The battlefields of WWI

Life in the trenches for ordinary soldiers

This is an entry in the diary of Harold Saunders, a soldier during World War One. He describes trench life as he

knows it.

• “When I made my debut in the line I had a cheerful conviction that nothing would hit me.  And I remember standing on the fire-step for the first time and saying to myself exultantly: "You're in it at last! You're in it! The greatest thing that's ever happened!

• “Lice and wind-up came into my life about the same time.  At stand-to one morning a flight of whizz-bangs skimmed the top of the trench.  The man next to me went down with a scream and half his face gone.  The sand-bag in front of me was ripped open and I was blinded and half-choked with its contents.”

The soldiers had very little decent food, and what food they had was often attacked by rats.

These rats were the size of small rabbits because they had fed on the decomposing bodies of dead soldiers.

Original film footage

Life in the trenches

Trench Construction diagram from 1914 British Army Manual

Aerial View of Trenches in WWI

PHOTOS OF THE TRENCHES

The intensity of World War I trench warfare meant about 10% of the fighting soldiers were killed.

Medical services were primitive and life-saving antibiotics had not yet been discovered. Relatively minor injuries could prove fatal through onset of infection and gangrene. The Germans recorded that 12% of leg wounds and

23% of arm wounds resulted in death, mainly through infection.

Diseases in the Trenches

TRENCH FEVER

TRENCH FOOT

Sanitary conditions in the trenches were quite poor, and common infections included dysentery, typhus, and cholera. Many soldiers suffered from parasites and related infections. Poor hygiene also led to fungal conditions, such as

trench mouth and trench foot.

Rats and Lice• Two types – black and brown

• Soldiers made games of killing them

• Lice were an even worse problem

Body Lice

For British and Dominion troops serving on the Western Front, the proportion of troops killed was 12%, while the total proportion of troops who became

casualties (killed or wounded) was 56%.

What Else?• Novice Death

• The Trench Cycle

• “Stand To” and “The Morning Hate”

• The Breakfast Truce

• Inspection and Chores

• Patrolling No Man’s Land

GAS

• First used by the French

• Second Battle of Ypres

Country Casualties

Deaths

ITALY 60,000 4,627USA 72,807 1,462

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY

100,000 3,000BRITISH EMPIRE

188,706 8,109FRANCE 190,000 8,000

GERMANY 200,000 9,000RUSSIA 419,340 56,00

0OTHER 10,000 1,000

Soldiers returning from battle with Mustard and Chlorine gas wounds

DIARY ENTRY of Anthony Hossack on

THE FIRST GAS ATTACK