yorkshire trench

[chezbutt]

[neutrino]

I noted in some photos posted last week that the A frames which supported trenches usually formed a void below the duckboards and this void was helpful in or designed to assist drainage in trenches.

In the photo above the void is filled with loose earth.

Now obviously during maintenance work on tenches during the war much loose earth would need to be removed and preferably thrown up and out of the trench. But as this would be hard hard work to be done when under fire I wonder if the earth got swept under the carpet so to speak and thrown into the void under the duckboards.

Much easier to do of course but it then will have contributed to/caused the flooding of trenches during rain.

[Bob Coulson]

From war diary entries I know that what they did do was lift the duckboards every so often and dig "sump pits" a form of soakaway.

Bob.

[neutrino]

Thanks.

A sump pit in clay would be unlikely to form a soakaway as clay is impermeable but it would allow you an easier position from which to pump away water.

A sump pit in chalk would work short term though as chalk is porous.

But the sweeping under the carpet bit seems to suggest that some of the water problems were self inflicted when if the trench maintenence had been carried out correctly the water would have run away under the duck boards to major sump pits.