What was life like in the trenches

In 1914, a war broke out that at the time was the biggest conflict ever seen by the human race. An unfortunate series of events unraveled and this led to over 30 countries taking up arms and joining either the Allied forces or the central powers for control of Europe. The Central powers were led by Germany, and the main countries of the Allied forces were Britain, France, and Russia.

(Going “over the top” as it was known was the single most dangerous time for a trench soldier)

A war of this scale had never been seen before and no one really knew the best way to fight it. It didn’t take long before the various nations involved realized the most effective form of defense was to dig trenches, and so countless thousands of troops were put to work digging hundreds of miles of trenches to protect themselves. The trench networks were so effective that this led to very little troop movements in many areas, and soldiers saw themselves staying in the same place for months at a time.

Getting sent to the trenches

Around 25% of the male population of Britain joined the armed forces during the war, with around 5 million active service personnel throughout the conflict. There were certain places you could be stationed that would be different from the standard infantry deployment, but the vast majority of people were sent to the front line, which almost always involved living in a trench.

After sitting on several trains and lorries with a short voyage in between, you would finally arrive at your site of deployment. The first thing to do would be to find the area you’re stationed in and follow the orders of the commanding officer, which would usually involve some kind of manual labor.

(A typical section of trench, with one man on watch and the other trying to get some sleep on a muddy shelf)

New troops were usually not sent straight to the front line but would start off in one of the support trenches further back. As troops went over the top or died in the trenches, the lines further back would move toward the front trench to replace their numbers until it was your turn to go over the top or man the front line.

An average day in the trenches

5 am – 6 am
On the front line of the trench, troops would be expected to “stand to arms”, which means to be ready for an enemy attack. This would start 30 minutes before sunrise and end 30 minutes afterward, with the day’s rum ration normally being distributed at this point.

6 am – midday
After standing around for an hour just in case the enemy attacked at first light, you would be dismissed from “standing to” and would have the chance to get some breakfast. After this, general trench duties would take up the rest of the time until lunch at midday. These duties would include moving supplies around, tidying up the walls of the trench, throwing excess water over the sides, and a whole range of other dirty and unpleasant jobs.

Midday – 6 pm
Dinner would be eaten around midday, and after that, there would be nothing to do until tea was prepared around 5 pm, or at least an hour before it got dark. This would be the time troops would catch up on some sleep, as there was nothing else for them to do.

6 pm – 7 pm
The most common times for an attack are at dawn or dust, and just like at sunrise, troops would be made to stand ready for an attack half an hour before until half an hour after dawn.

7 pm
After the dawn-time standing-to period was over, troops would be put to work doing some of the more intensive jobs. None of the nations involved had night-vision equipment during the war and unless someone shot up a flare or there was an especially bright moon, it was much safer to go above the trench line without being spotted.

This was the time they would try to retrieve bodies close to their trench, replace barbed wire, or rebuild defenses that involved them being outside the trench. After these duties were complete, if there were any to do in the first place, you would have the rest of the time until the stand-to at dawn to yourself, which for most was used to catch up on more sleep.

Downtime and sleeping areas in a trench

There was a huge recruitment campaign in Britain that went along the lines of kick some ass and be back in time for Christmas. Since the war began in September, this was overly optimistic, to say the least. Because the Allies thought it would be over in a matter of weeks, they built their trenches accordingly, with them being much shallower and having fewer “comforts”.

(A good example of the general living conditions for most troops on the front line)

People would often live and sleep at the side of whichever trench they were stationed in. For the first year of the war, British trenches weren’t very deep and people would often sleep at the side of the main walkway or if they were lucky, a muddy shelf dug into the side just big enough to lay down on. The Germans thought the war would take much longer than the British did, so dug much deeper and more comfortable trench networks, but everyone else wasn’t so lucky.

Food in the trenches

The standard rations for a British soldier included canned meat which was usually corned beef, bread, vegetables, biscuits, tea and sugar, jam, cheese, and bacon. They would also receive a rum ration that was given out each day, usually at the dawn or dusk standing-to periods. The rum ration was one of the few that was given out daily to make sure that soldiers didn’t end up with too much at once, leading to mass drunkenness.

Cooking would mostly be done by the soldiers themselves instead of organized kitchens because it was too difficult to move so many troops around the trenches at once. Certain areas of the trenches were designated as cooking areas but they consisted of little more than space to make a small fire and hold a mess tin over it. Officers would often have a small kitchen where their cooking would be done for them, and infirmary and command sections would often have their own small kitchen, but they were often just a small log-burning stove that had been brought in.

(A selection of old tinned rations from the war, mostly including sweets, tea and chocolate)

Water was a massive problem in the trenches because all the water that people could see would be heavily infected. The combination of dead bodies, rats, overflowing toilets, and the mass of various chemicals used in weaponry would all contribute to making the water very dangerous to drink.

The way around this was to bring water in from behind the trenches and transport it in anything that was available, which often included petrol cans and old barrels. The water couldn’t be purified by boiling in such huge amounts, so chemicals were used to make it safe to drink. These would leave a nasty taste in the water so soldiers would drink it as tea, often filling up their canteens with cold tea to avoid the chemical taste of plain water.

