Conditions in the Trenches in the First World War

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Conditions in the Trenches in the First World War

• K Hay

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Conditions in the Trenches

• Mud
• Rats and Lice
• Disease and Illness
• Food
• Daily Routine
• Death and Casualties

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Weather and Mud

• Mud was everywhere. Mud penetrated boots,
  mackintoshes and overcoats. No-one could change
  their clothes while they were in front line
  trenches

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Uniforms became filthy!
Mud and the weather were as much an enemy as the
Germans. Men had to put up with the most awful
living conditions. Most of Northern France where
the trenches were situated, was damp, low-lying
countryside. The front line troops were seldom
dry.
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Rats

• Millions of rats infested trenches. There were
  two main types, the brown and the black rat. Both
  were despised but the brown rat was especially
  feared.
• Rats swarmed everywhere. They fed on leftover
  food and rotting bodies. By eating all the human
  remains (and disfiguring them by eating their
  eyes and liver) they could grow to the size of a
  cat!

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Lice

• Because the men were dirty they became infested
  with body lice. Lice lived in warm places on a
  soldiers body. One soldier counted 103 lice
  crawling around his body and in the seams of his
  vest and underpants.
• They lived by sucking blood. Each louse laid
  five eggs a day. The best way to kill a louse
  was by squashing it between thumb and finger.
  Another way to run a lighted candle up and down
  the seams of clothes.

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Disease and Illness

• Soldiers suffered from a number of diseases and
  illnesses -
• Trench Foot
• Louse infestations
• Trench Mouth
• Shell Shock
• Cholera

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Mud led to amputation!

• It was almost impossible for men to keep their
  feet dry in the muddy trenches. The skin quickly
  went wrinkly as it does if you are in the bath
  too long. But then it died and the flesh went
  black and started to rot. This was trench
  foot. In extreme cases the flesh round the toes
  merged into a stinking pulp. Amputation was the
  only solution.

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• It was impossible to keep clean at the front and
  clothes quickly became louse infested. Soldiers
  were said to be chatty and spent hours
  chatting or hunting lice and lice eggs in
  their clothes. The eggs were often found in the
  seams. The kilt had a big disadvantage here as
  lice loved living in its folds.
• The lice caused horrible itchy sores especially
  around the neck, wrists and ankles.

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• Shell shock was caused by fear of the never
  ending artillery bombardments, shells whistling
  and screaming in the air. Victims lost control
  of their limbs. Some foamed at the mouth and
  became incontinent. The effects of shell shock
  were often long lasting.

• Soldiers who had not brushed their teeth for days
  on end might suffer from trench mouth. The
  symptoms were painful bleeding gums, ulcers of
  the mouth and throat and very bad breath.

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• Drinking water was often hard to get at the front
  line and sometimes contaminated water from shell
  holes was drunk causing cholera epidemics. In
  the Gallipoli campaign more men died of disease
  than bullet wounds!

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Food

• Soldiers did not go hungry unless enemy action
  prevented supplies getting through.
• Each soldier had a food ration.

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A Typical Diet

• With us food is pretty scarce and none too good
  at that turnips cut into six pieces, unwashed
  carrot tops mouldy potatoes. The chief luxury
  is a thin rice soup with little bits of beef, but
  they are cut up so small they are hard to find
• Soldier on the Western Front

• Bread
• Hard Biscuits
• Porridge
• Cheese
• Plum and Apple Jam
• Maconochie Stew
• Bully Beef
• Tea
• Condensed Milk
• Rum

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The condition of the food was not a priority!

• To prepare his food each soldier was issued with
  a metal mess-tin.
• Food was brought to the front by ration parties.
  If they came under attack they and the food could
  fall into shell holes full of filthy water and
  rotting bodies!

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What did the soldiers think about the food?

• Wrapping loose rations such as tea, cheese and
  meat was not considered necessary, all being
  tipped into a sandbag, a ghastly mix-up
  resulting. In wet weather their condition was
  unbelievable
• George Coppard, Soldier on the Western Front

• Maconochie, a dinner in a tin was my favourite
  and I could polish one off with gusto, but the
  usual share out was one tin for four menI dont
  ever recollect receiving an apple or an orange as
  part of my rations in France.
• A soldier on the Western Front

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Daily Routine
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What were soldiers doing when they were not
fighting?

1. A register was called at dawn
2. Soldiers ate their breakfast
3. Officers inspection
4. Platoon sergeant gave out the duties
5. 1/3 of men sent on sentry duty
6. 1/3 of men sent back up the communication
   trenches for supplies
7. 1/3 worked in the trenches, repairing them
8. Day ends at dusk, when ration parties made their
   way back with food, stores, parcels and letters

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A lot of activity happened at night

• Night in the trenches was a time of silence and
  fear. It was also a time of activity. Men
  stationed in listening posts out in No-Mans-Land
  gave early warning of enemy activity, and passed
  it back to front line trenches, so that the
  solders would be prepared.
• Raiding parties went out at night to cut enemy
  wire before big battles.
• Snipers went out to kill enemy soldiers who
  raised their heads above the parapet. They
  worked in pairs with their faces blackened with
  coal and wore camouflaged suits.

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Death and Casualties

• All the armies fighting on the Western Front were
  large casualty figures were enormous.
• A lot of hospitals, doctors and nurses were
  needed to cope.

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What happened to wounded soldiers?

• At night, after a battle, stretcher parties
  searched No-Mans-Land for wounded men. The
  stretcher parties usually worked in the dark,
  falling over dead and rotting bodies.

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Soldiers feared death

• All soldiers lived with the sight, sound and
  smell of the dead and the dying. The fear of
  death and of the death of friends were amongst
  the worst things a soldier had to put up with.

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Total Number of Deaths

• Britain lost 761,213 people in the war.
• Most of these were men who died in trench warfare.