The Trench Warfare Handout Note

Trench Warfare

There were many problems that existed for the soldiers while they were in the trenches.

RAIN

The rain was a constant problem. Whenever it would rain, the trenches would fill up with water and the soldiers were forced to stand in icy water and mud.

This caused some serious problems with their feet. Known as trenchfoot, their feet would swell and they would be in extreme pain. If they tried to take off their boots in relief, they would not be able to get them back on.

Day after day, week after week, the men would eat and sleep in the wet muddy trenches crouched behind rifles in soaking wet uniforms.

The mud was everywhere and in it were bits of trees, shrapnel, rubble and body parts.

The men would work in 48-hour shifts, 4 days on and 4 days off. Some were in the trenches 55 days at a time when reinforcements would not appear. It was not possible for them to keep warm or clean. The men and the trenches were infested with lice and rats were everywhere.

LICE AND RATS

Lice were called itchee-coos. They lived on clothes and in hair. The lice need a meal of blood every 12 hours in order to survive. They would lay eggs in the seams of the soldiers’ clothes.

They laid 6-7 eggs per day. Each female could lay up to 300 eggs that would hatch every 3 days. They would come onto the bodies to feed and then retreat into the seams of the clothes.

Soldiers were supposed to get fumigated clothing but even the clean clothes had lice in them as large as grains of rice. All bedding was crawling with vermin when they were out on rest.

Rats had a constant supply of food. The men who died in No Man’s Land could not be recovered so they became food for rats. The soldiers were forced to see their comrades being eaten (sometimes while they were still alive) and to listen to the sound of their dying. The smell of blood and rotting flesh was constant.

The men also were in danger from the barbed wire.

GAS

Gas was first used as a weapon by the Germans at the Battle of Ypres in 1915.

The gas would blow across the Allies lines and would slowly choke the soldiers who had no masks.

The gas was known a s mustard gas because of its colour. It was chlorine. The gas would corrode the lungs of a soldier immediately and he would choke to death on his own lungs as they frothed up and consumed him.

The Germans would wear their masks and attack. Even without the masks, the Canadian soldiers at Ypres stayed and fought for 2 days. 1 in 3 Canadians were hurt or killed but they never retreated.