How did soldiers in trenches live with the dead?
Many men killed in the trenches were buried almost where they fell. If a trench subsided, or new trenches or dugouts were needed, large numbers of decomposing bodies would be found just below the surface. They usually went for the eyes first and then they burrowed their way right into the corpse.
How did soldiers live in the trenches?
Trenches were long, narrow ditches dug into the ground where soldiers lived. They were very muddy, uncomfortable and the toilets overflowed. These conditions caused some soldiers to develop medical problems such as trench foot. In the middle was no man’s land, which soldiers crossed to attack the other side.
What was life like living in the trenches?
Trench life involved long periods of boredom mixed with brief periods of terror. The threat of death kept soldiers constantly on edge, while poor living conditions and a lack of sleep wore away at their health and stamina.
What did soldiers do in the trenches?
Following morning stand-to, inspection, and breakfast, soldiers undertook any number of chores, ranging from cleaning latrines to filling sandbags or repairing duckboards. During daylight hours, they conducted all work below ground and away from the snipers’ searching rifles.
What did soldiers eat for breakfast in the trenches in ww1?
Soldiers food in the trenches
| 20 ounces of bread | 1/10 gill lime if vegetables not issued |
|---|---|
| 3 ounces of cheese | maximum of 20 ounces of tobacco |
| 5/8 ounces of tea | 1/3 chocolate – optional |
| 4 ounces of jam | 4 ounces of oatmeal instead of bread |
| ½ ounce of salt | 1 pint of porter instead of rum |
What did the soldiers in the trenches eat?
The bulk of their diet in the trenches was bully beef (caned corned beef), bread and biscuits. By the winter of 1916 flour was in such short supply that bread was being made with dried ground turnips. The main food was now a pea-soup with a few lumps of horsemeat.
How did they deal with rats in the trenches?
With no proper disposal system the rats would feast off food scraps. The rats grew bigger and bolder and would even steal food from a soldier’s hand. But for some soldiers the rats became their friends. They captured them and kept them as pets, bringing a brief reprisal from the horror which lay all around.
Do rats eat dead humans?
Food: Rats will eat anything a human will, and more. But worse damage is done by their urine and feces which are left behind on any uneaten food.
What disease did rats carry in the trenches?
Many troops succumbed to trench foot, a fungal infection caused by immersion in cold water. Rats and lice were soldiers’ constant companions: rats, having gorged on corpses, allegedly grew ‘as big as cats’; lice were the (then unknown) vector of another common wartime ailment, trench fever.
Where did soldiers sleep in the trenches?
Getting to sleep When able to rest, soldiers in front line trenches would try and shelter from the elements in dugouts. These varied from deep underground shelters to small hollows in the side of trenches – as shown here.
What diseases affected soldiers in the trenches?
But the majority of loss of life can be attributed to famine and disease – horrific conditions meant fevers, parasites and infections were rife on the frontline and ripped through the troops in the trenches. Among the diseases and viruses that were most prevalent were influenza, typhoid, trench foot and trench fever.
What were the emotional side effects of living in the trenches?
Disease and ‘shell shock’ were rampant in the trenches. As they were often effectively trapped in the trenches for long periods of time, under nearly constant bombardment, many soldiers suffered from “shell shock,” the debilitating mental illness known today as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
How did soldiers deal with rats in the trenches?
The rats grew bigger and bolder and would even steal food from a soldier’s hand. But for some soldiers the rats became their friends. They captured them and kept them as pets, bringing a brief reprisal from the horror which lay all around.
Are the trenches from ww1 still there?
There are a small number of places where sections of trench lines can still be visited. Nevertheless, there are still remains of trenches to be found in remote parts of the battlefields such as the woods of the Argonne, Verdun and the mountains of the Vosges.
Why did they use trenches in ww1?
During WWI, trenches were used to try to protect soldiers from poison gas, giving them more time to put on gas masks. Dysentery, cholera, typhoid fever, and trench foot were all common diseases in the trenches, especially during WWI.
Why was ww1 so deadly?
The loss of life was greater than in any previous war in history, in part because militaries were using new technologies, including tanks, airplanes, submarines, machine guns, modern artillery, flamethrowers, and poison gas.
Why didn’t WWII use trenches?
War had become much too modernized and “mobile’ by WWII. WWI was an industrialized war fought with 1880′s tactics. By WWII those Generals were long dead and by 1938 Hitler had launched extremely mobile and quick armor based assaults and fluid attacks, digging in for a trench war was not possible.
How did trench warfare start?
In the wake of the Battle of the Marne—during which Allied troops halted the steady German push through Belgium and France that had proceeded over the first month of World War I—a conflict both sides had expected to be short and decisive turns longer and bloodier, as Allied and German forces begin digging the first …
How do you counter trench warfare?
What was the best way to counter trench warfare? The very ways in which it WAS countered during the war. That is to say, the development of mortars, hand grenades, the creeping barrage, aerial bombardment and close air support, and the tank.