The Prisoner
Trench raiding in World War 1.
With great appreciation – Article credit: iwm.org.uk – Voices of the First World War: Trench Raids
There was some general about 30 miles behind the lines wanting to know who was on the opposite side. And he would send up a message, ‘Raid so and so and get prisoners,’ just like that, you know. He ought to have had the job himself…
As trench warfare evolved during the course of the First World War, so did the types of fighting. The British in particular thought it important for their front line troops to dominate no man’s land and remain on the offensive. To this end, soldiers were regularly ordered to carry out raids on the German trenches. British officer Murray Rymer-Jones explained why.
There was a thing that the higher staff were fighting for – very reasonably – was to find out what Germans were opposite you in the line. Or were there perhaps more people being sent from the Russian front, in order to get a complete picture. That was very reasonable. But in order to do that they didn’t come up themselves, they were asking you to do the most stupid things. For example they said to the infantry you must go and do a raid here.
Set the bar impossibly high once again. 👍👍👍👍👍👍 👏👏👏👏👏👏 🫡🫡🫡🫡🫡🫡
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Awww, thanks so much for the huge compliments, George!
Thanks so much, George. I try my best!