File:Lancashire Fusiliers (35626551022).png

Lancashire Fusiliers in a flooded communication trench opposite Messines, near Ploegsteert Wood, Belgium, in January 1917. When Germans gave up on the Schlieffen Plan, they withdrew to high ground which was more easily defensible and drier. Then, later withdrew to the shorter Hindenburg Line which was also on high ground and still defensible and drier. Germans, with the idea of staying in France, created drier and more capable trenches, with wood floors, electricity and phone lines. The French and British, however, had no intention of letting the Germans stay, and started to build up temporary trenches, which would suddenly flood or suffer from irreparable damages. Sometimes, soldiers had to stand for hours at a position with freezing water up to their necks, resulting in fatal incidents.

01/1917