Trench Warfare

• Schlieffen plan failed and as a result, the French and British armies ‘dug in’ and stopped the German advance. As a result, trench warfare had begun.

The trench…..

‘No Man’s Land’(between the trenches)

The reality of going ‘over the top’ was harsh and horrific

Once the whistle was blown, soldiers were forced to go ‘over the top’

No Man’s Land• The area between the trench lines filled with artillery

holes, land mines, barbed wire, dead bodies.• Many bodies were never recovered because of the

risk of being shot and the fact that many were buried deep into the ground by dirt and mud as a result of artillery fire.

• Grenades would disintegrate bodies.• Soldiers had to suffer hearing the cries of their dying

comrades who were wounded in ‘no man’s land’.

More to the Story…

For most British — and Canadian — soldiers in World War I, a drink of rum was part of the daily food ration. It was usually used to dull the senses and nerves to make living in the trenches more

bearable and to help soldiers get some sleep. But sometimes it was used to help the troops overcome

their fear of going over the top. And sometimes it took more than one. In at least one instance, a

soldier was given four double shots before he was sent over the top.

Soldiers faced BRUTAL conditions

• In addition to ‘no man’s land’, soldiers suffered within the trenches

• Trench foot, trench mouth• Lice• Malnutrition• mud/water• the sound of dying friends

and soldiers• Rotting corpses

The Rats!

• What food soldiers had was often attacked by rats, cold, spoiled or swarming with flies.

• Men dreamt of a decent meal

• Rats as big as cats fed on dead bodies and waste

FREEZING WINTERS!!!

To Make Matters Worse….

• Soldiers live in these dreadful conditions while constantly living with the fear of being shot by a bullet, stabbed by a bayonet, or attacked by chlorine gas.

•The Trench Cycle was the time period men would spend in the lineThis amount of time would vary from weeks to monthsDaily life was spent with inspections, chores, supplies and waiting, endless waiting

What if you refused?

• Soldiers did not realize the horrific nature that the war would entail. Soldiers were forced to fight.

• abandonment, hiding, sleeping on duty, refusing to fight=killed by superior officer

“The battlefield is fearful. One is overcome by a peculiar sour, heavy and penetrating smell of

corpses. Rising over a plank bridge you find that its middle is supported only by the body of a long dead horse. Men that were killed last October lie half in swamp and half in the yellow sprouting beet fields. The legs of an Englishman, still encased in puttees, stick out into a trench, the corpse still being built

into the parapet; a soldier hands his rifle on them. Nobody minds the pale Englishman who is rotting

away a few steps farther up.”

“Try to sleep with a belt full of ammunition around you, your rifle bolt biting into your ribs, entrenching tool handle sticking

into the small of your back, with a tin hat for a pillow; and feeling very damp and cold, with ‘cooties’ boring for oil in your

arm pits, and the air foul from the stench of grimy human bodies and smoke from a juicy pipe being whiffed into your

nostrils.”