Trench: A History of Trench Warfare on the Western Front (Five Stars)

The common view of trench warfare on the Western Front is 2-dimensional: men stuck knee-deep in muddy ditches for months at a time, never venturing out unless wounded in an artillery or gas attack OR until the time comes to go "over the top."

Bull does a better job of it. Yes indeed, there were ditches that were knee-deep in mud but there were also pumps and "above ground" trenches. And soldiers were not kept packed in trenches, since this would foolishly expose them to enemy artillery and sink morale; soldiers were rotated from the forward trenches to rear positions. Yes, there were artillery barrages that could last for days but there were also concrete bunkers and deep tunnels. Yes, there was gas but primitive countermeasures were invented right away and effective protective masks and clothing universally distributed within a few years; in any case, gas casualties only represented a fraction of the overall casualties on the Western Front. And finally, going over the top in mass attacks became rarer as time went by and new, specialized tactics making use of portable machine guns and other close support weapons came close to breaking the tyranny of the trenches.

Well-written and lavishly illustrated, Trench makes use of period drawings, photographs and some of Osprey's artwork to give a better idea what fighting was like on the Western Front.  If you are reading a history of the war read this first as it will be an eye-opener.