Why is modern Trench Warfare so important in battle?

[Music] oh [Music] hello again everyone it's me matt and thank you so much for joining me on today's video we're talking today about modern day trench warfare now when we think of trench warfare traditionally we think of world war one and potentially a little bit of world war ii but of course world war one was the defining time for trench warfare and strategy and it's absolutely terrifying and i mean that in every sense of the word of thinking of being a soldier in that time period operating in trenches of world war one and you know you go through exhibitions and museums and things and i have myself and it just can't even express the similarities the reality of what those uh young men were experiencing during that time it's it's terrifying but the thing is that trenches are still extremely extremely useful in today's modern battlefield and they are also just as terrifying now i myself in the canadian armed forces a reservist in the artillery know fine well that trenches are your best friend if you're coming across environments where artillery is uh is a risk and it can save your life but the more scary thing about trench warfare is knowing that you could be encountering face-to-face infantry engagements armored engagements and that trench could save your life with just a small extra bit of soil placed in one area than the other or a bit of revetment that's been reinforced somewhere else and today's video is really to reinforce that on the pun importance of how trenches really are not something that's going to go away and something that is literally a game changer to you as a soldier or as a serving member uh on the battlefields of today and now if you are serving and you are in the military right now serving in of course primarily the army you know that trenches are taken extremely seriously this isn't something like just digging a hole and sitting in it trenches are actually quite complex in the way that they can be produced and i came across a very fascinating video produced by the canadian armed forces some time ago now the footage is fairly old uh understandably you know this kind of video does have some moments where like that's a little weird but the tactics is solid and and the process and the format of trenches being produced is almost exactly the same now i want to make something very clear that i'm not a subject matter expert of trenches uh i have uh dug a fair amount of trenches in my life and i can safely say they're not the most enjoyable thing to do making a trench is bloody hard work i mean that in every sense of the work digging them reinforcing them defending them fighting in them living in them it's not fun you're living in a hall literally and producing them is a lot of manual labor and hard work and you're going to see in this video that i'm going to go through with you some of the features and some of the principles that you must adhere to to make an effective battle trench if you don't you could literally lose your life and i'm every sense of the word meaning this that if you incorrectly place a bit of wire or a bit of you know cabling or a bit of strut or revetment or soil in the wrong place you could die you could be buried alive in these things or even worse you know attacked shot at and and killed scary stuff and that's why i really do feel like trench warfare is here to stay and maybe not in the more sort of non-traditional sense but if you know push come to shove we're in traditional head-on uh conventional warfare trenches will be a part of your day-to-day routine so you better get used to it so let's take a look at this video and uh go through it and learn a little bit more about the effective battle trench with the canadian armed forces of the past [Music] now one of the things to note here is you can see the amount of equipment these troops are carrying into this defensive location they're setting up as a section to defend the hillside and the section commander is going to give his various orders set up his various defenses and when you're in a defensive position you don't have much time normally you're preparing for a force to advance towards you that in itself is terrifying and the equipment that you're carrying with you is heavy you know ground pounders pickaxes shovels that's on top of your additional equipment i did my aglc and i can safely say the hardest part of the aglc wasn't the command control it wasn't the fitness and stuff it was the one like death march i had to do with the amount of heavy equipment you needed to carry with you to a defensive location uh extra ammunition need as much ammunition as you can all defense stores are heavy and they're hard work to use and to carry and if you're not fit enough to to work with those tools you need to work on it now so get used to operating shovels pickaxes and ground thumpers here the section commander begins by assigning trench positions he then validates the distance between the trenches now i'm certainly not going to preach the choir here and make out like i'm some infantryman who digs trenches every single day and that's my bread and butter but i do know that being involved with a number of defensive positions throughout my training in time that this is really important positioning of where your trenches are is critical either for arcs of fire communication defensive capability uh or spread from artillery attack right if you have indirect fire coming into your position and space in a very weird configuration either too tight or too far apart you can have problems you need to be able to communicate with one another as trenches if you have comms then good if you don't then sometimes it's down to just shouting across from the other trench and you know spacing and positioning of the trenches is absolutely vital and that's why you know the section commander has to review this and it can take time sometimes you'll be halfway through digging your trench and you know the section commander or the platoon sergeant is going to be like yep change the plan this didn't work out we need to move you that can be frustrating don't let it beat you down you know at the end of the day it's there to protect you if you're going into a real war situation you don't want to be complaining about having to move your trench 20 feet to the left or to the right at the end of the day they're doing it for a specific reason people make mistakes and yes it's tiring digging half a trench and having to start again but it is what it is next he confirms the arcs of fire [Music] then indicates the alarm positions the track plan and shows where to dispose of the soil and get the construction