How to dig the ideal British WW1 trench

Image from i.redditmedia.com and submitted by MallAlegate
image showing How to dig the ideal British WW1 trench

kanuut on March 8th, 2018 at 04:30 UTC »

I like how they're annotated, but can someone clarify why they're called duck boards? They look like a drainage floor, but is that why the name, or is it because it's a lower floor than the firing step? (That one seems rather silly so I hope it's not that)

Abusement_Park on March 8th, 2018 at 04:33 UTC »

This was the "ideal" trench, but how many WWI trenches actually looked like this? Just curious if in battle and wartime, was this always followed.

Narrative_Causality on March 8th, 2018 at 07:36 UTC »

Why was trench warfare ideal in WW1, but never used before or after?