My funky padlet by Owen Hawkes

Digging

1500474_1 — 2025-03-17 12:04:34 UTC

The soldiers had to dig and restore the trenches, because of the shells and massive production done to the trenches.

Lack of water

2400669_1 — 2025-03-17 12:09:05 UTC

clean water was hoarded for drinking. None was available for washing

Mud

1500474_1 — 2025-03-17 12:09:14 UTC

Guy Empey remembered, "The men slept in mud, washed in mud, ate mud, and dreamed mud."

smells

1500474_1 — 2025-03-17 12:11:47 UTC

They smelt burnt human flesh, gas, and lots of mud.

The sounds

2400669_1 — 2025-03-17 12:13:35 UTC

sounds of digging continued thought the night

communication trench

1500474_1 — 2025-03-17 12:13:47 UTC

The communication trenches were usually narrower than the fire trench and the constant night traffic made them crowded.

stretchers

1500474_1 — 2025-03-17 12:16:24 UTC

They used stretchers to carry wounded or dead soldiers through the trenches.

Inadequate Sleep

2400669_1 — 2025-03-17 12:16:59 UTC

Sentries had to remain alert for their two-hour shifts.

rats sleeping

1500474_1 — 2025-03-17 12:20:40 UTC

A new man noticed that veterans put their overcoats over their faces when they slept. He learned why the first time he was awakened by a rat scampering across his face.

morning hate

1500474_1 — 2025-03-17 12:28:50 UTC

period in the morning where both sides fire across for around 10-15 minutes straight.

Enemy snipers

2400669_1 — 2025-03-17 12:39:56 UTC

Snipers were always watching for movement on the other side of the battlefield

food

1500474_1 — 2025-03-17 12:40:00 UTC

Two cans of bully beef, sometimes they were awarded a strip of bacon. Also 12 gallon cans of dixies.

psychological strain

2400669_1 — 2025-03-18 02:09:16 UTC

psychological strain, especially on sentries, was what the French called cafard, or boredom

Corpses

2400669_1 — 2025-03-18 02:10:26 UTC

Men repairing walls or engaged in other digging work frequently unearthed bodies of the dead

lice

2400669_1 — 2025-03-18 02:12:11 UTC

Cooties thrived in hair, clothing, and the crevices of the body

latrines

2400669_1 — 2025-03-18 02:13:40 UTC

They carried back through the communication trenches the metal cans that were sometimes used as toilets

trench foot

2400669_1 — 2025-03-18 02:14:59 UTC

The skin turned red or blue, bringing a terrible itching and peeling of the skin

Gases

2400669_1 — 2025-03-18 02:18:39 UTC

breathing the gas-at least in small doses-was one way of acquiring what the British called a "Blighty" wound it home-shot

self-inflicted wounds

2400669_1 — 2025-03-18 02:20:21 UTC

common attempts included shooting oneself in the hand or foot, chewing cordite

Trench Fever

2400669_1 — 2025-03-18 02:22:58 UTC

The cooties spread a disease known as trench fever, for which there was no effective treatment until the last year of the war.