The spring of 1915 saw a new frontier develop: the trenches. Trench warfare was one of the main reasons so many men died. It was a ruthless system of warfare, in which lines and lines of men were repeatedly mowed down, one after the other. Life in the trenches, on the daily, was filled with horror, and death. Death was a constant companion to those serving in the line, even when no raid or attack was launched or defended against. Life in the trenches was brutal, terrifying and sordid. Soldiers suffered from a lack of food, diseases, awful weather conditions and the long periods of constant bombardment. Life in the trenches during the First World War took many forms, and varied widely from sector to sector and from front to front.
Undoubtedly, it was entirely unexpected for those eager thousands who signed up for war in August 1914.
A constant fear of death was a notion felt by many men in the trenches. In busy sectors the constant shellfire directed by the enemy brought random death, whether their victims were lounging in a trench or lying in a dugout (many men were buried as a consequence of large shell-bursts). Similarly, novices were cautioned against their natural inclination to peer over the parapet of the trench into no man’s land. Many men died on their first day in the trenches as a consequence of a precisely aimed sniper’s bullet. It has been estimated that up to one third of allied casualties on the Western Front were actually sustained in the trenches. They were under long periods of constant bombardment – which affected their physical and mental health. Discipline was harsh – the punishment for falling asleep on duty was death. The mass bombardment and continual proximity to death, together with the confinement in the trenches and loss of autonomy led to shell shock. Many in this state tried to escape the battle field and were court-martialled and shot.