text: World War I Dugouts were used extensively as protection from shelling during World War I in the Western Front. They were an important part of the trench warfare as they were used as an area to rest and carry out other activities such as eating. They would usually range in size from dugouts that could hold several men to dugouts that could hold thousands of soldiers. Some sophisticated dugouts, such as the Vampire dugout, were placed more than  underground, lined with concrete, wood and steel to withstand the shock of artillery, accessed via a set of wooden stairs.
  About 180 dugout sites have been located in the Ypres Salient and in the 1990s some of them were entered, at least in part. The level of activity can be gauged by the fact that during 1917 and 1918, more people lived underground in the Ypres area than reside in the town today.
  Zemlyankas (WWII)
  In World War II, partisans, or armed resistance fighters in Eastern Europe sometimes lived in dugouts called zemlyankas (Russian or ) which were used as underground bunkers to provide shelter and a hiding place from enemies. In Poland they were called ziemianki.
  Russo-Ukrainian War
  In the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war, dugouts are used extensively by both sides for similar tactical reasons.