Name/Title
StereographEntry/Object ID
2023.055.3.0134Description
A black and white stereograph. Image is of several soldiers laying down in a trench. Above the image "W112 (Star)" is printed, below the image "18633 French Soldiers Resting in the Trenches." is printed, to the left of the image "Keystone View Company Copyrighted Manufacturers MADE IN U.S.A. Publishers" is printed, to the right of the image "Meadville, Pa., New York, N. Y., Chicago, Ill., London, England." is printed. On the reverse the following is printed:
18633
FRENCH SOLDIERS RESTIN IN THE TRENCHES
Never have trenches been used so extensively in war as durng the eyars 1914 to 1918, in the progress of the World War, precipitated by Germany in her attempt to secure the dominaton of the world.
Foiled by Marshal Joffre in their attempt to seize Paris in the summer of 1914, the Germans fell back upon lines of interenchments which had been prepared beforehand, the men living in dugouts which communicated with deep trenches. Sometimes these dugouts were 20 to 30 feet underground, bomb-proof, and fitted with crude comforts, but more frequently they were simply underground shelters with earthen floors, shelters which afforded the soldiers some proection from the elements, from shells and from bullets.
These dugouts communicated by narrow passages with the front line trenches. When the trench was not being attacked, or when men were not about to leap from them to go "over the top," these front line trenches were garrisoned by sentries only, the majority of the defenders being in the dugouts, comparatively safe from bombardment.
Back of the front line trenches there were usually two, and sometimes three lines of supporitng trenches. Communicating trenches were dug to connect these support trenches with each other and with the front line trench, in order that the soldiers could pass from one to the other in compararitve safety.
The men before us are resting on the bottom of one of these communicating trenches, waiting for the hour when they are to relieve those who are holding the front lines. All trenches were connected with headquarters by telephone, the wire plainly visible on the wall to the left in the trench before us.
Copyright by The Keystone View CompanyCollection
Photograph Collection