July 1916
Although Trench Warfare has often occurred throughout the long history of war, its occurrence during WW I almost exactly when there was an ongoing military revolution in firepower which was not matched by similar advances in mobility equipment resulted in a grueling form of warfare in which the defense held the advantage. In other words a ‘stalemate’ in the war effort held true for both sides.
During World War I, trenches first begun to appear by late 1914; you may recall that the war started as a result of the assignation of Francis Ferdinand in late June of 1914 in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and ended in November of 1918. On the western front, trenches stretched from the Belgium border to the Swiss Border for a distance of approximately 400 miles, and they soon became home to millions of soldiers.
Practically every novel or movie which makes mention of WW I invariably portrays the hardships or conditions associated with Trench Warfare on the “Western Front”; in fact, it has become a powerful symbol representing the very futility of war. Images of young men going “over the top” or over the walls of the trench, in route to attack the enemy trench line through a muddy barb-wire strewn ‘no man’s land’, facing a flurry of gun fire leading to certain death, is typified by the first day of the river Somme battle (in which the British suffered 57,000 casualties on the 1st day alone), or the grinding slaughter in the mud of Passchendaele (modern day Passendale) near the city of Ypres in Belgium. To the French, the equivalent is perhaps best described as the wear and tear encountered during the Battle of Verdun in north eastern France; in which they suffered 362,000 casualties and the German opposition lost approximately 336,000 men. The battle lasted a total of ten (10) grueling months which placed the average monthly loss at just short of 10,000 men per month.
Perhaps it’s now pointless to say that such Trench Warfare was invariably associated with the needless slaughter in the most appalling of conditions, combined with the view that brave men went to their deaths because of incompetent and narrow-minded commanders who failed to adapt to the new more destructive conditions of trench warfare. Far too often the class-ridden and backward-looking generals put their faith in the attack, apparently believing that ‘superior morale’ and’ sprint’ would somehow overcome the weapons and moral inferiority of the defender. In fact, leadership was considered so poor that often times the British / Empire troops on the Western Front ware commonly referred to as “lions led by donkeys.” Unfortunately this “war to end all wars”, failed entirely regarding this factor, in that this same leadership view persisted in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II.
The only possible good news was that practically all trenches were deep enough for a man to stand up straight without being seen by the enemy. However on those occasions when they weren’t quite deep enough the men had to crouch or crawl throughout each day, for if enemy snipers saw so much as a hair on the un-crouched soldiers head, they would shoot him straight away.
The mud that was dug out of the trench was piled up in front to form additional fortifications, which offered additional protection from enemy bullets. ‘Sandbags’ or more than likely, ‘mud bags’, were also used as reinforcements.
Trenches were dug or formed in zigzags, as opposed to straight lines, so as to prevent attackers from shooting straight down the trench, and it also helped to reduce the ill effects of blasts from arterially shells. This design also made it more difficult for the trench to be captured, since the enemy who would have to fight round each corner to capture more and more of the trench. Another trick often used for slowing down the process of the enemy capturing the trench, was barbed wire doors, which were common in trenches. When open they fit into gaps in the side of the trench, but when they were closed they were lethal, so they were situated at intervals along the length of the trench.
Rest assured that living conditions in trenches were very basic and extremely unsanitary. The troops had little choice but to slept in little holes cut out of the side of the trench known as ‘dug outs’. The soldiers often had no choice but to stand with water up to their ankles, and sometimes up to their knees; this invariably caused them to suffer from a condition called “trench foot”; which was as you’re sure to guess, a condition of the feet that caused blisters to develop and resulted in severe pain for the soldiers. Since the recommended preventive measures required dry socks as well as dry feet, trench conditions insured that most soldiers were to become infected, and most sooner than later. Add to this inconvenience the ever present rat and lice infestation that plagued most all of the trenches and it soon becomes evident that trench life was far from the good life often described by the most avid outdoorsman.
The other good news was that as a general rule most of the troops were rarely hungry, except on those occasions when shelling had damaged the communication trenches which delay the ferrying of food up and down the line. Even though there was usually enough food to go round, the choice was not typically varied.
The classic food selection included a tinned “bully beef” or corned beef package, a loaf of bread to be shared by as many as 10 men, and jam, which was usually plum or apple flavor, which the men soon tired of. On occasion there was plenty of cheese, but this caused constipation and the soldiers suspected that the abundance of this commodity was a veiled attempt to ease the problem of trench toilets.
When all else failed, or in cases of absolute emergencies, there was a large supply of hard biscuits, but these were described as being like cement and caused immense problems especially for men with false teeth; they were so hard, it was common to soak them in water just to make them edible.
Now for the really bad news: No description of trench life can possibly avoid the aspect that shocked most visitors to the lines; that being the appalling reek or foul smell given off by a number of sources.
It included rotting human carcasses which lay around by the thousands. For example, approximately 200,000 men were killed on the river Somme battlefields, many of which lay in shallow graves. There were always overflowing latrines which would also give off a most offensive stench.
Clearly there were lots of men who didn’t have the luxury of partaking in a bath for weeks or more often for months and would therefore radiate the disquieting odor of dried sweat, especially if they had their boots off.
Add to all of this the smell of cordite (a smokeless alternative to gun powder), the lingering odor of poison gas, rotting sandbags, stagnant mud, cigarette smoke, plus the occasional cooking of food and a retch of a smell is sure to become unbearable to most; yet the men somehow grew used to it, while it thoroughly overcame first-time visitors to the front.
Most folks will agree that the only really good news to come out of WW I arrived on November 11, 1918. For on the eleventh (11) day of the eleventh month (November) on the eleventh hour (11:00 O’clock) the “Great War” said to have been fought to end all wars, ended when Germany signed an armistice agreement with the Allies in Versailles, France. “The Treaty of Versailles” was not signed until June 28, 1919 however, which was the anniversary of the assignation of Francis Ferdinand in 1914, whose death had allegedly started it the war.
Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trench_warfare http://www.harris-academy.com/departments/history/Trenches/Joanna/joanna1.htm http://www.firstworldwar.com/features/trenchlife.htm http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_long_were_world_war_1_trenches http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/timeline_of_world_war_one.htm
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