In spite of the fact that the trenches protected the soldiers, they stood no chance against the diseases. Body lice were among one of the diseases that traveled among the trenches the most. Body lice caused frenzied scratching and led to trench fever- a particularly painful disease that began suddenly with severe pain followed by high fever. Recovery - away from the trenches - took up to twelve weeks. Lice were not actually identified as the culprit of Trench Fever until 1918.
Fifteen percent of sickness was from body lice. Trench foot was another disease found in the trenches. After hours of standing in waterlogged trenches, the feet would begin to numb, change color, and swell, and this would soon result in amputation. There was one way to cure trench foot without amputation, and that was to dry feet and change socks regularly. During the winter of 1914-15, over 20,000 men in the British army were treated for trench foot. Whale oil was used to oil the soldiers' feet because it was much easier to take off their boots. Ten gallons of whale oil was used at the front lines.
With the dead and dying soldiers, rats were not far behind. Rats varied in sizes. Rats could produce around 880 offspring in one year. Rats that could not find food in trenches resorted in eating human flesh. A large rat could devour wounded and unprotected soldiers. Frogs by the score were too found in shell holes covered in water; they were also found in the base of trenches. Slugs and horned beetles crowded the sides of the trench. Many men chose to shave their heads entirely to avoid another prevalent scourge- nits.
The trenches however did protect them from small explosions and gunfire. The German trench system was more elaborate and, according to some reports, better build and maintained. This was due to the fact that for long periods the German army was on the defensive, and needed an environment which would enable their men to resist the massive bombardments and assaults of the allies.
When soldiers thought that the trenches would protect them from harm, they were in for an unsuspecting surprise. Throughout the war, the allies used five million tons of artillery shells against the enemy. In the first two weeks of a battle, the British with other allies managed to shoot 4,283,550 shells at the German defenses. The trenches never protected soldiers from shell shock. Soldiers who exposed themselves to continuous amount of shellfire produced a number of symptoms. These symptoms included tiredness, irritability, and lack of concentration, headaches, and eventually mental breakdowns. About 80,000 men of the British suffered from shell shock.
Life, jobs and work in the trenches
The daily routine of life in the trenches began with the morning 'stand to'. An hour before dawn everyone was roused from slumber by the company orderly officer and sergeant and ordered to climb up on the fire step to guard against a dawn raid by the enemy, bayonets fixed.
This policy of stand to was adopted by both sides, and despite the knowledge that each side prepared itself for raids or attacks timed at dawn, many were actually carried out at this time. Accompanying stand to, as the light grew, was the daily ritual often termed the 'morning hate'. Both sides would often relieve the tension of the early hours with machine gun fire, shelling and small arms fire, directed into the mist to their front: this made doubly sure of safety at dawn.
Breakfast and Morning truce
With stand to over, in some areas rum might then be issued to the men. They would then attend to the cleaning of their rifle equipment, which was followed by its inspection by officers.
Breakfast would next be served. In essentially every area of the line at some time or other each side would adopt an unofficial truce while breakfast was served and eaten. This truce often extended to the wagons which delivered such sustenance. Truces such as these seldom lasted long; invariably a senior officer would hear of its existence and quickly stamp it out. Nevertheless it persisted throughout the war, and was more prevalent in quieter sectors of the line.
Inspection and Chores
With breakfast over the men would be inspected by either the company or platoon commander. Once this had been completed NCOs would assign daily chores to each man (except those who had been excused duty for a variety of reasons). For example, necessary and daily chores included the refilling of sandbags, the repair of the duckboards on the floor of the trench and the draining of trenches.
Particularly following heavy rainfall, trenches could quickly build up muddy water, making life ever more miserable for its occupants as the walls of the trench rapidly became misshapen and were prone to collapse. Pumping equipment was available for the draining of trenches; men would also be assigned to the repair of the trench itself. Still others would be assigned to the preparation of latrines.
Daily Boredom
Given that each side's front line was constantly under watch by snipers and look-outs during daylight, movement was logically restricted until night fell. Thus, once men had concluded their assigned tasks they were free to attend to more personal matters, such as the reading and writing of letters home.
