Artillery dominated trench casualties

The familiar image of repeated charges into machine-gun fire obscures the danger of ordinary trench service. Bringing food forward, repairing wire, patrolling, and moving between positions all exposed soldiers to shellfire. Artillery's share of deaths and injuries is estimated at roughly six or seven in ten, with variation by battlefield and location. Counter-battery duels also endangered artillery crews as each side tried to silence the other. Better maps, aerial observation, and sound ranging helped locate guns that could not be seen directly. Random shelling left individual skill with much less control over survival than popular portrayals often suggest.