materials now while one soldier watches for enemy movement the other begins to dig starting with the fire trench so a point to add here it looks like the terrain they're in is fairly mossy or spongy and little sandy but sometimes you'll be asked to dig trenches in environments where the ground is absolutely hard packed uh clay nasty thick clay if it's really cold out you're gonna get maybe some frost on there too it makes it a lot harder don't fight it take turns work as a team as buddies if you need to you know have a good water break here and there there's no point in you absolutely exhausting yourself digging this trench if you're not able to fight the battle if things kick off right and that's one thing i learned on aglc or my junior leadership course that i did with canadian forces is i was digging like a machine but i found towards the end of the day at my defensive location i was running out of steam for the actual battle that was about to potentially commence so take your time work as buddies work as a team and dig it efficiently work smarter not harder sometimes that's how it works with things like digging rough trenches [Music] [Music] it's important to eliminate any trace of the digging that could alert the enemy to their position [Music] so this kind of reinforces the point i made at the beginning of this video the trenches are not just a simplistic hole in the ground there's some technicality behind it the way in which you shape them the way in which you dig them into a certain depth or a certain width or a certain height and the way in which you dispose of soil and camouflage around it if you just dug a hole and spread soil everywhere that's exactly what you're just doing you're digging a hole there's a difference between digging a trench and digging a hole because trenches have tactical capability whether it be you know hiding that topsoil is important if you have a patrol that's coming through your area and that triple outnumber you as a force there may be instances where you may not actually want to engage them if your camouflage and have set your trenches up correctly you may actually be able to let them go by you uh report them so that you can bring in a fire mission later on it's really critical that you get rid of that topsoil and try and keep the area that you're disposing soil of clean and tidy so it looks natural because if you just create this messy dug in fire position it's just going to be a easily spotted from the air and be easily spotted from optics from vehicles or by foot if the ground forces are coming to your location of course as a defensive point you're basically the standoff you shouldn't even be letting troops go through your lines and normally you wouldn't but in the sense of making sure you're protecting yourself as much as possible you'd be surprised at how much you know sand from above can be seen in disturbing from a trench position being dug so you have to dispose of it carefully and as neatly as possible the trench which measures two meters long by point seven five meters wide is now deep enough to provide basic protection to a soldier lying flat on his stomach so there you have it this is stage one as a fire trench for your buddy and you to individually get into it's short slim and allows you to just get minimum protection before going any further the fields of fire must be cleared once that's been done the digging of the trenches continues to provide the section with even greater protection at approximately 1.4 meters deep just below the arms the trench makes it possible to maintain a defensive position for several days so this is the stage 2 trench it's a lot of hard work to get it to this stage it is roughly 0.75 meters wide 1.4 meters deep and 2 meters long time permitting the trench is widened and an elbow rest is added this will allow the soldiers to use their weapons more effectively now you would be amazed at how much of a difference this makes to your firing position or firing from a trench you'd think that having the trench just as a 90 degree angle would be fine to fire across but i can tell you it's not it doesn't feel comfortable you don't get a natural point of aim it affects your firing position very heavily with just a small half a foot chop into the soil in front of you gives you a really nice stable firing position it also gives you places to put maybe some spare ammo your range card your radios things like this it's really really helpful i can't express how much it is important to focus on making that ledge perfect for you and your fire partner and they keep working installing revetment to shore up the walls of the trenches another point to add here you can see this soldier he's got bare hands manhandling and manipulating this revetment guys if you have gloves wear them this stuff can slice your hands open within a second it really can and if this stuff slips on you you're gonna have a pretty deep wound on your hand i've seen it happen please be careful use your gloves that's what they're there for uh some gloves are protecting better than others normally if you can get sort of the leather or sort of kevlar protected style gloves they're more handy to do this kind of work especially when later on you're going to be working with things like lower entanglements barbed wire razor wire things like that concertina wire have gloves on you when you're digging this kind of stuff and making it revetment's important because you don't want this stuff falling in on you from the sides now my engineer buddies chimo uh they are the pros of this they build trenches as part of their you know it's part of their bread and butter same as the infantry but the engineers chimo really do have the skills to set up these trenches very very effectively i got some really cool uh tips and tricks from the engineers so if you have those subject matter expertise people on courses with you or around you or in your battalion your brigade company regiment whatever it may be ask them questions use that experience because all that experience and those little tips and tricks for things like revetment if you're bending it in the right way and slotting it in the right place it makes your life so much easier i can't express that enough you know you're fighting this metal stuff trying to bend it and get it into the right way engineers especially have that expertise to say hey bend it this way put it at this angle measure it this length slot it in here to make your trench very good for your life and also for you for your sanity at this point then we call it a phase three trench you've put your revetment in you put in your stakes and you've given yourself that ledge to fire from at