Food would change over the course of the war, with a greater variation towards the end that included such treats as canned plum pudding and even fresh meat that didn’t consist of pork. One of the favorite recipes for the British became known simply as the “trench sandwich” and was a cheese, corned beef, and jam sandwich eaten cold.

Trench hygiene

It was impossible to stay clean in the trenches, as everything around you would be made of dirt. You’d be expected to sleep on either dirt or wooden planks people have been walking on all day with muddy boots, and there wouldn’t be anywhere to have a wash. The only water available would be reserved for drinking or be filled with disease and various unpleasant fluids, but this didn’t mean troops wouldn’t get to wash.

(Staying clean in conditions like this simply wasn’t possible, especially when it came to trying to find somewhere to sleep)

The people in charge realized that disease and morale would be a problem if they didn’t keep the troops as clean as possible, but this turned out to be a major challenge when fighting in a trench. The only way around this would be to move groups of soldiers out of the trench to a safe point further back where they could take a shower, or at least wash somehow. The plan was to provide a hot shower for everyone once every 5 to 10 days, depending on what was available and the situation on that stretch of the frontline.

This almost never happened and soldiers would often be treated to a cold shower in an abandoned building, or in many cases have to bath in a small river or stream that didn’t run through the front line or near any bodies. After washing, they would be treated to a full set of new clothes they would be expected to wear for around a week until the next time they could wash.

Other than bathing 3 or 4 times a month, the only other thing that could be classed as hygiene would be to include toothbrushes as a standard ration item, and sometimes troops would be given a small bar of soap.

Dangers of living in a trench

The single most dangerous time would be during a major attack, but even during downtime, there was a constant threat to life. The most direct threat was from the enemy, who would permanently have snipers looking for anyone who got a little too careless and raised their head too high. Random artillery strikes could come at any time, or a plane could try its luck and randomly drop a bomb or two, but even after the opposing force, just being in a trench was more than enough to kill people.

(The infirmary, a slightly cleaner section of trench where no one had anti-biotics)

The number one killer after the enemy was disease, and no one had antibiotics during the First World War. The most common infection type was gangrene, and nothing caused this more than a condition known as “Trench foot”.

What is Trench Foot

The condition is called immersion foot syndrome but is more commonly known as trench foot because it was very, very common during the first year of the war. Because the British trenches were so basic during the first year, they were often flooded with water and didn’t have duckboards for the first few months, which are planks placed above the water to walk on. This led to troops having to not only stand in water all day but also sleep in it.

(Feet after healing from trench foot. The infected tissue had to be cut away from each one in order to save the rest of the foot)

Trench foot is a condition where the outer layers of the skin surrounding the foot die and begin to decompose, causing infection. A good example of this is when you’ve been in the bath or swimming pool for a long time and your fingers go wrinkly and pale. The blood moves away from the outer layers of the skin to protect your body temperature, turning it pale while the tissue is also softened by the water.

If you do this for an hour or so it’s not a problem, but do it for 12 hours and the outer layers of skin on your foot haven’t had enough blood going to them for half a day. 48 hours later the skin begins to peel off and begins to decompose, with the filthy conditions of the trench water greatly speeding this up. When the skin is dead enough it will begin to rot as it’s still connected to living tissue and blood flow, causing gangrene.

There were no antibiotics during the war so the only method of curing trench foot after a certain point was to amputate the limb from as high up as necessary. This wasn’t very common as troops would often tend to their feet before it got to this stage, with a few days sitting in an infirmary with dry feet and the infected tissue cut away normally being the best that people could do.

Psychological factors of living in a trench

On the positive side, the troops were allowed to write and receive letters and could do whatever they liked during downtime, which often just meant smoking their standard-issue cigarettes and drinking that day’s rum ration in the hope of being able to fall asleep. On rare occasions, gramophones could be heard playing from the officer’s quarters, and the dogs employed as rat hunters would be a much-welcomed sight for the troops, but in a trench, there was much more to lower spirits than raise them.

It was very common for certain people to not get used to living in the trenches, and troops would often try and get sent home, but this wasn’t easy. If you were sick then you’d be sent to the infirmary for a short stay before being returned to the front. The only way to get sent home permanently would be to get injured, but officers quickly became good at spotting self-inflicted wounds and would issue punishments instead of sending them home again.

Shell Shock

This was the worst psychological condition of all and quickly became the most famous due to its symptoms. Shell shock is caused by being in a permanent state of extreme fear for a long time, but is more common in war zones than in civilian life. It didn’t take long for every single soldier in the trenches to know their lives could be ended in an instant and without warning from artillery. Every time a shell lands, one type of person would shrug it off and be glad it wasn’t closer, but another would expect the next one to land on them, and then the one after that, and so on. This leaves people in a permanent state of thinking their lives are about to end, creating extreme levels of paranoia and causing people to act irrationally. One of the common symptoms of shell shock included uncontrollable laughter during an enemy attack or artillery strike, with the picture below being one of the most famous examples.