Trench warfare was implemented to provide cover for soldiers during battle in WW1 seeing that most battlefields were open field & farms, so soldiers had little or no cover from rifle fire. After suffering thousands of casualties, soldiers began to dig into the ground creating cover. Over the months the trenches grew & evolved to hold barracks & equipment. Within a few months trenches were equipped with all essentials to ensure there was no need to leave them unnecessarily. Trenches were first dug by hand but soon soldiers would be equipped with shovels to increase productivity. Trenches were also mainly built at night to avoid detection by enemy troops. “Trenches were relatively new for soldiers arriving on the front & were worse than expected, “Dear diary, Today has been quite exciting but …show more content…
The soldiers in WW1 would be eating simple foods such as rice, beans, potatoes, stale biscuits, a lot of canned meat and sometimes they grew vegetables that were not being used! The food wasn’t very appealing at all but that was needed to make them survive. Afterwards, soldiers would have to do daily chores such as refilling sandbags, repairing trenches and the duckboards on the floor. Afternoon Routine in the Trenches Sometimes (not very often) when a battle is not taking place, soldiers had time to write or read letters, play games or catch up on sleep they missed. Some men were unlucky and had to be on guard duty. When there is a battle, no one can mess around. Everyone has to be in full concentration. Snipers were sup up in lookout posts and would fire at the enemy and the first sight of movement, you had to keep your head down in the trenches no matter what you were doing for fear of being shot. There is a photo of a sniper in the slideshow above. Sometimes the opponents would play a game with their helmets to see who could hit it with a bullet. This shows that it wasn’t all about the death and killing others in
Men were living outside for days or weeks on end, with limited shelter from cold, wind, rain and snow in the winter or from the heat and sun in summer. Artillery destroyed the familiar landscape, reducing trees and buildings to desolate rubble and churning up endless mud in some areas. The incredible noise of artillery and machine gun fire, both enemy and friendly, was often incessant. Yet soldiers spent a great deal of time waiting around, and in some quiet sectors there was little real fighting and a kind of informal truce could develop between the two sides. Even in more active parts of the front, battle was rarely continuous and boredom was common among troops, with little of the heroism and excitement many had imagined before the war. The Italian infantry officer Emilio Lussu wrote that life in the trenches was ‘grim and monotonous’ and that ‘if there were no attacks, there was no war, only hard work’.[1] The order to attack – or news of an enemy assault – changed
Trench warfare was adopted to maintain an area of land, to prevent the enemy from capturing that land. The importance of this investigation was to show the significance of trench warfare during the First World War and how effective it was on how it had prevented many full on, front lined, assaults. World War I could have had a great impact in history with the amount of war casualties, which would have been historically shocking, but instead it created the stalemate, which prevented such numbers of deaths from happening.
Soldiers did not die only from warfare casualties,especially the war atmosphere in the trenches brought health issues and diseases which caused most of the death during WW1.Some of this diseases were caused because of weather change , lack of hygiene and the filthy environment.Many of this diseases were insignificant colds but others were deadly as Shell Shock or Trench Foot.
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.
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?
To explain the main features of trench warfare we must look at all the points the trench design, the modern technology etc. Trenches were designed in a specific way. They were built in a zigzag fashion to accommodate for bombs destroying them. If a bomb did hit them then only a corner of the
This was when people were in essentially big holes in the ground with barricades in front of them. Trench life was very hard because you watched your friends die, and had to just see them lie there when it wasnt safe to move their bodies, you were in the trenches for hours on end, and typically were attacked straight in the trenches instead of in the middle of the battlefield. There were rats that picked at human remains, and the smell of rotting flesh. "No Man's Land" was the land between two fronts, not claimed by either
A front line trench located about 50 yards to a mile from its enemy counterpart. It was guarded by the tangled lines of barbed wire. That were used as support to the trench line several hundred yards back. Reserve lines were several hundred yards behind that as well. But a well built trench did not run straight for any distance. Because that would invite the danger to them. As well as sweeping fire. Along any long stretch of the line. Instead it was zigzagged about every few yards. As well as there were three different types of trenches. Firing trenches were lined on the side facing the enemy near steps there were also defending soldiers. That would stand to fire their machine guns. As well as throw grenades at the advancing enemy offense coming from communication trenches. Also saps of little depth in positions that extended into no man’s land and afforded spots for observation posts. As well as some grenade throwing and machine gun
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.
However, trench warfare wasn’t the only reason the death count was so high. While we were becoming more advanced with our war tactics, we were also becoming more advanced technologically. We began the implementation of tanks, machine guns, sniper rifles, clip fed rifles, battleships, submarines, and one of the most deadly killers in all of World War I,
Trench warfare created a sense of fear in the soldiers that most couldn’t avoid. Trench warfare was difficult to escape from. As technology advanced so did the way in which war needed to be fought, however they were unable to adapt to those changes. They struggled to break the traditional ways. It is evident throughout the film, either the soldiers were not trained to fight a war utilizing the advancements of warfare or there was an inability to transition thus returning to their old ways of fighting.
War in the trenches is described in an apocalyptic, horrific terms, usually there were three parallel lines of trenches, a front- line trench was of major importance guarded by tangled lines of barbed wire, typically only occupied in force during stand to attention at dawn and dusk , located 50 yards to a mile from its enemy counterpart, a support trench line to which the garrison would draw when the front trench was bombarded, located several hundred yards back, and several hundred yards behind that a reserve trench line where
Life in the trenches did not consist of constant action or fighting it was usually
World War 1 is perhaps best known for being a war fought in trenches, ditches dug out of the ground to give troops protection from enemy artillery and machine-gun fire. The trenches spread from the East to the West. By the end of 1914, trenches stretched all along the 475 miles front between the Swiss border and the Channel coast.
During World War I, trench warfare was very common. It was a newer technique in battles as in wars prior to the Great World War, fighting was less invasive and men merely marched at each other from opposite ends of fields and fought until only one side remained standing or a white flag was hung high in surrender. In fact in older wars, the fighting was far less dangerous to the point where battles were often times viewed by locals who watched from side lines with really no threat of getting hurt. In World War I however, the fighting had upscaled to the most sadistic type the world had ever experienced. With the industrialist wave that had overcome us in the late 1800s into