Eircom would cut its work force by outsourcing a lot of what it had been doing, such as digging trenches and laying cables.

FORBES: The Irish way

Eduardo had a year in the army, digging trenches in the unlikely event that with war nearing its end the Germans would invade.

ECONOMIST: Obituary

They worked 14-hour days, seven days a week - six days producing munitions in the factory and the seventh digging trenches for the approaching front.

BBC: Wartime slave labourers tell their stories

The workers digging the trenches had learned to set aside objects of potential archeological interest.

NEWYORKER: The Sanctuary

William had been sent home after being shot in the leg with shrapnel digging the trenches where Harry was later to serve.

BBC: Somerset - In Profile: Harry Patch

With so many lives at risk, including the citizens of those countries, digging the trenches of entrepreneurship out of war puts a sobering reality on valuation.

FORBES: Are the Trenches of Entrepreneurship Dug In War?