this point soldiers are generally assigned to add complementary protection installing barbed wire so barbed wire and constantine why are your friend although when you're setting it up you don't feel like it is as much it's very very useful for your defensive position it's a hindrance to the enemy it really does slow them down it's a pain in the ass to try and work through but it's also a pain in the ass to set up it really is as you can see these troops have got those leather gloves on you're going to need them one tip i will definitely add to this is if you have things like waterproofs on or clothing that could get ripped or torn by this stuff when you're setting it up very easily get it off okay wear something that's a lot less worryable if it gets torn or ripped because you will at some point get this stuff snagged on something and your waterproofs is not something you want to have holes in that's going to get you wet and soaking later on same thing for your equipment secure it tied away try not to let this stuff get tangled onto you when you're trying to deploy it because it's just a nightmare and again your energy will be low from digging trenches this will be additional tasks that the section will be given concurrently sometimes to when you're digging the trench so it's almost a bit of a reprieve from having to dig the trench but it's just as much difficulty and and effort and strenuous work than it is digging so just be careful when you're setting up the wire they'll plant mines so again i'm not a subject matter expert here but i can safely say setting up defensive positions is absolutely exhausting it is so tiring and when you're the potential person who's going to be setting up explosives at the defensive positions you really need to take your time and focus uh try and you know set yourself up if you're gonna set this thing up to the most energetic or the most uh you know i guess refreshed soldier that's on the line because setting this stuff up can kill you or those around you if it's not done properly one little mistake and boom it's all over so you don't want the most sleep deprived you know physically exhausted troop setting up claymores on your perimeters or your defensive location if they're just not with it something just to consider for those section commanders to ics when you're sort of doing the more intricate deadly stuff that could occur be cautious of your your manpower and look at the resources you have and say does it make sense me sending someone out there to go put the claymores up and land mines or whatever else if they're absolutely pooped uh they're gonna have a really tough time doing that so you know focus on that it's important and that doesn't just apply for setting explosives resources for anything right setting up extra defenses try and rotate those people through so they're becoming fresh and fresh and fresh and getting you know the things they need to do we still need to eat drink uh sleep in the routine defensive positions take a long time to set up uh even the smaller ones so just something to consider set up trip flares now this may sound a little cliche and weak of me to say but setting up a defensive location is horrifyingly scary uh even in a training scenario it is it can be and not true fear of course in a real war situation you're gonna be in truth here but even in a training scenario you know at some point someone's trying to come get you whether it be sneak through your lines to steal you from the middle of the night whether they're not four fours or opposition force or you know just the staff that are training you messing around with you it's it's it's terrifying because you're always on edge you're tired you're exhausted you know someone's coming to get you you are not the one in charge here they are right the enemy is in charge they can choose to or not choose to come get you you're pretty much locked into a location for the most part you're not going anywhere you have been told to hold this location whether it be to the death or to the training death you're going to stay there right and that can be really scary on the mind mentally thinking that i'm setting up this trip flair to prevent someone in the middle of the night coming to potentially kill me right or my body or the rest of my fire team or my section or whoever else right setting up these defenses and watching this kind of video just reinforces to me the the mental and psychological effect defensive positions have on you and of course you know the enemy that would be coming towards your defensive location would have the same psychological effect because they know they're walking into somewhat of a trap they're prepared for like they've set everything up for them to be engaged upon but as a defensive location normally if you're in a defensive you're going to be overwhelmed there's going to be a larger force coming for you than you for them because that's how it works it's normally a three to one ratio of going to kill someone in the armed forces again i'm not a subject matter expert i'm not infantry i'm not armored and i'm not you know engineers i'm in the artillery but i do know that if you're in a defensive most of the time it's because you've been told to hold the ground someone is coming to get you and this eerie creepy music in this video just kind of gives me the heebie-jeebies because i'm like if there's a real war scenario in trench warfare and you actually had to do this i would be in an emotional state i mean we're all brave but it's it's soul destroying knowing that they're coming for you right install sound and motion detectors now i've never seen noise or motion detecting equipment on the front line with trenches before or in any configuration honestly enough cast and we had perimeter defenses and fences and didn't have anything like this it would have been pretty cool uh whenever i think of something like this i just think of aliens with the harpy or motion detecting system or the uh sentry guns you know fantastic scene of aliens by the way it's a great movie if you haven't seen it but in trench capability we're not gonna be having xenomorphs coming towards us we're gonna have human beings and uh this kind of technology would be quite handy but also quite deceptive against things that could cause false readings or false reports such as wildlife etc or the weather that can also interfere with these kind of things so this is uh you know pretty interesting i didn't think you would see this in some of the older footage but it's out there clearly it exists but i just don't know if it still has much use in today's battlefield knowing that they have time the soldiers continue to work