QUOTE (neesh @ Mar 27 2007, 10:08 AM)

CAN YOU PLZ TELL METHE METHODS OF FIGHTING IN A TRENCH?
In case anyone looks at this trying to find what fighting was like once soldiers actually got into an enemy trench...
Put simply, the method for clearing enemy trenches was to head down the trench with 'bombers' throwing hand grenades into the next section (or traverse). Riflemen would then run forward and bayonet or shoot anyone left unless they surrendered (and sometimes even if they did). Dugouts would have a grenade thrown down the stairs. The aim was to keep pushing on until the trench was completely cleared. Obviously, a well-organised enemy would be trying to stop the attackers using similar methods. So, fighting in trenches could be very bloody and a real close-quarters battle.
There is a vivid description of this process at the start of Richard Holmes' excellent book 'Tommy'. Some years ago I read a description of trench-clearing written by a British Sergeant during the Falklands War which was very similar. The latter took place in 1982 showing that some things don't change in warfare.