Facts about the trenches in WW1:
It is estimated that there were about 2,490km of trench lines dug during World War 1. Most trenches were between 1-2 metres wide and 3 metres deep.
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 the trenches 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. Lice also caused a disease called Trench Fever that made the solders’ itch terribly and caused fever, headache, sore muscles, bones, and joints.
Many soldiers living in the trenches suffered from Trench Foot. Rain and bad weather would flood the trenches making them boggy, muddy
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Most soldiers would spend anywhere from one day up to two weeks in the trenches at a time. They spent some time in the frontline trenches, time in the support trenches and also time resting. Even when they weren’t fighting, soldiers had to work to do – including repairing the trenches, moving supplies, cleaning weapons, undergoing inspections or guard duty.
Trenches weren’t dug in straight lines, but were instead dug in a zig-zag pattern. The WW1 trenches were built as a system, in a zigzag pattern with many different levels along the lines. They had paths dug so that soldiers could move between the levels.
Trenches typically had an embankment at the top and a barbed wire fence. Often, trenches in World War 1 would be reinforced with sandbags and wooden beams. In the trench itself, the bottom was covered with wooden boards called duckboards. These were meant to protect the soldiers’ feet from the water in the trenches to try and prevent Trench
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Entrenching was fast, but the soldiers were open to enemy fire while they dug. Another method was to extend a trench on one end. It was called sapping and was a safer method but took a lot longer. Tunneling – which is digging a tunnel and then removing the roof to make a trench when it is complete – was the safest method, but it was the most difficult too.
It was very difficult to sleep in the trenches. The noise and uncomfortable surroundings made it very difficult to sleep in trenches. Soldiers were constantly tired and in danger of falling asleep. This is why the watch shift was kept to 2 hours to avoid men falling asleep while on watch.
There were several cease fires or truces in the trenches during World War I. In 1914, around Christmas time, both the British and German soldiers put down their weapons, came out of their trenches and exchanged gifts and sung carols – ceasing fire to celebrate Christmas. This is now known as the Christmas
In addition to weapons doing so much damage, fortification on the battlefield was far more advanced than had ever been before. The Cheveau-de-Fries was the main focus of armored fortification in the Civil War. This fortification consisted of 10 to 12 foot logs with large spiked-shaped, wooden stakes attached to the top of them. The Cheveau-de-frise would hold soldiers at bay while the opposing soldiers dismantled the battalion with cannons and rifles. Between the fortification and the weapons, humans did not have the slightest chance of survival.
"Feature Articles - Life in the Trenches." Firstworldwar.com. First World War, n.d. Web. 05 Apr.
was useful for firing over the top as you could rest your gun on it.
In my opinion the trenches were terrible in most case, from the awful stench and the infestation of rats to the lice and shell shock; the front line trenches were unforgiving, brutal and cruel. In opposition, not everything was terrible, the trenches were for many, the first time many soldiers had the chance to have a three course meal, and they could rest and make letters. However these sources are limited by the fact that it focuses on only one aspect of the First World War and hence leave out the full picture. Overall, the sources are reliable and as such help me to understand the conditions of the trenches through the experiences of the soldiers of the First World War.
The Generals and politicians thought the war was going to end very quickly where every I gets to go home on Christmas. Generals and Politicians said “A few quick campaigns and a few decisive victories would “bring the boys home by Christmas, “perhaps even by the fall” (Overfield, James H. Sources of Twentieth-century Global History. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2002. Print.) , p74. They were definitely wrong on that note. The war lasted 4 years in the hell the soldiers called the battlefield. One of the first major battles on the western front was called the Battle of Marne. The battle that halted the Germans from entering France into a long standing stalemate. The trench warfare started here, where soldiers dug deep into the ground and settled down to fight off the enemy soldiers. It was a stalemate for man...
It is evident that WW1 soldiers were deeply impacted by the war. Historians have found numerous journals and diaries that tells personal experiences from soldiers. Especially since this was a war that had a lot of new inventions, these soldiers had a lot to write about. Trench warfare changed the war entirely. Generals had to come up with better fighting tactics to make advances during the war. Prior to WW1 battles were fought out in the open and with less protection. There was no barb wire or sandbags to protect these soldiers. Life in the trenches were rough with constant firing occurring every few seconds. This made it very difficult for them to rest. In the trench soldiers are active all day and have to be ready for combat at all times. The daily journal of Pvt. Donald Fraser gives great detail of what actually took place on the battlefield.
