The life of a soldier in the trenches during World War I was unimaginable to the people back home in Canada. Soldiers carried out their duty to their country in the most horrifying conditions. The trenches were rivers of mud and blood, food rations were very basic and designed only to keep the soldiers alive, hygiene was non-existent, and military direction was poor as these men fought for their country. Constant shelling and gas attacks made many soldiers feel that death was imminent and a great deal of men suffered from mental breakdowns due to the war.
During World War I soldiers spent most of their time involved in trench warfare. A typical day in the trenches began at night when the sentry was relieved and replaced. This individual
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Sometimes the soldiers traveled from one place to another by train. Box cars, that had never been cleaned and had little protection from the elements, transported the soldiers for up to twelve hours. It was a very uncomfortable journey and the soldiers ended up stiff and wet.
Nights in the trenches were spent repairing damaged trenches with barbed wire, filling sandbags, and digging new trenches, instead of sleeping. Soldiers were also sent out into "No Man's Land"�, crawling about on their hand and knees, to find out information about the enemies military plans. It was too cold for the soldiers to sleep with no blankets and they could not even try to keep warm by exercising. Exercising would have the soldiers moving around too much, making them targets for the enemy. When the men did try to sleep they often froze.
Even though the soldiers were supposed to only spend four days at a time in the trenches it often ended up being longer. In fierce battles the men were sometimes in the trenches for up to twenty days with practically no food or water, and very little sleep. When the soldiers came out of the trenches they were "enclosed in a practically bullet-proof casing of mud"�. The men then had to march from the trenches to the billets and were often shot down on their way.
Life in the billets was not really much of a rest. Cleaning muddy clothes for inspection was not easy and in the evening the soldiers had to carry rations or mail up to the trenches. The men
The opposing armies were in a deadlock and trenches had become a dominate feature of the war (Page 63, 2nd paragraph). Some trenches were from 5 feet deep to 30 feet deep; they caused a stalemate that was almost impossible to break. If you break into their lines there is another one waiting for you. The trenches were hundreds of miles long, constantly fighting. Also they were filled with rats and frogs. Trenches were always in repair, they were reinforced with sandbags, with sheets of corrugated
Description of Life in the Trenches You might be thinking that life in trenches was non-stop death, violence, and pain. But have you ever thought about why? Or what do soldiers do in their trenches when they're not fighting or dying? Do you always trust sources when you read them? Do you always believe what they say on television documentaries?
The trench system on the Western Front consisted of front-line, support and reserve trenches. The three rows of trenches covered between 200 and 500 yards of ground. Communication trenches were dug at an angle to those facing the enemy. These trenches used to transport men equipment and food supplies.
The long period that the soldiers had to spend within the trenches,normally because dirty rain flood,with soaked shoes in mud puddles,rats and decomposing bodies,caused the
Trenches were long, narrow ditches that were dugged into the ground where soldiers lived all day and night.
World War I was known for its very slow-paced battle and the stage of stalemate. After advancing from Germany on France, battle turned into trench warfare. Trench Warfare is a defensive strategy in a field where the army stays in rows of trenches that were placed along the Western Front during the war. The use of trenches during the Great War was a very significant tactic during battle, by making soldiers hidden but exposed just enough to be able to attack the enemy. On a daily basis, life in the trenches was very scary and filled with horror. Death was upon the soldiers even if there was nobody attacking them. There was a continuous shell fire that would randomly take the lives of many. Some men died on their first day in the trenches, and very few were lucky to make it out unharmed. Shell fire was not the only issue in the trenches. There were plenty of diseases and infections spreading around like a wildfire. Many soldiers got infections and diseases that could not be treated such as Trench Foot or Trench Fever. Although trench warfare acts as a great defensive and offensive measure, it became very dangerous because of the many different causes of death including shell fire, diseases, and infections.
These endless zigzag trails were the soldiers’ home for as long as they were assigned duty to them. The trenches were often infested with “rats and lice… ‘There are millions! Some are huge fellows, nearly as big as cats…’ The soldiers often went weeks without washing or changing clothes, and most were infested with body lice” (Newman 141). Conditions were so wet and dirty and the men had to live with it. As a result of the wet and dirty conditions, many soldiers got ‘trench foot’. “Their feet swelled up to two or three times their normal size and went numb…but when the swelling went down, the pain was agonizing.
