Trench warfare
The First World War is remembered by many for the trench warfare in Belgium and Northern France. With armies in trenches just yards apart, many millions of soldiers died trying to capture and recapture small amounts of well defended ground, often by going “over the top”, which meant climbing out of trenches and trying to run through the enemy machine gun fire. Listen to Private Don Murray of Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry describe an attack in France in 1916 (from Imperial War Museum collection)
Our regiments’ main action was in the Gallipoli campaign in modern-day Turkey, where trenches were also a major feature of the action, and in Palestine. The trench reconstruction in the museum is a Gallipoli trench.
Britain and her allies eventually won the First World War, at the cost of millions of lives. Everyone hoped there would never be war in Europe again.