Waiouru trenches to mark milestone

Soldiers in a trench at Gallipoli - visitors to the National War Museum will get a taste of the trenches. PHOTO/ALEXANDER TURNBULL LIBRARY

Movie mogul and World War I buff Sir Peter Jackson is to oversee the design of life-sized replica trenches at Waiouru.

The trenches behind the National Army Museum will be built in time for WWI centenary commemorations next year.

Building will start in September and they should be ready by Anzac Day 2015. The trenches will be built on land about the size of two rugby fields (180 metres long by 180 metres across).

Museum collections curator Windsor Jones said the project was a collaboration between Sir Peter, his design team and New Zealand Army engineers.

Guided tours will be conducted through the network of trenches for visitors to the museum from Anzac Day next year.

"The staff running the tour will talk about the devastation of trench warfare, displaying historic pictures and documents from the battles."

Mr Jones said the centenary of WWI was huge and the construction of the trench exhibition would really show what the soldiers from both sides endured.

"We're very fortunate to have Sir Peter Jackson and his design in here with us. Sir Peter is really keen to get started, which will be around September, once winter here in Waiouru is over."

Trench warfare means opposing armies conduct battle, at a relatively close range, from a series of ditches dug into the ground. WWI was fought mostly by soldiers in trenches, with an estimated 10 million deaths and another 20 million wounded.

Although trench warfare has been employed since ancient times, it was used on an unprecedented scale on the Western Front during WWI.

Most trenches were built according to the same basic design.

The front wall of the trench, known as the parapet, averaged 10 feet high, and was lined with sandbags from top to bottom. The parapet also featured two to three feet of sandbags stacked above ground level - these provided protection, but also obscured a soldier's view.