To save the village they had to destroy it

[Jean-Loup]

"Don, was there any mention made as to latrine or toilet facilities in the trench systems? I have never seen where it was mentioned before but assumed that there must have been some effort made to have some sort of toilet within the trench system without having to exit the trench, go to the rear and return again to the trench."

When you look at period plans of 'ideal' trench systems, the 'toilet' was normaly located in a special trench dug towards the rear of the main firing trench (see circles in the drawing below). I remember reading about one soldier who accidentaly fell into the 'toilet' when he took the wrong trench at night.

JL

[DennyB]

Thank you very much for that information JL. I had wondered about that and had never seen it mentioned anywhere.
Denny

[afrikasandman]

very cool presentation! I would have hated fighting and living in those trenches. We whine about having to sleep in tents on cots and what not but those soldiers slept in those nasty holes in the ground on metal cots. Those were some hard soldiers to say the least. Thanks for showing and look forward to more pics. Matt

[Chris Boonzaier]

Its worth noting, all this is on one hill... I hink there were over 10kms of tunnel...

Lets see more!!!!!

[birdie]

Man i'd be dead

If lived anywhere near there, I'd be dead long ago, trying to tunnel through the ground.

Awesome post...........

[VtwinVince]

Super interesting, DonI've always been interested in Verdun as my uncle was nominated for the EK1 there.

[Ralph P]

Don - Thanks for taking the time to post your time in France...interesting history walk you have given us so far. I am ready for more...

[tubist73]

Thanks for sharing that excellent presentation. Superb pictures - above and below ground - as well as a great deal of information I have never heard before. Thanks for taking the time to do this.

Matthew

[FestungSpanien]

Excellent tour and pictures
Thanks so much for posting