Documentary Review: World War I in Color: Slaughter in the Trenches

For two years the two armies faced each other across the trenches, and although both sides would try, both sides would be fought back.  The machine gun and artillery fire would turn back every attack.  The Allies would advance only 6 miles in this time, and loss 600,000 men.  The winter of 1916 was especially cold; but the cold did not stop the killing.
The mail from home was a joy to the British soldiers.  The mail was able to arrive in just two days, both ways.  Cakes and other goodies would often cheer up the men.  The statement "We go over the top" was dreaded, and filled all the soldiers with fear.  Who knew how many would come back.
Towards the end of 2918, after two years of this trench warfare struggle, both French and British troops had a lack of morale.  At one point, the French soldiers held a sort of mutiny, where they would not go on.  British morale was also low.  However two new introductions started to make a change.  The British introduced un-targeted artillery barrages.  Usually a few shells were fired to home into the target.  Stopped this practice allowed for more surprise in attack.  The second advance was the introduction of the tank.