Life In The Trenches 1 Essay

Submitted By Ploop1
Words: 560
Pages: 3

Life In The Trenches

L.O. to have an understanding of what it would be like to spend time in a wartime trench.

Task 1
Read the passage below and then list all the possible problems they may encounter. (Copy table into your book )

Death was always happening to those serving in the line, even when no raid or attack was launched or defended against. In busy sectors the constant shellfire directed by the enemy brought random death, whether their victims were lounging in a trench or lying in a dugout (many men were buried as a consequence of such large shell-bursts). Many men died on their first day in the trenches as a consequence of a precisely aimed sniper's bullet. Aside from enemy injuries, disease occurred a lot. Rats in their millions infested trenches. There were two main types, the brown and the black rat. Both were hated but the brown rat was especially feared. Gorging themselves on human remains (grotesquely disfiguring them by eating their eyes and liver) they could grow to the size of a cat. Lice were a never-ending problem, breeding in the seams of filthy clothing and causing men to itch all the time. Lice caused Trench Fever, a particularly painful disease that began suddenly with severe pain followed by high fever. Trench Foot was another medical condition peculiar to trench life. It was a fungal infection of the feet caused by cold, wet and dirty trench conditions. It could turn gangrenous and result in the removal of the foot. Rotting carcases lay around in their thousands. Overflowing latrines (toilets) would similarly give off a most offensive stench. Men who had not been afforded the luxury of a bath in weeks or months would offer the pervading odour of dried sweat. The feet were generally accepted to give off the worst stink. Add to this the smell of cordite, the lingering odour of poison gas, rotting sandbags, stagnant mud, cigarette smoke and cooking food!

Daily routine in the trenches.

A soldier might expect in a year to spend up to 70 days in the front line, with another 30 in nearby support trenches.
The daily routine of life in the trenches began with the morning 'stand to'. An hour before