What was Life like in the Trenches?

What was Life like in the Trenches?

WWI was a war fought almost entirely in trenches. As tactics failed to contend with the new fearsome weaponry unleashed on the modern battlefield, so commanders had no choice but to dig in and hold territory whilst trying to wear down their enemy.
The reality was this war was fought by the men who lived it. Trenches become their everyday reality, and life in the mud was to become the indelible image of the First World War.

Multiple Choice

What is the term to describe warfare where the object is to try and wear down your opponent?

• Trench warfare

• Attrition

• Conventional

• Guerilla

Daily Life

• ​Men served their time in the trenches across three trenches- reserve, support and frontline, cycling between the three on a weekly basis.

• They slept in dugouts when not on duty, and manned stations like machine gun nests or observation posts.

• Most of their days were filled with boredom, writing letters, preparing meals and trying to keep their equipment clean.

Labelling

Label the cross section of the trench.

Drag labels to their correct position on the image

Dugout

Parapet

No Mans Land

Sand Bag

Barbed wire

Firing Step

​Writing letters home was the only way to receive news about friends and family. This activity was taken seriously and letters from home were eagerly anticipated.

​Men had to keep themselves busy in the trenches. Sometimes weeks or months passed with no attacks planned, so often their days at the front were long periods of boredom.

​Conditions

• During the summer, temperatures in the trenches rose above 30 degrees. Water had to transported to the frontline as water in the trenches was usually contaminated with dead bodies or poison gas. Thirst and heat exhaustion were common.

• Rains filled the trenches up with water and created one of the lasting images of the war: mud. Mud so thick it sucked the boots off your feet, so thick men got stuck and drowned. Mud was everywhere!

• The constant wet resulted in men suffering from a disease called trench foot. This condition is brought about when men were unable to dry their feet over an extended period and their feet began to rot in their boot. The British alone suffered 75 000 casualties to trench foot.

​How

Conditions cont.

• In the winter, snow and tempertures below freezing complicated matters further. Men suffered from hypothermia and frost bite and there were very few ways to stay warm in the trenches.

• In addition to the elements, men in the trenches suffered other hardships. Vermin such as rats and lice were pervasive in the trenches and infestations were common. Men often spent their downtime in the trenches picking out clusters of lice eggs from the seams of their clothing.

• Men during the Gallipoli campaign in Turkey, suffered from a lack of water, temperatures over 40 degrees and swarms of flies that crawled into their mouth, nose, and eyes. All while being fired upon from the Ottomans up in the cliffs above them!

how dangerous were the trenches?

• The trenches were extremely dangerous places, despite the continuous monotonous boredom.

• Enemy artillery bombardments and attacks were nearly impossible to predict. Artillery and gas attacks often caught men off guard and inflicted casualties.

• Attacks were brutal affairs that often devolved to hand to hand combat. Casualties were high on both sides, but it was usually the attacker who bore the brunt of the bloodshed.

• In addition to these attacks, both sides also staged daring night raids across No Man's Land to try and capture prisoners for interrogation. Snipers crawled into No Mans Land at night and then picked off any soldiers foolish enough to stick their heads over the parapet of a trench during the day.

​However...

• Its important to remember that it wasn't a death sentence to be sent to the trenches.

• The British army, for instance, enjoyed a 90% survival rate.

• This was largely because a British 'Tommy' only spent a brief time in a trench due to a complex system of unit rotations.

• On average he spent only 15% of his time in a frontline trench, 10% in support trenches, 30% in reserve trenches and most of his time- 45%, out of the trenches entirely, on leave or in camp far behind the trench line.

• It's important to remember that casualty figures refer to dead and wounded or missing. Many of these wounded were not wounded in combat, but actually injuries suffered by trench foot, accidents, or even deliberate injury to avoid combat.

Categorize

Options (20)

Shot through the head

Exploded by a grenade

Shot in the chest

Hit by sniper fire

Crushed by debris

Shot in the leg

Injured by shrapnel

Burned but survived

Sustained a concussion

Fractured arm

Shrapnel wound to the abdomen

Lost during a reconnaissance mission

Separated from the unit in enemy territory

Failed to return from patrol

Last seen near the front lines

Disappeared during a night operation

Unaccounted for after a battle

Trouble breathing after a gas attack

Eyes lost in grenade explosion

Blown to unrecognisable bits.

Organize these options into the right categories of casualties.

Killed in Action

Wounded

Missing

​Shell Shock

• On top of all these conditions that medical science had to contend there was another emerging that would revolutionise the way we view the brain and psychology

• Under the intense conditions of constant artillery bombardment, fear of attack and the anticipation of upcoming attacks some men began to crack. They started trembling uncontrollably, twitching involuntarily, losing their sight completely or would be unable to sleep or eat.

• Many of these men were called cowards and summarily executed for cowardice when they were unable to follow orders.

• This great tragedy occurred because army doctors simply didn't understand. Eventually it was recognised as a real medical condition and called 'shell shock'. Today, however, it now known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

​Many men who survived the war carried scars- mental and physical, for the rest of their lives.

Poll

As a WWI Infantry man, what would you be most afraid of?

• Death

• Crippled

• Poison Gas

• Capture

• Cold