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The battlefields of WWI
Life in the trenches for ordinary soldiers
This is an entry in the diary of Harold Saunders, a soldier during World War One. He describes trench life as he
knows it.
• “When I made my debut in the line I had a cheerful conviction that nothing would hit me. And I remember standing on the fire-step for the first time and saying to myself exultantly: "You're in it at last! You're in it! The greatest thing that's ever happened!
• “Lice and wind-up came into my life about the same time. At stand-to one morning a flight of whizz-bangs skimmed the top of the trench. The man next to me went down with a scream and half his face gone. The sand-bag in front of me was ripped open and I was blinded and half-choked with its contents.”
The soldiers had very little decent food, and what food they had was often attacked by rats.
These rats were the size of small rabbits because they had fed on the decomposing bodies of dead soldiers.
Original film footage
Life in the trenches
Trench Construction diagram from 1914 British Army Manual
Aerial View of Trenches in WWI
PHOTOS OF THE TRENCHES
The intensity of World War I trench warfare meant about 10% of the fighting soldiers were killed.
Medical services were primitive and life-saving antibiotics had not yet been discovered. Relatively minor injuries could prove fatal through onset of infection and gangrene. The Germans recorded that 12% of leg wounds and
23% of arm wounds resulted in death, mainly through infection.
Diseases in the Trenches
TRENCH FEVER
TRENCH FOOT
Sanitary conditions in the trenches were quite poor, and common infections included dysentery, typhus, and cholera. Many soldiers suffered from parasites and related infections. Poor hygiene also led to fungal conditions, such as
trench mouth and trench foot.
Rats and Lice• Two types – black and brown
• Soldiers made games of killing them
• Lice were an even worse problem
Body Lice
For British and Dominion troops serving on the Western Front, the proportion of troops killed was 12%, while the total proportion of troops who became
casualties (killed or wounded) was 56%.
What Else?• Novice Death
• The Trench Cycle
• “Stand To” and “The Morning Hate”
• The Breakfast Truce
• Inspection and Chores
• Patrolling No Man’s Land
GAS
• First used by the French
• Second Battle of Ypres
Country Casualties
Deaths
ITALY 60,000 4,627USA 72,807 1,462
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY
100,000 3,000BRITISH EMPIRE
188,706 8,109FRANCE 190,000 8,000
GERMANY 200,000 9,000RUSSIA 419,340 56,00
0OTHER 10,000 1,000
Soldiers returning from battle with Mustard and Chlorine gas wounds
DIARY ENTRY of Anthony Hossack on
THE FIRST GAS ATTACK