In the most suitable cases, the soldiers had cabins, which were crude, small, and very unsturdy. In most instances, however, they got tents made out of canvas, which frequently ripped and did not help keep out cold in the dead winter. Because of this, many men got illnesses such as pneumonia, diarrhea, and dysentery. In fact, so many got sick that the hospitals were overflowing, even though each section had a hospital for itself. Some soldiers’ wives agreed to be nurses to help, but there were not enough medical supplies, so many died. Out of 12,000 men, 3,000 died and 2,000 left because they were sick.
World War I was known for its very slow-paced battle and the stage of stalemate. After advancing from Germany on France, battle turned into trench warfare. Trench Warfare is a defensive strategy in a field where the army stays in rows of trenches that were placed along the Western Front during the war. The use of trenches during the Great War was a very significant tactic during battle, by making soldiers hidden but exposed just enough to be able to attack the enemy. On a daily basis, life in the trenches was very scary and filled with horror. Death was upon the soldiers even if there was nobody attacking them. There was a continuous shell fire that would randomly take the lives of many. Some men died on their first day in the trenches, and very few were lucky to make it out unharmed. Shell fire was not the only issue in the trenches. There were plenty of diseases and infections spreading around like a wildfire. Many soldiers got infections and diseases that could not be treated such as Trench Foot or Trench Fever. Although trench warfare acts as a great defensive and offensive measure, it became very dangerous because of the many different causes of death including shell fire, diseases, and infections.
“Food - hard lodging - Cold weather - fatigue - Nasty Clothes - nasty Cookery - Vomit half my time - smoak's to my senses...”(Doc. C). This shows that many of the soldiers were not given a break as their health continued to decline nor were they placed in rehabilitating conditions. The smoke clouding all of the soldier’s senses, making it hard to breathe is a lot to ask a person to put up with. “Snow” coming with the winter season was a terrifying time (Doc. B).
Trenches were long, narrow ditches dug into the ground where soldiers lived day and night. There were many lines of German trenches on one side and many lines of the trenches on the allied side. In the middle there was no-man’s land, so called because it didn’t belong to either army. Soldiers crossed no- man’s land when they wanted to attack. Soldiers in the trenches did not get much sleep, but when they did it was in the afternoon during daylight and at night for only 1 hour at a time. They were woken up at different times, either to complete one of the daily chores or the go to fight. The system of trenches was employed because a German commander, General Erich von Falkenhayn, decided that his troops must at all costs hold onto those parts of France and Belgium that Germany still occupied. Falkenhayn ordered his men to dig trenches that would provide them with protection from the advancing French and British troops. The Allies soon realised that they could not break through this line and they also began to dig trenches.
The five sources that I have selected to help with my enquiry are photographs, an extract from a newspaper article and a soldier's diary. The reasons why I chose these five particular sources is because I believe that they are a wide variety of selections, dating back to many years, all ranging from the start of the war to the end of the war. However, one of my sources, the newspaper article, was published in 2008 so it is more of a recent source but still, very useful and effective.From my own knowledge I know the trenches were inhumane
Trenches were dug out in the ground for protection, against machine guns and bombs, however the trenches were not made for comfort or for soldiers to live in for a long time. Most trenches were muddy and wet and soldiers had terrible living conditions which would cause disease, and eventually death. In document two, by Robert Donald, he exclaims that “I do not see why the war in this area should not go on for a hundred years.” Usually, life in the trenches meant consent fighting and battles, no side ever won because each side would encounter a bomb or some kind of causality and make their trenches deeper, and deeper. This was one cause of a stalemate, and why it was predicted that war in the trenches would continue for years and many more soldiers would die. In an outside source, a diary written by a man named Endy, talks about his life in the trenches and how their were many deaths. Although, this was not the only reason the trenches were deadly. The use of poisonous gas was also used in trenches caused many
The nature of the war What is the nature of the fighting? The nature of the fighting on the Western Front was dangerous and constant. There was continual bombardment from the enemy onto the trenches.
At the beginning of World War I, Germany was at war on two fronts with the Western allies and Russia to the east. The war took place in France, where both sides came to a standstill and began to dig trenches, in what would later become known as trench war. On Germany’s side, Paul Baumer, and his fellow soldiers’ part of the second company, were fighting for a good two weeks without food or water during the fight. Then, after they had been fighting for two weeks straight, they were finally relieved of duty for a short period of time. The company consisted of 150 men before they went to battle, then after two weeks of fighting the company only had 80 men including Paul and his men. When they were relieved of