Boyau de Londres

A gut is perpendicular to the front and allows to reach the trenches. It allowed troops and equipment to move close to the front and to be sheltered from various projectiles. The movement of men in these hoses was not at all easy: continuous or untimely bombardments, areas under fire from snipers on the lookout, rain and mud, telephone wires on which the infantryman stumbled, at night, which made it easy to get lost, were all pitfalls that made moving around perilous.

It was borrowed for regimental rotations, food and ammunition supplies, and the transport of materials needed for the construction and repair of trenches and shelters. Liaison officers also borrowed it to carry written orders. In the Douaumont sector, in order to limit the landslides of the walls, the sides of the gut were reinforced by a concrete structure. The walls of the casing were supported by U-shaped reinforced cement plates made of the same material.

DATAtourisme France