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Over the Top!
Trench Warfare
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The Western Front
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Life in the Trenches

• Front line trenches faced each other across
  no-mans land.
• They were often wet and rat infested.
• A tour in the trenches usually lasted six days
  followed by twelve days of respite behind the
  lines.

ENEMY
AMMUNITION
FIRESTEP
DUCKBOARDS
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Life in the Trenches II

• At night patrols were sent out across no-mans
  land to probe enemy defenses and cut his barbed
  wire.
• Dawn often brought attacks when men were ordered
  over the top.
• Once into the open ground of no-mans land they
  were cut down by machine gun and artillery fire.
• The wounded were often left to die where they
  fell.

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• It reached peak brutality and bloodshed on the
  Western Front in the First World War.

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What did they look like?
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Why the zig-zagged pattern?
It prevented the enemy from being able to shoot
down the length of the entire trench
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This meant that a soldier could see no more than
10 meters along the length of the trench.
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Why barbed wire?
It was difficult to cut, and shelling it would
only make it more entangled, providing an extra
barrier from attack.
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Why duckboards a drainage sump?
It reinforced the stability of the walls, and
allowed for drainage of rainwater, blood, and
other body fluids
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Why sandbags?
They protected soldiers from bullets and shrapnel
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Why were trenches so effective in World War I ?
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Vickers Machine Gun
This new and powerful weapon could mow down
soldiers trying to attack
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Machine guns needed 4-6 men to work them and had
the fire power of 100 guns
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Gas Attacks
Chlorine and Mustard gas would slow down
attackers, causing burns and suffocation
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Underground Saps
These tunnels were dug under enemy trenches so
that explosives could be placed under them and
detonated
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attackers couldnt cross no mans land fast
enough to avoid casualties
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no mans land varied in distance depending on
the battlefield. On the Western Front it was
typically between 100 and 300 yards, though only
30 yards on Vimy Ridge.
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Small trenches rapidly grew deeper and more
complex, gradually becoming vast areas of
interlocking defensive works
British trenches
German trenches
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What was lifelike in the trenches?
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Sanitary conditions in the trenches were quite
poor, and common infections included
dysentery, typhus, and cholera
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Rats became common, and grew large as they would
eat the soldiers food
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Medical services were primitive and life-saving
antibiotics had not yet been discovered
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Relatively minor injuries could prove fatal
through the onset of infection and gangrene
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Poor hygiene also led to conditions such as
trench mouth and trench foot
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But what was life REALLY like in the trench?
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At the age of 92, Arthur Savage was asked about
his memories of life on the Western Front.

• My memories are of sheer terror and the horror
  of seeing men sobbing because they had trench
  foot that had turned gangrenous. They knew they
  were going to lose a leg.

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• Memories of lice in your clothing driving you
  crazy. Filth and lack of privacy. Of huge rats
  that showed no fear of you as they stole your
  food rations. And cold deep wet mud everywhere.

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• And of course, corpses. I'd never seen a dead
  body before I went to war. But in the trenches
  the dead are lying all around you. You could be
  talking to the fellow next to you when suddenly
  he'd be hit by a sniper and fall dead beside you.
  And there hed stay for days.

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The Government wanted to encourage men to enlist
for war. They said the war would be safe, hardly
any fighting, a good game and over by
Christmas. They used advertising posters to
encourage this idea!
A picture of soldiers going Over the Top
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The reality of going over the top was very
different!
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Soldiers were expected to carry all of their
equipment with them at all times. They were
supposed to keep it clean and in good condition.
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How the uniform and equipment changed after just
three weeks in the trenches
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Posters always showed men ready and willing to
fight. They never showed the boredom of the
trenches or actual fighting taking place. Why do
you think the government showed no fighting?
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No smiling and relaxed faces No clean uniforms
Their equipment is scattered everywhere Boredom
and sleep are obvious
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Mass Devastation
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Freezing Winters
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The soldiers had very little decent food, and
what food they had was often attacked by
rats. These rats were the size of small rabbits
and badgers because they had fed on the
decomposing bodies of dead soldiers.
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Trench Foot
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