Entitled: Runners working in a barrage. Sketch shows soldiers passing along a written message during a battle in World War I by Lucien Jonas. A runner was a soldier responsible for passing on messages between fronts during war. This was a very dangerous dangerous job. World War I, which was dominated by trench warfare, needed lots of runners. Passing messages between the trenches was not possible without climbing up to ground level and running towards the other trench. While on the ground, the soldier was completely exposed to enemy lookouts, and it was commonplace for runners to die before reaching their destination. Officers could not be sure that a message had reached its recipient unless the runner managed to return.