Name/Title
StereographEntry/Object ID
2023.055.3.0152Description
A black and white stereograph. Image is of trees in a forest, several strands of barbed wire are wrapped between them, soldiers stand behind the barbed wire. Above the image "W196 (Star)" is printed, below the image "18360 Building Barbed Wire Entanglements - Reserve Officer in Training Camp. Ft. Sheridan, Ill." 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:
18360
BUILDING BARBED WIRE ENTANGLEMENTS, TRAINING CAMP, FORT SHERIDAN, ILL.
On May 14, 1917, the Unitd States set in motion a plan for swiftly enlarging the size of the military forces of the nation ; namely, the opening of traning camps for officers for the new National Army. Three months of ntensive training were required.
Among the hundreds of necessary things to be learned in practical fashion was the item of trench warfare which plays so important a part in modern fighting. You see here a section of barbed wire entanglement set up in front of a system of trenches built at Fort Sheridan, Illinois. These trenches were constructed entirely by the candidtaes in traning there, and are exact duplicates of a section of trenches which were the scenes of the hardest battles of the war on the Somme front. Just beyond the entanglements, where some of the candidates are still working, can be seen the edge of a deep narrow ravine. On the other side of this ravine are the trenches which have been so skillfully built that, even at such a short distance as this, it would be hard to imagine that the open field in fornt of us was honeycombed with zig-zagging six-foot furrows and undergound dugouts.
During the last month of the training course the men saw active service in night attacks on these trenches, as wll as in night work in defending the trenches. The work done at Fort Sheridan attracted state-wide attention, and during the three months more than one hudnred thousand visitors came to the Fort. The most insteresting experience to these visitors was the close inspection of the trenches and barbed wire entanglements because they were copies of the original trenches in France.
Copyright by The Keystone View CompanyCollection
Photograph Collection