File:Mined German trench 1915.jpg

British troops and German prisoners in the remains of a German trench that has been mined, 1915.

Photo from The War Illustrated, 24 July 1915. Caption reads:

LAST SCENES IN A MINED GERMAN TRENCH.—This wonderful record, illustrative of a daily occurrence in the first line of war, brings home again to us the Homeric struggle of men and machines in the greatest conflict of all time. A few moments ago these calcined boulders and clay were the site of a German trench, but after days of labour sappers have succeeded in mining the position. The explosion has taken place, and our infantry have charged, to find those Germans left alive among the occupants of the trench too dazed to offer resistance. The dead are scattered willy-nilly with the living. Wounded Huns, lying in attitudes of despair and huddled together as if for warmth and sympathy, are not sorry that they are going into humane captivity. Some British soldiers, also wounded and fatigued in the ordeal (note the one with a German helmet attached to his belt), are resting with the vanquished foe, while their comrades, still with fixed bayonets, keep vigil over the maelstrom of hopeless misery, and await the order for a further advance.

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