1. Trenches Early in 1914, both sides realized that they would have to dig trenches to protect themselves from enemy machine guns and artillery. Below is a cross-section diagram of a typical WWI trench.

2. Below is a typical layout for WWI trenches.

5. Attacking Trenches Typical battle plan: 1.Begin with an artillery barrage which can last from a few hours to days. 2.End the artillery attack and send the infantry (foot soldiers) over the top across No Mans’ Land. 3.Infantry should jump into the enemy trenches and push the enemy out.

6. The following are WWI battles that used this battle plan: DateBattleCasualties 9/5 -12/1914 First Battle of the Marne 483,000 4/22 -5/25/1915Second Battle of Ypres 105,000 2/21 -12/18/1916Battle of Verdun 755,000 7/1 – 11/18/ 1916Battle of the Somme 1,088,000 7/31 – 11/6/1917Battle of Paschendale 848,000 7/15 – 8/6/1918Second Battle of the Marne 281,000

7. Territory Gained in Battle Battle Gain The First Battle of the MarneNA Second Battle of Ypres7 miles Battle of VerdunNo Change Battle of the Somme7 miles The Battle of Paschendale5 miles Second Battle of the MarneNo Change

8. Trench Foot Living conditions for the soldiers were also very wet. The soldiers often had to stand with water up to their ankles, sometimes even their knees, and this caused them to suffer from a condition called "trench foot". This was a condition in the feet where they started off by wrinkling up like when you’ve been in the bath too long, but as time goes on, blisters developed and the pain for the soldiers was immense. Although the troops were advised to rub whale oil on their feet regularly it didn’t do a lot of good. They were also supposed to change into dry socks regularly, but rain and mud just made them wet again. The trenches were a perfect place for germs to thrive. Any diseases caught by soldiers were spread easily from one to another. Likewise, there were no antibiotics for the wounded, and their wounds often went septic. This in turn led to gangrene. Some 20,000 casualties resulting from trench foot were reputed to have been suffered by the British Army alone during the close of 1914. Trench foot became a serious problem for the Allies, leading to 75,000 casualties in the British and 2000 in the American forces. Patients sometimes had to have toes amputated (following gangrene) such were the effects of the condition.

9. Rats and Lice Many men killed in the trenches were buried almost where they fell. If a trench subsided, or new trenches or dugouts were needed, large numbers of decomposing bodies would be found just below the surface. These corpses, as well as the food scraps, that littered the trenches, attracted rats. Rats were a constant companion in the trenches in their millions they were everywhere, gorging themselves on human remains (grotesquely disfiguring them by eating their eyes and liver) they could grow to the size of a cat. Men tried to kill them with bullets shovels or anything else they had at hand, but they were fighting a losing battle as only 1 pair of rats can produce 900 offspring in a year. Some soldiers believed that the rats knew when there was going to be a heavy bombardment from the enemy lines because they always seemed to disappear minutes before an attack.trenchessoldiers Lice were a constant problem for the men breeding in dirty clothing they were impossible to get rid of even when clothes were washed and deloused there would be eggs that would escape the treatment in the seams of the clothes. Lice caused Trench Fever, a particularly painful disease that began suddenly with severe pain followed by high fever. Recovery - away from the trenches - took up to twelve weeks. It was not discovered that lice were the cause of trench fever though until 1918.Trench Fever Millions of frogs were found in shell holes covered in water; they were also found in the base of trenches. Slugs and horned beetles crowded the sides of the trench. Many men chose to shave their heads entirely to avoid another prevalent scourge: nits.

11. Life in the Trenches Living conditions in trenches were very basic and extremely unhygienic. The troops slept in little holes cut out of the side of the trench known as "dug outs". Likewise, there were no antibiotics for the wounded, and their wounds often went septic. This in turn led to gangrene. Planks and sandbags were used to support the roof of the dug out in an effort to make them safer, as there was a huge risk that the roof could fall in on the soldier. This risk was greatly increased if shells had weakened the trench. Planks were also placed on the ground in the dug out to provide a hard wood base for the soldier to use as a bed. Blankets were hung over the front of the dug out to give the soldier a bit of privacy, but they did not however, give any protection against shell splinters. Unhygienic living conditions in trenches were to blame for many deaths. Probably the main cause of death due to living conditions in trenches was the rapid spread of disease, but wounds infected with gangrene could also be fatal.

12. Life in the Trenches The bulk of their diet in the trenches was bully beef (caned corned beef), bread and biscuits. By the winter of 1916 flour was in such short supply that bread was being made with dried ground turnips. The main food was now a pea-soup with a few lumps of horsemeat. Kitchen staff became more and more dependent on local vegetables and also had to use weeds such as nettles in soups and stews. Occasionally there was an abundance of cheese, but this caused constipation and the men thought that it was a deliberate attempt to ease the problem of trench toilets. In case of an emergency, there was always a supply of hard biscuits, but these were like cement and caused immense problems to men with false teeth – they had to soak them in water! Another problem which soldiers dealt with was water. In the trenches water was usually brought to the front line in petrol cans, and chloride of lime was added to kill off bacteria. The chloride of lime however, gave the water an awful taste.

16. British Mark I Tank

20. “…I suppose I resembled a kind of fish with my mouth open gasping for air. It seemed as if my lungs were gradually shutting up and my heart pounded away in my ears like the beat of a drum. On looking at the chap next to me I felt sick, for green stuff was oozing from the side of his mouth. To get air into my lungs was real agony and the less I got the less the pain. I dozed off for short periods but seemed to wake in a sort of panic. To ease the pain in my chest I may subconsciously have stopped breathing, until the pounding of my heart woke me up. I was always surprised when I found myself awake, for I felt sure that I would die in my sleep. So little was known about treatment for various gases, that I never had treatment for phosgene, the type I was supposed to have had. And I’m sure that the gas some of the other poor fellows had swallowed was worse than phosgene. Now and then orderlies would carry out a stretcher. - William Plessey, quoted in People at War 1914 – 1918 (Moynihan)