23 November 1914 - 6 February 1915. As the armies of 1914 fought themselves to exhaustion they settled down by the end of the year to the realities of static trench warfare. During the winter, activity was mostly comprised of a series of small scale raids and attempts by the BEF to gain superiority over the battlefront. At the same time increasing numbers of Territorial battalions and replacements for the Regular battalions came into theatre and had to be trained and acclimatised to trench occupation. This period was further noted for the severity of the weather and the need to rapidly source and equip the troops with adequate winter and waterproof equipment, whilst improving the trench conditions. Miserable times.
