What was life like in a World War One trench?
- A typical day in the trenches Soldiers sleeping and writing letters. Soldiers only got to sleep in the afternoon during daylight and at night for an hour at a time. During rest time they wrote letters and played card games. ...
- The Christmas Truce A colour postcard possibly produced to send Christmas greetings from the front line. ...
- Activities Activity 1: What things were in a trench? ...
What was life like for the soldiers in the trenches?
Life in the trenches. Life in the trenches was difficult for the soldiers. They were infested with rats year-round, and in the winter, the trenches filled with mud and ice. The soldiers were often cold and wet, hungry and exhausted. To make matters worse, they knew they could be attacked at any moment. Sunrise and sunset were the most likely ...
What problems did soldiers suffer in the trenches?
- Life in the trenches was very difficult because they were dirty and flooded in bad weather.
- Lice also caused a disease called Trench Fever that made the soldiers' itch terribly and caused fever, headache, sore muscles, bones, and joints.
- Many soldiers living in the trenches suffered from Trench Foot.
How did the soldiers keep cool in trenches?
- warm clothing
- Keeping dry if possible
- Hot drinks/food where possible
- Body heat being next to others
- Relief in place / shifts to dugouts
- Dugouts were not usually heated (unless you were in an officers dugout, even then only Major and above typically). ...
What did soldiers eat and drink in the trenches?
bully beefThe bulk of their diet in the trenches was bully beef (caned corned beef), bread and biscuits. By the winter of 1916 flour was in such short supply that bread was being made with dried ground turnips. The main food was now a pea-soup with a few lumps of horsemeat.
What do soldiers do in the trenches?
How does trench warfare work?
Why were trenches crooked?
What were the hardships of the Whittlesey battalion?
How many men were in the lost battalion?
What happened at the Battle of the Somme 16?
How long did artillery shells last?
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What was it like for soldiers in the trenches?
Trench life involved long periods of boredom mixed with brief periods of terror. The threat of death kept soldiers constantly on edge, while poor living conditions and a lack of sleep wore away at their health and stamina.
What did they do in the trenches in WW1?
Trenches provided relative protection against increasingly lethal weaponry. Soldiers dug in to defend themselves against shrapnel and bullets. On the Western Front, trenches began as simple ditches and evolved into complex networks stretching over 250 miles (402 kilometres) through France and Belgium.
How did soldiers fight in the trenches?
At least initially in World War I, forces mounted attacks from the trenches, with bayonets fixed to their rifles, by climbing over the top edge into what was known as “no man's land,” the area between opposing forces, usually in a single, straight line and under a barrage of gunfire.
What did the soldiers do in the trenches to pass time?
Games also played a part in the soldiers lives. Card games and gambling were very popular ways to pass the time, as well as sports like cricket and football. During the Christmas truce in 1914 some of the most memorable scenes were of soldiers from German and Allied sides playing football together.
What 3 things would soldiers do in the trenches?
Individuals spent only a few days a month in a front-line trench. Daily life here was a mixture of routine and boredom – sentry duty, kit and rifle inspections, and work assignments filling sandbags, repairing trenches, pumping out flooded sections, and digging latrines.
How bad was life in the trenches?
Life in the trenches was very difficult because they were dirty and flooded in bad weather. Many of the trenches also had pests living in them, including rats, lice, and frogs. Rats in particular were a problem and ate soldier's food as well as the actual soldiers while they slept.
How long would a soldier spent in the trenches?
The image of a soldier in a muddy trench is what many people visualise when they think of the First World War. However, most soldiers would only spend an average of four days at a time in a front line trench. Their daily routine when in the front line varied according to where they were.
Why do soldiers fight in trenches?
Trenches provided a very efficient way for soldiers to protect themselves against heavy firepower and within four months, soldiers on all fronts had begun digging trenches. This photograph shows French infantry manning a forward line of trenches in Lorraine during January 1915.
What did soldiers fear in the trenches?
Trenches were dirty, smelly and rampant with disease. For soldiers, life in the trenches meant living in fear. In fear of diseases like cholera and trench foot. And, of course, the constant fear of enemy attack.
What happened to dead bodies in trenches?
Many men killed in the trenches were buried almost where they fell. If a trench subsided, or new trenches or dugouts were needed, large numbers of decomposing bodies would be found just below the surface. These corpses, as well as the food scraps that littered the trenches, attracted rats.
How did soldiers keep clean in the trenches?
When soldiers left the front line trenches they could use special laundries to wash and change their clothes. Washing their clothes removed any lice but this was often only a temporary relief as the lice would reappear after they returned to the confined spaces of the front line.
Did anyone survive the trenches?
In Britain around 6 million men were mobilised, and of those just over 700,000 were killed. That's around 11.5%. Or to put it another way 88.5% survived, that is nearly 9 out of 10 British 'Tommies' survived the trenches.
What are 3 interesting facts about trench warfare?
Well you've come to the right place....Trench warfare was started by the Germans in The First World War. ... There was 2,490 kilometres of trench lines dug during the First World War. ... Most trenches were between 1-2 metres wide and 3 metres deep. ... Trenches weren't dug in straight lines.More items...•
What was used to combat trenches?
With the development of trench warfare, increasingly large artillery was developed to fire high explosive shells and smash enemy trenches, like this battery of 9.2 inch howitzers. The majority of casualties on the Western Front were caused by artillery shells, explosions and shrapnel.
How did trenches protect soldiers?
