Trench diagrams and definitions
| Word | Definition |
|---|---|
| Stalemate | A situation in which further action is locked; a deadlock |
| Attrition | A wearing down or weakening of resistance, especially as a result of continuous pressure or harassment |
| No man’s land | Disputed ground between the frontlines or trenches of two opposing armies |
| Quagmire | A soft boggy area of land that gives way underfoot |
| Artillery | Large calibre guns used in warfare on land |
Introduction
- The emergence of trench warfare took military strategists by surprise.
- Many still believed that the war would be over by Christmas.
- The development of the trenches was a result of using modern machinery
- The trenches were initially going to be temporary, however, they became a permanent feature of warfare in WWI.
Life in the trenches
- Trench life is beyond comprehension. They were dealing with far more than the constant fear of leaving the trench.
- Sources of life in the trenches include photographs, poems written by the soldiers, letters home, and journalist articles.
Mud
- Men in the trenches never became used to the incessant and all-pervasive nature of the mud.
- It affected their whole existence, food, clothing and health.
- North-eastern France and Belgium received frequent rain that when combined with the clay in the trenches and the artillery bombardments resulted in muddy swamps.
Sickness and disease
- Men in the trenches often stood for days in knee-high water.
- The lack of drainage and abundant rain meant that the trenches were frequently full of water.
- This led to conditions of trench foot: the painful swelling of the feet caused by constant immersion in water.
- In some cases the toes would rot off, and the condition often progressed to gangrene, that would lead to amputation.
- It was not only water that filled the trenches, that water at the bottom of a trench soon developed into an unbelievable putrid concoction of human and military debris
- The stench of the trench and the smell of explosives and gas often induced vomiting.
- At the height of the battle men had no choice but to urinate where they stood.
- Diarrhoea and dysentery were common ailment suffered by the troops.
- Decomposing bodies were allowed to float on the surface of the water until a safe time could be found to dispose of them.
- At the height of summer these corpses attracted swarms of flies.
- All conditions creating and ideal for spreading disease. Frostbite, meningitis, tuberculosis, venereal disease.
Gangrene / Gas Gangrene
Gangrene
Your feet swell to two or three times their normal size and go completely dead. You could stick a bayonet into them and not feel a thing. If you were fortunate enough not to lose your feet and the swelling begins to go down, it is then that the intolerable, indescribable agony begins. I have heard men cry and even scream with the pain and many had to have their feet and legs amputated. I was one of the lucky ones, but one more day in that trench and it may have been too late.
Gas gangrene
An ailment that has nothing to do with gas, but a condition caused by a chemical in manure (bacillus a bacterium) that when combined with oxygen produces spores that would come into contact with wounds due to the mud.
Lice
- There was not a soldier in the trenches during WWI that did not have lice.
- Once embedded in a man’s uniform they had the ability to torment their host night and day.
- They bred uncontrollably and were resistant to all forms of prevention.
- The constant scratching of the men due to lice caused the skin to break. In the unhygienic conditions this proved dangerous.
Rats
- Known as trench rats or corpse rats these vermin were often the size of small dogs and were a constant unwelcome companion on the Western Front
- Rats were not selective, French/ German, dead/sleeping, food
- The horror of rats often brought out the humour of men in the trenches, for example competitions of killing rats and the various ways to do so.
The cold
- The winter temperatures in the trenches would fall to -15 degrees.
- The combination of cold and wet made the conditions unbearable, making sleep and warmth impossible.
Psychological angle / shell shock
- Nature of battle had short term and long term psychological effects.
- Men fighting on the Western Front were unfamiliar with violence and the savagery of battle.
- They had to cope with constant artillery bombardments, human flesh and the stench.
- The official attitude to shell shock in the early part of the war was that there is no such thing. They accused those showing symptoms of shell shock as malingerers or cowards.
- Shell shock was caused by the stress of war: Some became violent and angry, others refused to communicate, some would gaze blankly, or they could shake, mumble and slobber.