Portage County Historical Society
World War I Trenches
While the entry of the U.S. on April 6, 1917 did provide access to America's vast industrial output, the European powers wanted access to America's untapped manpower resources.
When World War I settled into trench warfare both sides fought a war of attrition! The horrors of this style of warfare are difficult to comprehend 100 year on! This page has links to videos and articles that try to depict some of the "life in the trenches". For our World War I display at Heritage Park a sample trench has been constructed. See below.
A Few Videos
- Harry Patch - the Last Tommy (Video 59 minutes).
- The Last Platoon: British veterans of the Great War (Video 59 minutes).
- Veterans of the Great War (Video 49 minutes).
- Digging Up The Trenches (Video 1 hour 39 minutes).
A Few Articles
- Trench Life.
- Trenches.
- U.S. Army Trench Warfare.
- Trench Warfare.
- Great War Primary Document Archive: Photos of the Great War.
- Doughboy Center.
- Trenches on the Web.
Our Trench
Digging up part of Heritage Park for a "realistic" trench being rather impractical, we settled on the next best thing. We've assembled an above ground replica. One has to use their imagination to get the full effect, but walking through the trench will give one a small sense of what the average British "Tommy", American "Doughboy", French soldier or German soldier endured from roughly Nov. 1914 to Nov. 1918. Our trench was designed by Duane Greuel and represents an early example of a trench. As the war dragged on trenches became quite elaborate affairs. The Videos and Articles above will give you a very good idea of what it was like to live and fight in a trench.
Major contributors in the construction of the trench includes Best Trucking & Excavating for donating the sandbags and storing them; Stevens Point YMCA Teen Leader Club for filling the sandbags and Crossfit Stevens Point for unloading and placing the sandbags.
Photos of Real Trenches
U.S. Troops Undergoing Gas Training at Fort Dix
U.S. Trenches
U.S. Army Troops Stand in a Defensive Trench in France
U.S. Rifle Grenade
U.S. Troops Rest in a Trench Near Beney, France
U.S. Troops from the 166th Infantry Moving Through Allied Trenches Blemiercy, France
