Parados

(78 total words in this text)
(2131 Reads)

The rear-side of the trench was known as the parados. Both the parados and the parapet (the side of the trench facing the enemy) were protected by two or three feet of sandbags. Soldiers were instructed to build the parados higher than the parapet so that the defenders were not outlined against the sky and therefore easy targets for the German snipers. The parados also protected soldiers in front-line trenches against those firing from the rear.

[ Back to World War I | Primary Sources Archive index ]

Military History

Forum Posts

Military Polls

[ Results | Polls ]

Votes: 172

This Day in History

1780: Charleston, South Carolina falls to British forces.

1864: Close-range firing and hand-to-hand combat at Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia, result in one of the most brutal battles of the Civil War.

1864: Union General Benjamin Butler attacks Drewrys Bluff on the James River.

1865: The last land battle of the Civil war occurs at Palmito Ranch, Texas. It is a Confederate victory.

1885: In the Battle of Batoche, French Canadians rebel against the Canadian government.

1940: The Nazi conquest of France begins with the crossing Muese River.

1941: Adolf Hitler sends two bombers to Iraq to support Rashid Ali al-Gailani in his revolt against Britain, which is trying to enforce a previously agreed upon Anglo-Iraqi alliance.

1942: The Soviet Army launches its first major offensive of the war, taking Kharkov in the eastern Ukraine.

1943: Axis forces in North Africa surrender.

1949: The Berlin Blockade lifted.

More...

Parados

Should Congress declare war?