on their trenches to ensure maximal protection from enemy attack so at this point you can see the trench has developed significantly they now have a small little hide on the side of the trench there to actually get into they've set up their ledge they've camouflaged the area most of the top soil has been removed or dispersed elsewhere they have a cabinet that they can pull over themselves for aerial warning you know if there's someone flying over they can pull those cabinets over and make it even more difficult to uh to be seen because of course there's no way of getting around the actual trench itself for the most part being still that sandy color so that cam net can just be quickly whipped over the top they get into the trench if there's an aerial attack or aerial uh reconnaissance occurring but you can see now just you know how much effort goes into making this and you think matt it's just digging a trench fill in the hole with some sandbags and some steel and you know moving some soil away but if you've just done on a long road march whatever else and you've just been in a section attack and then you're asking to be set up defensive positions it's hard work but you'll be very grateful once you have it uh because it's a place that you can eat and rest and and you know honestly you get to know your battle partner or your fire team partner very well in these trenches and you have to because you're relying upon each other to save each other's life if things really do go sour at this stage they widened the fire trench to 2.4 meters at one end increasing the depth to 2 meters they also add the revetment and 0.5 meters of packed earth this provides optimal overhead protection from artillery fire mortars and other projectiles exploding in the trees or overhead now when you look at this diagram or the cutaway of the trench you see that there's not a huge amount of topsoil or sandbags covering uh the troops in this little uh compartment here and he would take a direct artillery strike to the top you know around actually imploding this area of course the trench you're not gonna be able to stop that okay the blast from a he even a 105 or even some smaller mortars uh is going to cause major issues but you'd be surprised at how much that soil on those sandbags can withstand for the blast radius of nearby explosions from artillery rounds or projectiles and you know when it's raining it's nice to have that cover if necessary for one of your troops not to get absolutely soaked you can do rotations of sentry uh normally if you're in the position you should be rotating so you can rest and and get some sleep but as many guns downrange is really the kind of key here you want to be monitoring the front but it's nice to just have a little recluse you know you can go in there it's not exactly comfortable you're certainly not gonna be standing up in there or laying down in it it's gonna be sort of sitting or squatting kneeling and just taking a little breather you know get some food down your neck uh you know have some water and then come back out into the fire pit and do what you need to do but all that revetment all that uh staking all that you know manipulation of that revetment takes time it's really hard work all those sandbags have got to get filled so you can see the more and more equipment that you've got to you know have with you of course normally the engineers drop off all the revetment you're not going to be carrying 30 sheets of or 40 sheets of revetment steel with you stainless steel but these are the kind of things uh you need to consider right is this the stuff that you're going to be needing to bring into the field at this point though your trend should be pretty much set up for the stage 4 trench this is what it looks like and this is where it needs to be set up in the depths and the lengths of what you want it to be the addition of this easy to remove overhead cover will further shield them from the heat of nuclear weapons and inclement weather it will also help conceal the trench from the air [Music] at this point with the stage five you're basically just adding additional features that are gonna make your life a lot easier the overhead cover overhead protection that can be deployed uh grenades sumps ammo pits just really kind of spicing up the space to make it work better for you whether it be in the defensive capability a grenade sumps are very useful to have there's a grenade thrown in your trench you can throw into the sort of uh downspout and then you also have water drainage so you create drainage pits for the water to get into and that leads us really into stage six so you make you know your grenade sumps uh and your drainage pit to allow you to really live in this for the long term and have a little bit more comfort than you would in some of the lower stages of the trench you can always put an ammunition pit in your undercover as well so that's pretty much it folks uh you know setting up a trench is hard work it's a lot of hard work but it's rewarding unfortunately if you are being engaged by the king about all the artillery then you know sometimes it's just not going to help you at all because the artillery is always gonna win the battle in the end just kidding uh but it's seriously though you know trenches are a huge factor of being defending against artillery and supporting yourselves on the battlefield and if you do have to dig trenches in the future i feel sorry for you i apologize that you have to be involved in that but it's part of the core business and being in the army that's what we do we're ground pounders we have to use the ground to our advantage literally i hope you enjoyed today's video and learned something from it if you did enjoy please leave me a like if you want to be notified of any upcoming content in the future please click the little bell by the subscribe button also if you want to support my patreon or paypal i would really appreciate that and thank you to everyone who has been supporting me both financially and in any terms of contributions towards say my fan mail box check the description box below also for any of my social media platforms hope you have a wonderful day all the best bye bye [Music] you

Channel: Matsimus

Views: 275,508

Rating: 4.9446921 out of 5

Keywords: warfare, trenches, trench, trench warfare, military training, army training, education, Trench Systems, modern warfare, modern battle, battle trench, military trench, infantry, trench assault, soldiers, soldier, matsimus, trench battle, defence, defense, military tactics, battlefield trench

Id: mQHLd1ZO-4k

Length: 26min 38sec (1598 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 13 2021