Life on the Western Front During World War One A dispassionate look at the numbers of the horrendous casualties sustained by the armies of the Allies and the Central Powers on the Western Front in WW1, clearly indicate that these casualties figures are far inferior to what might be anticipated if, indeed, total war had reigned in every location, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and along all the 475 miles of trenches that extended from the North Sea to Switzerland. A couple of simple examples will readily make the case. Imagine two front-line trenches separated by only 20 to 30 yards of ‘No Man’s Land’ (in some extraordinary situations, distances were even less). A determined and prolonged effort by a few hand-grenade bombers on either side could make any hope of a sustained tenancy quite impossible. Again, given the accuracy and rapidity which trench mortars could be deployed against routinely manned trenches (one battalion per 1,000 yards) and their associated dug-outs, a quite short, but determined, and mutually hostile, barrage could readily reduce both trench systems to total ruin.
I will use my own knowledge as well as many sources from the booklet provided. The sources that I shall use will come from many categories including primary accounts of soldiers in the trenches, photographs, paintings, propaganda and official government accounts. I will note the uses of the sources including their strengths and weaknesses, their provenance, reliability the importance and usefulness as well as the limitations of their usefulness. In section A, I will look at sources from history textbooks describing what life was like in the trenches. Most of the sources in this section are official accounts produced by the government and are therefore probably reliable however there is evidence to suggest that these are used for propaganda or censored.
“The Battle of the Bulge, fought over the winter months of 1944 – 1945, was the last major Nazi offensive against the Allies in World War Two. The battle was a last ditch attempt by Hitler to split the Allies in two in their drive towards Germany and destroy their ability to supply themselves” (Trueman).
The rats would swarm the trenches, and could grow to the size of a cat by eating the flesh of the dead soldiers. They also got infected with lice, which attributed to a louse’s infective prowess.
By December 1914 the First World War had reached a dilemma on the western front that neither the triple entente nor the triple alliance had expected. The war had reached a stalemate, a state where both sides are so evenly balanced that neither can breakthrough against the enemy. The advances in Technology played a big role in creating the stalemate through strong defensive weaponry such as Machine Guns and Artillery, this caused ‘trench warfare’ (BOOK 48). Trench war is when troops from both sides are protected from the enemy’s firepower through trenches. Many advances in technology also attempted to break the stalemate throughout the war with tanks, gas and aircraft, these however failed. Eventually the stalemate was broken through a combination of improved technology, new strategies and the blockading of the German ports.
"First World War.com - Feature Articles - Life in the Trenches." First World War.com - A Multimedia History of World War One. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Mar. 2011. .
Trench warfare became a common practice in World War One, leading to a war of attrition. Both the Allies as well as the Germans enacted similar basic defense strategies and dealt with many of the same debilitating trench conditions. Trenches were built in an elaborate networking system, with three major sections, the front lines, the support, and the reserves. There was a rotation schedule for soldiers in the trenches, so that each regiment served time at the front lines. Trench conditions were horrendous including rodent infestation as well as unsanitary living spaces; many were infected with diseases such as trench foot with most trenches were filled with dead corpses for weeks after they were first killed. Defense mechanisms included creating dense fields of barbed wire in No Man’s Land, between the enemy trenches, in order to prevent an attack on the trench. Trench sanitation and defense were not the only reasons for the stalemate connected with World War One. The weather played
Infantries could spend months in a disease ridden, rodent infested trench. With watching your fellow soldiers die of disease, have their limbs rot off, and bombed many soldiers that survived ended up developing post traumatic stress disorder, which would not have been treated or diagnosed for many years following the war. Survivors would most likely have many health problems to try to fix after the war ended in 1918. Trench warfare was created to help protect soldiers, but with disease and the harsh conditions of the trenches it may have harmed the soldiers more than helping
The First World War introduced a new type of warfare. New weapons were combined with old strategies and tactics. Needless to say, the results were horrific. However, a new type of warfare was introduced: trench warfare. In the movie War Horse, the character that owned the horse originally while he worked on his farm, Albert Narracott, finally was old enough to join the army. His first sight of battle was the Battle of Somme which took place in France near the Somme River. During this battle, the British troops start out in trenches, which were pretty much tunnels dug strategically to avoid gunfire. The soldiers would wait until they were told to advance, and they would run from one trench to the next. Trenches and the area between trenches were muddy and the trenches themselves were poorly conditioned (http://www.pbs.org/greatwar/chapters/ch1_trench.html). Many of the soldiers who fought in trenches succumbed to a foot disease called trench foot and if not treated immediately, gangrene could infect the foot and an amputation would be necessary for survival. Commanding officers ordered one or t...