Marines

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Marines reinforce a training trench aboard Marine Corps Base Quantico circa 1918. During the base’s earliest days, about 30,000 Marines were trained in trench warfare and other combat skills at Quantico before being sent to fight in World War I.

Photo by Photo courtesy Quantico Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs

WWI training history remains entrenched at Quantico

15 Jan 2014 | Mike DiCicco Marine Corps Base Quantico

In his memoir, 2nd Lt. W.B. Jackson describes a training exercise he and his company carried out at Marine Corps Base Quantico during the installation’s earliest days, almost a century ago: The Marines dug holes a couple of hundred yards from lines of the company officers, and, “one pitch black night,” they mixed concrete about a quarter mile off and brought it forward, as silently as possible, pouring it into the forms to create concrete pillbox machine-gun emplacements. If the officers heard them, they blew whistles to represent enemy machine gun strafing.

“As I recall, our company only had one whistle blast all night,” Jackson reported. “T’was different and fun.”

If any remains of those pillboxes exist on the base, their whereabouts are unknown, but similar traces of Quantico’s early days have been found in at least a couple of wooded locations.

“Quantico was established for the purpose of training Marines for World War I,” said Catherine Roberts, the base archaeologist. “We didn’t have enough officers to go to war.”

The base still retains that purpose as the training ground for officers, at Officer Candidates School and The Basic School.

By the time the U.S. got involved in the war in 1917, the year Quantico was established, fighting had been raging for almost three years. Advances in firepower that had not been accompanied by advances in mobility necessitated heavy reliance on trenches for protection. Thus, the French, Canadian and British officers who came from the battlefields to train U.S. forces made sure the officers knew how to lay out trenches, the enlisted men knew how to dig them, and everyone knew how to use them.

Just off the present-day golf course, a system of about 2,000 feet of ditches winds along a low area and up a knobby hill. Some stretches are five feet deep or more, while others are much shallower.

“The way you’re seeing it now is because the wood’s rotted away,” Roberts said.

When they were created, many of the trenches were likely deep enough to provide cover for a man standing at full height and were supported with wood planking and mesh.

The trenches by the golf course have hardly been documented, but another system of about 4,800 feet of trenches off Purvis Road is described in a 2005 archaeological report, titled “Multiple Cultural Resource Investigations.” The report notes that few records were kept on the locations and types of activities that took place aboard Quantico in its first years, and little information exists on the construction and use of trenches on the base.

“The only way to understand this important early activity at the base is through archaeology and [Marines’] diaries and letters,” the report reads.

Trenches largely fell out of use after World War I, but in their heyday, building them was an art. A quality system of trenches took advantage of the existing landscape and included several types of trenches — firing trenches, support trenches, approach trenches, local trenches and reserve trenches.

They also employed a number of different patterns, or traces. “Generally the trace should be as irregular as possible to prevent enfilade or destructive firing down a line of the trench,” the report notes.

In front of the trench, a parapet provided cover from enemy fire, while a parados behind protected from artillery blast-back. These were generally kept low and wide to help them blend into the topography.

According to the report, the trenches in the Purvis Road area met these criteria: “When viewed from downslope, the trenches could not be seen during the walkover survey,” it says. “The low parapet and parados provided an illusion of a continuous wooded natural slope.”

The archaeologists also discovered remains of wire mesh and chain link reinforcements, or “revetments,” in the interiors of some trenches.

They documented several types of trenches within the system. Firing trenches, designed for shooting at the enemy, were generally deep and narrow and were not continuous. Behind them were reserve trenches to shelter reserve troops, and these were connected to the firing trenches by approach trenches. Local trenches were short and connected command, support and reserve areas to the main trench line.

The report concludes that the trenches in the Purvis Road area “show the most advantageous way to defend the terrain on which they are situated” and also follow the guidelines for trench design and positioning laid out in the 1918 United States Corps of Engineers training manual.

“The site dates to the initial occupation and deployment of Marine Base Quantico in WWI,” it says as it makes the case that the trench network should be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. “The site provides insight into the level of training and type of training practiced by the Marine Corps in preparation for sending troops to the western front.”

In all, about 30,000 Marines deployed to the war after training at Quantico. Reports have been written about training trenches found at three Army installations, but there are no studies in circulation about trenches at Marine Corps bases.

The report also points out that no written records of the training have been found that and it’s possible the remains of the trenches may be the best way to learn how the Marines prepared for the war.

Roberts said that’s the point of archaeology. “What can I not get from the record?” she asked rhetorically. “You want to learn from archaeology what the history can’t tell you.”

The report recommends further investigation of the site off Purvis Road, as well as another probable trench line discovered to the north, in an area that would be tactically opposed to the documented site.

Roberts said archaeologists probably didn’t know about the trenches by the golf course when the report was written.

She said she is still considering how to treat the trenches and plans to examine them further after the winter passes. “My task at this point is to go out and do a further survey and see what I want to do with it and what I can do with it,” she said.

Writer: mdicicco@quanticosentryonline.com


Marine Corps Base Quantico