The parados formed the side of the trench furthest away from the enemy line; that is, the back of the trench.

In order to protect the heads and shoulders of men manning the fire-step (either on sentry or during pre-dawn and dusk Stand-To) both the parapet at the front of the trench and the parados at the rear were lined with several feet of sandbags; in the latter case this was to protect men from fire from the rear.

While both the parapet and parados, protected as they were by their layers of sandbags, were effectively immune to the effects of rifle fire, neither afforded real protection to artillery shell fire, although they did serve to afford some cover from the back-blast of high explosives detonating behind the line.