Drought-exposed horrors of trench warfare: More than a century after ‘Tommies’ built ditches to prepare for ‘coming over the top’ in World War I, a maze of crisscrossing lines emerges in a sun-baked English field.
The crisscross lines were captured by a Newark, Nottinghamshire-based drone.
Steven Smith immediately recognized the jagged shapes as possibly being training pits.
During the First World War, British soldiers used practice trenches in a sun-baked field prior to fighting in France. The trenches were uncovered amid Britain’s prolonged drought.
The crisscross lines were captured by a drone in Newark, Nottinghamshire, during the search for a missing individual who was ultimately located safe and sound.
The drone’s operator, Steven Smith, immediately recognized the familiar jagged lines as training trenches upon examining the footage.
Similar trenches were discovered in Rothbury, Northumberland, and Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire.
He stated, “In the past, I’ve visited battlefields in France and Belgium and witnessed the actual trenches. I am versed in military history.
“These are training trenches. They adhere to the contour of the ridge. They brought to mind what I had witnessed on the battlefield.
While the horror of the Western Front trenches is still clear in the collective mind of millions of Britons, less is known about the presence of training counterparts in Britain.
At the outset of the war, trenches were dug across Great Britain as millions of untrained soldiers signed up to fight and needed to learn crucial military skills before being dispatched to the battlefields in France and Belgium.
There, millions of soldiers from both sides were gunned down as they crossed into No Man’s Land. Between 1914 and 1918, more than 800,000 British men were slain.
This summer’s drought in areas of the country has also exposed ‘ghost’ gardens at renowned country estates and ‘lost’ communities in reservoirs where water levels have plummeted.
During the First World War, British soldiers used practice trenches in a sun-baked field prior to fighting in France. The trenches were uncovered amid Britain’s prolonged drought. The crisscross lines were captured by a drone launched aloft in Newark, Nottinghamshire, during the search for a missing individual who was afterwards located safe and sound.
Steven Smith, the operator of the drone, realized immediately upon examining the film that the familiar jagged lines were likely training ditches.
At the outset of the war, trenches were dug across Great Britain as millions of untrained soldiers signed up to fight and needed to learn crucial military skills before being dispatched to the battlefields in France and Belgium. There, millions of soldiers from both sides were gunned down as they went “over the top” and into No Man’s Land.
Mr. Smith launched his drone at the end of last month to assist in the search for a missing man in the neighboring Beacon Heights park.
After the man was located, Mr. Smith chose to see the footage regardless.
He stated, “I walk the dog there daily.” I have never observed these patterns prior to viewing the footage.
The reason they have never appeared before is because the land is so parched.
It would appear that the drought has made them apparent. I had the drone in the air while searching for a man who had been missing for three hours.
“Someone informed me that he had been recovered, and as I was returning I noticed them and took pictures.” I was exactly 100 yards from my residence.
Knowing Newark’s civil war history, my first impression was that they might be older, but they are too new for that era.
I did not know if anyone had previously seen them… I wonder when they were last seen. I’m also curious in what happened to the men that created them.
Kevin Winter, a local historian, confirmed that the Royal Engineers trained in Newark during both world wars and dug practice trenches in preparation for the front lines.
Due to the teeth-like appearance, these trenches resemble training for World War I.
Mr. Smith put his drone into the air to assist in the search for a missing man in the neighboring Beacon Heights park. Mr. Smith chose to see the footage anyway after the man was discovered.
Mr. Smith remarked that the drone photographs reminded him of battlefields in France and Belgium.
He stated, “In the past, I’ve visited battlefields in France and Belgium and witnessed the actual trenches. I am familiar with military history. These are training trenches. They follow the ridge’s contour
I must admit that they are not very straight and regular, but perhaps that is why they required practice.
Mr. Winter, chairman of the East Midlands branch of the Battlefields Trust and assistant curator of exhibitions and collections at the National Civil War Centre, stated that their existence was previously unknown, but that similar practice trenches from the same time period had been discovered in Kelham, Nottinghamshire.
Due to Covid, an investigation of the Kelham site, which has also yielded Civil War artifacts, was suspended, but it is hoped that it can be resumed in the future.
Few official records of training trenches have survived, thus aerial photographs and archaeological research are the most effective means of locating them.
In addition to those in Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, and Rothbury, Northumberland, other known remnants of practice trenches are located in Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, and Rothbury, Northumberland.
After the outbreak of war in August 1914, the British government launched a massive recruitment drive to enlist soldiers to fight.
In just eight weeks, almost 750,000 men joined the military. However, every volunteer was required to undertake months of training in camps around the United Kingdom.
There, they learnt how to dig trenches in preparation for their deployment overseas.
After the outbreak of war in August 1914, the British government launched a massive recruitment drive to enlist soldiers to fight. In just eight weeks, almost 750,000 men joined the military. However, every volunteer was required to undertake months of training in camps around the United Kingdom. Above, in May 1915, soldiers may be seen excavating training trenches in Cheshire.
In Britain in 1917, soldiers from the 3/24th Battalion, London Regiment are seen digging a training trench.
A published testimony from a soldier during the First World War provides insight into the training regimen.
The paragraph from Captain Leslie Vickers’s “Training for the Trenches” states: “Men should be taught to dig trenches in broad daylight at first, then when they have mastered the skill, they should be instructed to dig them at night.”
Periodically throughout their training, they should be required to return to the trenches, preferably to the same portions, to enhance and maintain them.
“An good plan would be to organize competitions among the men to encourage them to create creative gadgets for safeguarding themselves and their comrades under occupation.”
‘At times, they should be required to spend a night and then many nights there, performing sentry duty, standing to arms, etc., just as they will have to do in actual combat.
“Another strategy is to select opposing sides with trenches that are within easy reach, say 25 yards apart.
Additional training trenches have been discovered in Rothbury, Northumberland. They were initially excavated in 1915
Other known remnants of practice trenches in the United Kingdom are those on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire.
“Organize a three-day tour of the trenches and allow each side to try to surprise the other.” Umpires can be stationed in no man’s land in order to determine the relative merits of both sides.
At times, the combat can be made more interesting by using innocuous projectiles such as sandbags (without the sand!) rolled into a ball, which is excellent practice for bomb throwing.
In Kent this month, trenches erected on British land during the First World War were discovered.
From Sheppey Island to Maidstone, Kent, the ditches created a defensive system.
The Chatham Land Front would have been Britain’s last line of defense had Germany invaded between 1914 and 1918.
An investigation by Swale and Thames Archaeological Survey Company on land in Bobbing, near Sittingbourne, revealed the zig-zag trench system. It closely resembles those created on Europe’s Western Front.