Trench Warfare

Learning Intention:

Student will learn to understand the nature of trench warfare

Success Criteria:

• I can identify features of the trenches

• I can explain the conditions and experiences of soldiers in the trenches

1. Trenches generally formed a zigzag pattern to help protect the trench against enemy attack.

2. Fire steps and scaling ladders enabled troops to go ‘over the top’, i.e. to go out into no-man’s-land (the area between the opposing armies) to attack enemy trenches.

3. Machine guns, one of the deadliest weapons, could fire 400–500 bullets every minute.

4. Earth-filled sandbags helped to shore up the edges of the trenches and absorb bullets and shell fragments.

5. Duckboards were wooden planks placed across the bottom of trenches and other muddy ground. They helped protect men from trench foot and from sinking deep into the mud. Trench foot was a painful and dangerous condition resulting from days spent standing in freezing water and muddy trenches; gangrene could set in and result in the amputation of a man’s foot.

6. Owing to the use of mustard gas and other chemical weapons, all soldiers needed gas masks. Mustard gas was almost odourless and took 12 hours to take effect.

7. Each soldier had a kit containing nearly 30 kilograms of equipment. This included a rifle, two grenades, ammunition, a steel helmet, wire cutters, a fi eld dressing, a spade, a heavy coat, two sandbags, a ground sheet, a water bottle, a haversack, a mess tin, a towel, a shaving kit, socks and rations of preserved food.

8. Barbed wire helped protect the trenches and also made it very difficult to attack the opposing trench. Before an attack, soldiers went out at night to cut sections of wire to make it easier for the soldiers in morning raids. Minor cuts and grazes caused by the barbed wire often became infected in the unsanitary conditions of the trenches.

9. Snow, rain and freezing temperatures drastically slowed combat during the winter months. In hot, dry summers, lack of fresh water, scorching sun, and the stench of dead bodies and rubbish made trench life equally difficult.