First World War - Life in the Trenches(History Essay)

As no one expected World War 1 to last as long as it did, the initial trenches were hurriedly constructed.  They were holes dug by soldiers to protect themselves from the enemy. One of the main dangers of the trench life was the possibility of being buried alive if the walls collapsed. By summer 1915, many German trenches were reinforced with wooden walls to prevent this from happening. As the front line stabilized, these trenches became deeper and more elaborately made.

The Germans constructed very elaborate trenches because, as far as they were concerned, this was the making of a new German border. Many trenches had shuttered windows and even doormats to wipe muddy boots on! Allied trenches were in more basic standards as the Allies expected to recapture the occupied territory.

 

During daytime in the trenches, soldiers suffered from the short lapse of intense fear whenever the enemy fired, and lengthy periods of boredom. Work was mainly finished at night when patrols were commanded to observe and raid enemy trenches and to repair their own front – line defenses like parapets.


The days were generally hushed so men tried either to catch up sleep while sentries watched the enemy trenches or used the time to write home or keep a diary of events. There were no scheduled meals on the front line and soldiers ate only when transport was available to take food to the front by carrying parties.

To overcome the boredom, soldiers spent seven to ten days in the front line then moved to reverse line and finally went to a rear area to rest. Here, they were given a bath and freshly laundered clothes before returning to the trenches.

One of the horrors in trench life were that rats, both brown and black alike thrived in millions among trenches for the conditions were appealing to the rodents. Most soldiers who served the western front later recalled how the rodents grew in braveness, stealing food that had been laid down for only a few seconds. They also crawled across the faces of the sleeping soldiers.

As they indulged themselves on food so they grew, with many of the rats growing to about the size of cats. One of the facts that soldiers could hardly bear was that the rats openly fed on the decaying remains of their fellow comrades. Attacking and eating the eyes of a corpse first, the rats would work their way through a corpse in a short period of time. Disgusted at their presence, soldiers would work out various ways of dealing with the creatures. Although shooting them was strictly forbidden for it was a waste of ammunition, most soldiers took pot shots at nearby rats. Attacking rats with bayonets were also common. However, the rat population barely diminished for a pair of rats were capable of producing about 800 off-springs a year!

Trench foot was a common disease during World War 1 and was a serious problem in the trenches. The medical condition was caused if the feet were exposed to the damp or cold which matched the conditions in the trenches. Trench foot did not require extremely freezing conditions unlike frost bite and could occur in even warm climates. The affected feet may become numb or even affected by erythrosis (turning red) or cyanosis (turning blue). As the condition worsens, the feet may possibly begin to swell. If left untreated, the trench foot usually results in gangrene, which may require amputation. If the toes were badly damaged, the nerve endings could break down and die, causing the toes of the foot to fall off.

Trench construction was complicated. According to the British trench guidelines, it took nearly six hours for four hundred and fifty men to construct two hundred and fifty meters of trench. After that, they would add the other necessary materials, some of those including barbed wire, board walks and sand bags. There were three main ways to construct a trench: entrenching, sapping and tunneling. Entrenching is a ‘normal' method of digging – standing on the ground and digging downwards. This method was the most efficient as it allowed many men to construct a trench at once. However, it also left the men exposed to the enemy above ground. Sapping involved the men digging at the ends of the trenches inwards. Only a few men could perform this method at a time. Tunneling was much like sapping, but leaving ground (as in mud or soil) overhead that would later be removed.