The Australian War Memorial Collection. Test site
A trench in the front line near the Suez Canal. On the left edge of the trench can be seen several posts for attaching barbed wire and a loose trailing piece of wire. The sandy desert terrain made trench construction difficult; trenches filled with sand nearly as fast as they were dug, even if the sides were buttressed with wood, sandbags or other material. Throughout 1915 the defensive trenches ran along the banks of the canal; in the beginning of the following year they were pushed out 12 miles into the Sinai desert.
An officer supervises Australian infantrymen digging trenches for the Suez Canal defences, an extensive system in the desert several miles east of the Canal. The fine sand made trench construction ve
Australian soldiers digging trenches in the desert. They were probably constructing the Suez Canal defences east of the Canal.
The use of sandbags for revetment (reinforcement) in a trench that was part of the Suez Canal defences in the desert several miles east of the canal.
Members of the 9th Battalion billeted in a captured German dugout on the banks of the St Quentin Canal. The banks of the canal were very thickly wooded and during the fighting in this section of the H
Great difficulty was experienced in constructing earthworks in the desert. The difficulty was overcome by building wood and matting revetments. There was no means however, of countering the wind, whic
Near Morchies, France. German practice trenches showing some of the 2000-3000 carefully dug imitation craters. In a later phase of the war the German defences in certain sectors consisted of connect
