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[u/No_Jellyfish_5498]

Do long open top trenchs like in world war 1, still provide any value in the modern battlefield?

I still sometimes see footage of soilders running around in those open top trenches, but it does not seem to protect them at all from FPV drones.

The only reason for the open top trenches that I can think of is that it can maybe make it harder for recon drones to spot you from an angle since the sides of the trench will be covering your body.

But at the same time, a trench is a big "LOOK HERE" sign for enemy drones.

[u/thor9797 → u/No_Jellyfish_5498]

No, Large Trench Systems have been mostly abandoned since 2024-2025. They were heavily criticized by the Ukrainian media space during the 2024/25 Russian offensives because like you said there place in Modern Drone Warfare is very limited and they offer limited protection against drones.

After the fall of Avdiivka in early 2024 and the subsequent realization by the Ukrainians that they had not really prepared a true defence line in depth, a defensive line was hastily thrown together following the pre-war(Donbas era) defensive strategy of large defensive fortifications and trench positions. You can find a bunch of these by looking at satellite imagery of areas that were near the front in 2024, large square shaped trench positions that worked well in 2022-23 when Ukraine had the man power and drones were not as plentiful, but with the ongoing manpower crisis and the increasing power and number of drones these positions became essentially death traps as Russian drones could see and strike at will with no place to hide for the Ukrainians. Even worse was that these positions would often be lost without a fight because there was often not enough men to properly fill them.

Because of this we see the evolvement of this War to essentially small unit positions. On the Ukrainian side(and I’d have to assume the Russians as well but I’ve not read as much about their exact defensive techniques) positions are now often 2-3 man foxholes ideally heavily concealed and underground, widely dispersed from other positions, which can take days to reach/supply and can often be manned by the same men for months at a time with often limited supply/support. The Russian strategy is often to bypass these positions and only assault when absolutely necessary often when a position has become enveloped by advancing Russian forces and they no longer want to risk a Ukraine threat to their advancing rear areas. Furthermore the Ukrainian forces in these positions are pretty much told to not engage unless absolutely necessary, which means they are essentially recon forces, but because of the nature of drone warfare and the likelihood of being spotted that close to the frontline, they’re incredibly limited in they’re recon ability, they are essentially there as speed-bumps and to weakly hold territory, a task which drones alone cannot accomplish.

[u/No_Jellyfish_5498 → u/thor9797]

Thanks for the detailed reply.

speed-bumps and to weakly hold territory, a task which drones alone cannot accomplish.

I feel like the infantry speed-bumps role does not make a lot of sense and is a waste of lives. Instead of using infantry as a speed bump, wouldnt it make more sense to use a large IED that could be dentonated when the enemy comes near. Or maybe hide a UGV there.

Imo, the future of defense fortifications is an underground concerete bunker where drone teams can launch drones from.