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 have come across. Death was always happening to those serving in the line, even when no raid or attack was launched or defended against. any men were buried as a result of attacks.. any men died on their first day in the trenches as a conse!uence of a precisely aimed sniper"s bullet. #side from enemy in$uries, disease occurred a lot. Rats in their millions infested trenches. There were two main types, the brown and the black rat. %oth were hated but the brown rat was especially feared. &orging themselves on human remains 'grotes!uely disfiguring them by eating their eyes and liver( they could grow to the si)e 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 +ever, a particularly painful disease that began suddenly with severe pain followed by high fever. Trench +oot was another medical condition peculiar to trench life. ,t was a fungal infection of the feet caused by cold, wet and dirty trench conditions. ,t 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. en who had not been afforded the lu-ury 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. #dd to this the smell of cordite, the lingering odour of poison gas, rotting sandbags, stagnant mud, cigarette smoke and cooking food.

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0rite the problems they might have come across in the table below. Problem Cause Solution

Daily routine in the trenches. # soldier might e-pect in a year to spend up to /1 days in the front line, with another 21 in nearby support trenches. The daily routine of life in the trenches began with the morning "stand to". #n hour before dawn everyone was woken by the company orderly officer and sergeant and ordered to climb up on the fire step to guard against a dawn raid by the enemy, bayonets fi-ed. 0ith stand to over, in some areas rum might then be issued to the men. They would then attend to the cleaning of their rifle e!uipment, which was followed by its inspection by officers. %reakfast would ne-t be served. 0ith breakfast over the men would be inspected by either the company or platoon commander. Once this had been completed 34Os would assign daily chores to each man. 5-ample * and necessary 6
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* daily chores included the refilling of sandbags, the repair of the duckboards on the floor of the trench and the draining of trenches. 7articularly following heavy rainfall, trenches could !uickly gather muddy water, making life ever more miserable. eals were also prepared. 8leep was snatched wherever possible * although it was seldom that men were allowed sufficient time to grab more than a few minutes rest before they were detailed to another task. Task 9 3ow write a diary entry. or letter home :# Day ,n The Life Of # Trench; <sing the above information to help you.

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