Thus, trenches may have afforded some protection by allowing soldiers more time to take other defensive steps, such as putting on gas masks.
Why were trenches used in warfare?
Although trenches were hardly new to combat: Prior to the advent of firearms and artillery, they were used as defenses against attack, such as moats surrounding castles. But they became a fundamental part of strategy with the influx of modern weapons of war.
What was life in trenches?
Life in the Trenches of World War I. Trenches—long, deep ditches dug as protective defenses—are most often associated with World War I, and the results of trench warfare in that conflict were hellish indeed. When Union Army general William Tecumseh Sherman famously said “War is hell,” he was referring to war in general, ...
What wars were trench warfare used in?
Trench warfare was also employed in World War II and in the Korean War to some degree, but it has not been used regularly during conflicts in the ensuing decades. pinterest-pin-it.
How did trench warfare affect World War I?
At least initially in World War I, forces mounted attacks from the trenches, with bayonets fixed to their rifles, by climbing over the top edge into what was known as “no man’s land,” the area between opposing forces, usually in a single, straight line and under a barrage of gunfire.
What is trench foot?
Constant exposure to wetness caused trench foot, a painful condition in which dead tissue spread across one or both feet, sometimes requiring amputation. Trench mouth, a type of gum infection, was also problematic and is thought to be associated with the stress of nonstop bombardment.
How many casualties did the British suffer in the trenches?
The brutality of trench warfare is perhaps best typified by the 1916 Battle of the Somme in France. British troops suffered 60,000 casualties on the first day of fighting alone
What items did soldiers keep in the trenches?
This included a gas mask; weapons and ammunition; protective clothes like boots and a helmet; ‘webbing equipment’ which contained personal items like shaving kits and water bottles; and a shovel.
What were the trenches on the Western Front?
On the Western Front, the war was fought by soldiers in trenches. Trenches were long, narrow ditches dug into the ground where soldiers lived . They were very muddy, uncomfortable and the toilets overflowed. These conditions caused some soldiers to develop medical problems such as trench foot. There were many lines of German trenches on one side ...
How long did the truce last in 1914?
They were ignored and no guns were fired on Christmas Day 1914. The truce lasted until the New Year in some parts of the Western Front. But it wasn't long before soldiers on both sides returned to life in the trenches.
What did the Germans give to the British?
They sang carols like 'Silent Night' ('Stille Nacht' in German). Men from both sides gave gifts to each other. The Germans gave sausages to the British and the British gave the Germans chocolates . A colour postcard possibly produced to send Christmas greetings from the front line.
What happened on Christmas Eve during the First Christmas of the War?
On Christmas Eve, soldiers from both sides put down their weapons and met in no man's land. They sang carols like 'Silent Night' ('Stille Nacht' in German).
How long did soldiers sleep?
Soldiers only got to sleep in the afternoon during daylight and at night for an hour at a time. During rest time they wrote letters and played card games.
Did soldiers wash their feet?
Soldiers were encouraged to wash their feet regularly and often had their feet inspected.
What do soldiers do in the trenches?
Repair trenches, pump out the water, eat, sleep, do sentry duty, write letters home, read letters from home, keep warm, keep dry, wash and shave, get bored, duck if they got shelled, watch the enemy, snipe at the enemy, clean their kit, pick lice out of their clothes, throw things at the rats, play cards or chess, wait to be relieved. Slight variety in all of this depending whether they were in the front line trench or one of the support trenches.
How does trench warfare work?
Trench warfare ‘works’* by offering soldiers a contiguous shelter from the storm of rifle, machine gun and artillery fires. Trenches offer units positions with mutual support and predetermined fields of fire that cannot be flanked.
Why were trenches crooked?
Trenches were not straight lines, but were crooked or crenelated to keep the enemy from setting up a machine gun in your trench and shooting down its length.
What were the hardships of the Whittlesey battalion?
The battalion suffered many hardships. Food was scarce and water was available only by crawling, under fire, to a nearby stream. Ammunition ran low. Communications were also a problem, and at times they would be bombarded by shells from their own artillery. As every runner dispatched by Whittlesey either became lost or ran into German patrols, carrier pigeons became the only method of communicating with headquarters. In an infamous incident on 4 October, inaccurate coordinates were delivered by one of the pigeons and the unit was subjected to friendly fire. The unit was saved by another pigeon, Cher Ami
How many men were in the lost battalion?
The Lost Battalion is the name given to the nine companies of the United States 77th Division, roughly 554 men, isolated by German forces during World War I after an American attack in the Argonne Forest in October 1918. Roughly 197 were killed in action and approximately 150 missing or taken prisoner before the 194 remaining men were rescued. They were led by Major Charles White Whittlesey. On 2 October, the 77th launched an attack into the Argonne, under the belief that French forces were supporting their left flank and two American units including the 92nd Infantry Division were supporting their right.
What happened at the Battle of the Somme 16?
a) To place tons of high explosives under the enemy lines, at the Battle of the Somme 16 were exploded, 2 failed to detonate, the photo below is what one of the mine craters looks like now (100 years later)
How long did artillery shells last?
Soldiers would use almost anything to reinforce their trenches. Artillery was used in extensive shelling, occasionally for 7 days/24 hrs, (as we in the military would call “24/7”). The shells could be incredibly large by today's standard, and without any accuracy near today's. Proximity fuses were not developed until the 1940’s. If they had been available in the Great War, casualties would have doubled, if there that many bodies into the fray.
