Conditions on the Western Front

487 Words1 Page

Conditions on the Western Front Ever since the end of the First World War ended it has been common knowledge that life in the trenches was, perhaps, the nearest a person could get to a living hell. Though many facts about the reality of the trenches were shrouded by propaganda and letter censorship at the time. When the trenches were first dug the weather was warm and the earth was dry and easy to work with and no one could imagine what they were about to turn into in the coming years. While they were on duty in front line trenches the troops actually were not doing much for 60% of the time, though it is certainly a common misconception that the men were constantly going over the top and engaging in hand-to-hand combat. Sometimes they may never see any of the enemy men for long periods of time causing such boredom that men started diaries, journals and even correspondence classes. This was not illegal as it was in the Second World War when it was feared that letters or secret information may have been intercepted by the enemy. Much of the fighting was done with artillery and lengthy bombardments that were commonplace, but the soldiers knew they could be asked to go over the top at any moment. Admittedly a great deal of time was spent trying to repair damaged trench sections, standing guard or simply trying to obtain an hour or two of sleep. As well as being in the front line there would also be time spent in the support trenches. A soldier or section may have up to eight days on and perhaps four days off front line duty. In this time he would de-louse and clean his clothing and equipment. This was a great relief to any soldier as trench conditions were mostly atrocious, especially in the winter. There was always an overwhelming concoction of awful smells. Rats, rotting corpses (some graves were duck just several metres behind some trenches), unclean men, gunpowder, and sewage to name but a few.

More about Conditions on the Western Front

Open Document