Remains of dead World War I soldier hanging on barbed wire. In World War I, no man's land was often ranged from several hundred yards to in some cases less than 10 yards. Heavily defended by machine guns, mortars, artillery and riflemen on both sides, it was often riddled with barbed wire and rudimentary improvised land mines, as well as corpses and wounded soldiers who were not able to make it across the sea of explosions and fire. The area was usually devastated by the warfare, carnage and remains of the artillery. It was open to fire from the opposing trenches and hard going generally slowed down any attempted advance. However, not only were soldiers forced to cross no man's land when advancing (or when retreating), but after an attack the stretcher bearers would need to go out into it to bring in the wounded.
