Early in the war, trenches were makeshift ditches which were hastily dug to provide protection from enemy rifle and artillery fire. Later they would become much more elaborate, with firesteps and dugouts, reinforced by timber or wattling, and laid out in a zig-zag pattern to limit the damage a single shell explosion could cause. In this photo Kiffin (foreground) keeps watch from an early trench near Craonnelle. American volunteers Dennis Dowd and Charles Trinkard can be seen behind Kiffin. (Photo courtesy of Washington & Lee University.)