Another discomfort of trench life were the lice. One soldier described them as “ pale fawn in colour, and they left blotchy red bite marks all over the body”. They also gave of a smell of something that is stale. Different methods were used to get rid of them for example a lighted candle although this was difficult as you could easily set your clothes a light. The lice, as well as causing scratching carried disease. This disease didn’t kill although it did cause about 15% of all illness in the army. Worse than the itchy lice however were the rats. These rats attracted by all the rotting corpses grew amazingly large. One soldier even wrote “ they were so big they would eat a wounded man if he couldn’t defend himself.” Food is a big part of everyone’s life but what was it like in the trenches? Well at the beginning it didn’t seem to bad. British soldiers were given 10 ounces of meat and 8 ounces of vegetables a day, but by 1916 these were cut, and again in 1917. Most of the food the soldiers got was canned corn beef known then as bully beef, bread and biscuits although rumour says that by 1916 flour was in such a shortage that the bread was being made with ground turnips. The food by then was mainly a pea soup with a few lumps of horse meat in it. Food was prepared in 2 large vats which often meant that everything they ate tasted of something else. Food was transported to the trenches by communication trenches in cooking pots called dixies. England tried to hide the food shortage from the enemy and announced that they gave their soldiers 2 meals a day although this resulted in 200,000 letters from annoyed soldiers who had not received the expected food. Food in the trenches was unappetising and scarce. A side from the bad food, itchy lice, deadly rats and wet feet soldiers had to live with constant threat of a shell or worse a gas attack killing them they knew that some time soon they would be going over the top to almost certain death. Life and conditions in the trenches were terrible. Although only a small percentage of people actually died because of the conditions in the trenches many subsequently suffered from shell shock. Shell shock was first noticed in 1914. It caused the men to eventually suffer a mental breakdown and would effect them for life. Although one group of doctors argued that it was cause by enemy artillery and the vacuum that came after it but many put it down to the horrors of trench warfare.
Dangers
There were many dangers in the trenches that soldiers had to be careful of. Trench foot was one of them. Obviously caused by the conditions in the trenches was a life threatening factor a sure danger. Like trench foot infection was a big danger caused by the conditions in the trenches. It could turn minor injuries into life threatening wounds.
One of the biggest threats and dangers in the 1st World War however was a gas attack. The first gas attack was launched on the 22nd April 1915 by the Germans against the French. Chlorine gas destroys the respiratory system of the men unfortunate enough to have inhaled it. Other gases used were phosgene which killed the victim in 48 hours, mustard gas, the most lethal gas used in the war which is almost odourless and took twelve hours to take effect, bromine and chloropicrin.
Obviously shells were a danger as they could kill many men instantly but as well as that the shrapnel was dangerous to. Shrapnel is the casing of the shell when it explodes. The casing shatters and tiny bits of metal travelling at the speed of bullets was deadly.
Of course other dangers are obvious ones. Machine guns, enemy soldiers with guns, snipers etc.
The trench system
The trench system consisted of front line trenches, support trenches , reserve trenches and communication trenches. Communication trenches were dug at an angle to the main trenches. They were used to transport food, equipment and men. The area in-between the 2 enemy sides was called no mans land.
Front line trenches weren’t dug in a straight line because enemies that got into the trenches then they could shoot straight down the line. The French built zigzag but the English tended to build each trench with alternate fire bays and traverses.
Attacks
Attacks obviously were when soldiers tried to gain enemy ground. This usually evolved a wave of soldiers charging at the enemy trenches. If an attack was being planned an aircraft would usually do a check of the enemies position and the soldiers would be in formed first. Before attacks, heavy artillery was used to soften up the enemy trenches. The attack at Somme in the summer of 1916 General Douglas Haig ordered an eight day bombardment of shells before sending 750,000 men to attack German trenches. This was one of the most bloody battles of the 1st world war. Attacks were most likely to be carried out at night because then the German machine guns couldn’t find the English soldiers as easily but still survival was unlikely.
However attacks of this nature were not the only form of attack. As I mentioned before gas attacks were a horrific way to clear the enemies trenches. There were two ways to launch gas. Either you could simply release the gas and let it drift on to your enemy or you could compress it into shells and fire them at the enemy. This gave the soldiers a better range and more control of where the gas went although it was still important the weather conditions was right. A gas attack launched by the British on the 25th September in 1915 went horribly wrong when the wind blew the gas intended for the Germans back in English’s faces.
A few tank attacks were also tried out although the first time they were used it was to little avail. The tanks were badly made and unreliable which resulted in 17 breaking down before they even got to their starting point. Mud also proved a problem for the tanks although they did create panic among the Germans.
Attitudes
At the beginning of the war everyone thought that it was wonderful. Later however soldiers and those back in England grew to hate the war and the horrific consequences it brought about. In England for quite a while the real trench warfare was hidden beneath a world full of happy soldiers although soon the truth began to filter back to England, and ultimately cause big problems there.
People thought that the war was going to be over by Christmas and that life in the trenches wasn’t that bad at the beginning. One soldier writes to his mother expressing that he thinks everyone should have known what was going on. ‘The soldiers at the front need more rest. While in the trenches the water is over our knees most of the time. The war is going to last some time yet, and might be another twelve months before it is over. The war has only just begun and its going to be a war of exhaustion. After the regular armies have done their work it means that all the young lads at home being trained and disciplined and will take our place in the field. The sooner people understand this, the better, it will be for the nation.’
Conclusion
The first world war was an extremely bloody one with millions loosed to a few countries petty arguments. The great loss of life was caused by many things. Life and conditions in the trenches caused some deaths but not as much other factors. Although it distressed many people. Obviously the dangers in the trenches must of killed quite a few people as they were the main killing factors. Mostly, though I think it was the attacks that caused such a high loss of life as with every attack hundreds even thousands were loosed to the deadly machine guns.
This conclusion though really depends on how you look at the essay. You could argue that the main dangers were attacks, that the machine guns were part of life in the trenches and that the sheer fact that the trench system was in action making attacks happen that makes everything come to one final point. All of the sections are linked as they all relate closely to each other. Personally it was all these factors that collectively created the huge number of deaths.
