YOUR ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO LIFE IN THE TRENCHES TRENCH TACTICS
When Private Alex Thompson arrived at Ypres in May 1915, he found himself in the middle of a battle for survival. He was thrust straight into a counterattack against the Germans: the two sides were fighting to secure control of a small hill, known only as “Hill 60”.
At 10pm, he left the relative safety of his trench and charged over the top, rifle in hand. Thompson recalled: “We advanced maybe five or 10 yards, [but] some of them never got that length – they were killed going over the trench. That was
