by WWI defences. Honestly the dummies in the trenches were getting hit yes, but they were still standing. 1916 those dummies would be five hundred feet in the air along with a ton of earth. And the machine gunners would be underground safe (if not actually sound). Yes, the air burst attack there would kill anyone standing in an open trench. But a minute after opening up (and remember this is going to be divisional level artillery you are airbursting here - hundreds of tanks across miles of front, someone will notice) once the attack starts everyone is under the ground in bunkers. The minute you stop they come back out and start firing back. (And they will have mined the ground, have anti-tank weapons etc.) Honestly the more I think about how lethal a battlefield is nowadays the more I think any "front" less than 500 miles wide is just going to bog down