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No man's land is a term for a land that is not occupied or more specifically land that is under dispute between parties that won't occupy it because of fear or uncertainty. It is also a term for the stretch of land between two border posts, between when one exits one country at their border post and when one enters the next country at their border post, usually just a few metres away, though at some (usually remote) border crossings it can be measured in kilometers. HISTORY World War I In World War I and other later wars which involved Trench Warfare , the term no man's land indicated the land between the Trenches of the opposing Armies . This land belonged to neither side; it was a neutral place on the battlefield. The term came from a Dispatch printed in The Times newspaper by (Colonel) E Swinton writing as "Eyewitness". No man's land was often a hellish experience for soldiers, ranging from several hundred yards to in some cases as short as 15 meters. Heavily defended by machine guns and riflemen on both sides, they also were often riddled with Land Mine s and Barbed Wire , as well as corpses and wounded soldiers who were not able to make it back to their own trenches. Intense bombing and artillery often blanketed the no man's land in a sea of explosions and fire. The area was usually devastated by the warfare, leaving little to no foliage or cover of any sort. The artillery left only disturbed ground and craters. It was both open to fire from the opposing trenches and hard going slowing down the advance. However, not only were Soldier s forced to cross it when advancing, and as the case might be when retreating but after an attack the Stretcher Bearer s would need to go out into it to bring in the wounded. The hell of the no man's land remained largely impenetrable until near the end of World War I, when Tank s were able to cross it with little opposition and break the defenders in their trenches. Cold War During the Cold War , no man's land was the territory close to the Iron Curtain . Officially the territory belonged to the Eastern Bloc countries, but over the entire Iron Curtain there were several wide tracts of uninhabited land, several hundred meters in length, containing watch towers, minefields and such. ''See also:'' List Of Disputed Or Occupied Territories |
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