Why people in the World War I doesn't just walk around and attack from the side of the tranches? Surely even a poor attack would be better that a standard stalemate of straight attack or defense.
>>1400907
The officer corps which was led by the nobility believed flank attacks to be dishonorable.
>>1400907
Because
>Order comes straight from the general
>go over the top at dawn, follow the man infront of you
>Any refusal of going over will result in court martial resulting in facing a firing squad.
Fucked if you do, fucked if you don't
There wasn't a side to the trenches.
>>1400907
>Implying they didn't try to do that and were eventually stopped by nature (Sea at one side, Alps in the other)
>He thinks he can outrun bullets
I remember one BBC video of their WWI series talking about that. The series itself is extremely biased, but this episode answers this question quite well
>>1400907
Please read some of the thousands of books on the Western Front.
Exactly where was this supposed to be executed??
The trench network weren't just some drainage ditch.
>>1400907
Can you flank a 500km line without being detected? Assuming the landed gentry that ordered you around didn't consider it an "amoral victory"
i thought about that too because if I were there I would just jump in the enemy trech and shoot one bullet and kill everyone in thw whole trench but it turns out the trenches aren't long enough to go around each other so you cant attack from the side
>>1400907
Google the race to the sea.
>>1400955
You'd be dead in the second you left your trench for no man's land by enemy machine gun fire. If you somehow managed to get close to it, you'd still have to cut the barbed wire somehow in order to advance
>>1400973
no you dingus like what if i walked totally around the enemys trench to attack the enemies in the trench and jumped in one end and fired. Then all of the enemies would be dead in that trench, but you can't because the trenches Are too long and go all the way into the ocean.
>>1401005
Trenches were built in zigzags.
>>1401005
Usually, there were at least three lines of trenches that followed different kinds of patterns, not to mention the supply chain connected to them
The Trenches spread across the entire country, each end was either the sea or mountains.
>>1401023
well then just use two guns on both ends. Idiot
>>1401043
Don't worry Anon I get your ideas and I think they'd work really well : )
>>1401026
Didn't a considerable part of the eastern front's trenchline run through marshes in today's Belarus? In Flanders too, for that matter. Being there must have been especially shitty
>>1400907
Oxygen deprivation isn't good for your health.
>>1401026
Any reason to not declare war of Switzerland and just went thought it to encircle the enemy?
>>1401473
1. it's switzerland, their population is literally their army (even back then it was like that)
2. it's switzerland, it's where all the "secret" weapon deals between the fighting nations happened
3. it's switzerland, it has all the money of the elite (even back then)
4. back then you had to go over the mountains and the mountain passes to get to switzerland, not like today where you can go through the tunnels.
>>1401473
>DoW Switzerland
>takes forever to move your troops through the country
>have to deal with an extra army plus partisans out the ass
>finally reach the enemy
>they've probably already dug in or are prepared to use the Alps defensively
>you just wasted thousands of men and a lot of time to extend the trenches a little further
>>1401473
Just think about it for a minute.
Consider the casualties that Germany took on its backdoor through Belgium which was flatland with for all intents and purposes a show army. Also consider the logisitical problems that Italy/Russia/Austria-Hungary had in the Alpines and Carpathian campaigns. Also consider the political blowback that all the countries got for the invasions of Belgium and Greece.
Now all of that is magnified because Switzerland is a mountainous, politically/economically relevent, doomsday prepper of a country.
>1401473
>unlike Belgium, which is as flat as ur mum, Switzerland has mountains, making it more difficult to attack
>Switzerland had an army of 500 thousand (pretty sure I'm pulling this never out of my ass) that would defend land from whoever invaded their territory, unlike Greece
>Yet another front in a war with an abundance of them.
>>1400907
>the side of the trenches
>the side of the trenches
>the side of...
>the side...
Holy shit, this is some next level tactical genius right there anon ! Why did they never think about that, wow ! I mean, wow !
"Aerial view of opposing trench lines between Loos and Hulluch, July 1917. German trenches at the right and bottom, British at the top-left."
That's why.
>>1400907
The allies tried to find every way around the stagnant front only to be forced into another stagnant trench war.
Italy entered on the side of the allies to tip the balance. While the Italians arguably did tip the war in favor of the allies, the trench warfare still settled in around the Isonzo River, bottlenecking both the Italians and the Austrians.
They then tried to force open the Dardanelles in Turkey, only to find more trench warfare at Gallipoli before being forced to retreat.
the only place where the frontline was constantly changing was in Russia, and Russia eventually caved under the pressure of the Central Powers and the revolution.
>>1400907
>all the people in here taking this dumb question seriously
>>1403818
that concave though. How did Germans dont crush this ?
>>1400907
People love to believe that 100% of the officer corps in Word War I were idiots, but not all of them were. A lot of them were trained to fight small scale colonial wars, and they were shoved into a large-scale industrial conflict. Most of them understood basic tactics like flanking, so asking this kinda question is like asking "Why didn't the eagles just fly Frodo to Mordor?".
>>1404435
>A lot of them were trained to fight small scale colonial wars
While that's true when talking about Britain, could the same be said about Cadorna, Pasha, Hötzendorf and the other generals?
>>1404467
>could the same be said about Cadorna, Pasha, Hötzendorf and the other generals?
I'm not sure, and I don't think so, but anything is possible. And it's not like I'm saying idiotic officers weren't a thing (they were), I'm just saying they weren't all idiots who couldn't into tactics.
>>1400907
Because everyone tried that until there were solid lines from the channel to the alps.
>>1404435
But why the fuck wouldn't the Eagles just take his ass there
>>1404504
Because Sauron had warmachines and whatnot for just such an occasion, and the Nazgul's flying beasts on top of that would be a bitch and a half to deal with.
>>1401026
>Somme
>Central Powers Victory
>Verdun
>Undecided
