On September 18, 1914 in the first Battle of the Aisne (N-W of Paris), Trench Warfare begins during World War I.

          If you want to find the privates,
                  I know where they are,
                  I know where they are,
                  I know where they are.
          If you want to find the privates,
                  I know where they are,
          They're hanging on the old barbed wire.
                  I saw them,
                  I saw them,
          Hanging on the old barbed wire -
                   I saw them,
          Hanging on the old barbed wire.
  
                          "(Hanging On) The Old Barbed Wire" (or "I Know Where They Are")

[There are endless versions/verses since 1914, I sing basically that of Roberts & Barrand.]

From the Ballad Index: Earliest Date: 1927 (Sandburg). Notes: Internal evidence clearly dates this to the First World War, with its trenches and barbed wire and mud that threatened to swallow the Allied armies whole. What's more, until WWI, officers -- including brigade and sometimes even divisional officers -- were expected to lead their men from the front. Only in the twentieth century did officers become so valuable that they were allowed to "lead" from the rear. - RBW

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