Meals were also prepared. Sleep was snatched wherever possible - although it was seldom that men were allowed sufficient time to grab more than a few minutes rest before they were detailed to another task.
Supply and Maintenance of trenches
With the onset of dusk the morning ritual of stand to was repeated, again to guard against a surprise attack launched as light fell.
This over, the trenches became a hive of activity. Supply and maintenance activities could be undertaken, although danger invariably accompanied these as the enemy would be alert for such movement. Men would be sent to the rear lines to fetch rations and water.
Other men would be assigned sentry duty on the fire step. Generally men would be expected to provide sentry duty for up to two hours. Any longer and there was a real risk of men falling asleep on duty - for which the penalty was death by firing squad.
Patrolling No Man's Land
Patrols would often be sent out into No Mans Land. Some men would be tasked with repairing or adding barbed wire to the front line. Others however would go out to assigned listening posts, hoping to pick up valuable information from the enemy lines. Sometimes enemy patrols would meet in No Man's Land. They were then faced with the option of hurrying on their separate ways or else engaging in hand to hand fighting. They could not afford to use their handguns while patrolling in No Man's Land, for fear of the machine gun fire it would inevitably attract, deadly to all members of the patrol.
Relieving Men at the Front
Men were relieved front-line duty at night-time too. Relieving units would wind their weary way through numerous lines of communications trenches, weighed down with equipment and trench stores (such as shovels, picks, corrugated iron, duckboards, etc.). The process of relieving a line could take several frustrating hours.
Going over the Top
Today we use the expression 'over the top' to mean something that is extreme, outrageous or inappropriate. Most soldiers in the Great War must have felt the same way about orders to go 'over the top'. For them it meant leaving the safety of their trenches and attacking the enemy.
The usual approach began with a huge artillery barrage designed to smash enemy defences and kill defending troops. This was followed by a charge across 'no man's land', which might be a few kilometres or could be as little as 30 metres. Going over the top could be a devastating experience. If the artillery had done its job, the enemy's barbed wire fences would be shredded and the defenders killed. But all too often this was not the case. German defences were extremely deep and strong. The Hindenburg line of fortifications was reinforced with concrete dugouts, which offered excellent protection from shells. Artillery bombardments, barbed wire and machine guns made it very difficult to capture ground and hold on to it.
For most troops, being in combat did not mean going over the top. It was much more common to be involved in nighttime patrols and raids on enemy trenches. The point of raids was to find out about enemy defences and take prisoners who could be interrogated. It was also to wear down the enemy by killing soldiers and to damage defences by throwing grenades and setting up mortars. However, in the big battles there would be occasions when large numbers of troops would have to go over the top.
The Battle of the Somme
The Battle of the Somme started in July 1st 1916. It lasted until November 1916. For many people, the Battle of the Somme was the battle that symbolised the horrors of warfare in ; this one battle had a marked effect on overall and seemed to represent the futility of .
For many years those who led the British campaign have received a lot of criticism for the way the Battle of the Somme was fought – especially . This criticism was based on the appalling casualty figures suffered by the British and the French. By the end of the battle, the British Army had suffered 420,000 casualties including nearly 60,000 on the first day alone. The French lost 200,000 men and the Germans nearly 500,000.
Ironically, going over the top at the Somme was the first taste of battle many of these men had, as many were part of "Kitchener’s Volunteer Army" persuaded to volunteer by posters showing Lord Kitchener himself summoning these men to arms to show their patriotism.
Machine guns inflicted appalling casualties on both war fronts in . Men who went over-the-top in stood little chance when the enemy opened up with their machine guns. Machine guns were one of the main killers in the and accounted for many thousands of .
Crude machine guns had first been used in the American Civil War (1861 to 1865). However, tactics from this war to 1914 had not changed to fit in with this new weapon. Machine guns could shoot hundreds of rounds of ammunition a minute and the standard military tactic of was the infantry charge. were huge. Many soldiers barely got out of their before they were cut down.