The Western Front:
The most important battlefield from World War I was the Western Front. This was home to fighting soldiers from Germany, France, Belgium, Britain and Australia. This battle eventually resulted in trench warfare with 700 kilometres of zig zag trenches spread from the “Swiss Frontier to the English Channel, cutting across northern France and into southern Belgium.” This trench warfare started a stalemate and was home to some of the most gruesome suffering and horrible conditions that soldiers have ever been faced with.
Construction of the trenches:
The standard British trench was dug 3 metres wide at the top, 1.5 metres wide at the bottom and then at least 2-3 metres in depth, hardly enough room for a grown man to squeeze into. As well as this, they were fitted with many features to accommodate for the rough terrain and the harsh weather conditions. These were such as duckboards to cover the drainage sump and as a platform for the soldiers to stand on. However these were rendered useless when the winter rain would flood the trenches. The front of the trenches contained a fire step, used as a step for the soldiers to shoot over the trench, coils of barbed wire to slow an impending enemy attack, and parapets of sandbags and earth to cover a …show more content…
The stalemate stretched into the European winter which brought torrential rain and turned them into a “squalid mud bath.” The soldiers had to wade and stand in waist deep water for days on end. This took an eventual toll on their bodies causing blisters, sores, fungal infections and amputations from a disease known as trench foot. It is said that 20,000 British soldiers died from this disease in only the first year of war. As well as the rain, the freezing and windy weather caused frostbite and hypothermia as the trenches provided little protection with temperatures reaching below 0
The most important battlefield from World War I was the Western Front. This was home to fighting soldiers from Germany, France, Belgium, Britain and Australia. This battle eventually resulted in trench warfare with 700 kilometres of zig zag trenches spread from the “Swiss Frontier to the English Channel, cutting across northern France and into southern Belgium.” This trench warfare started a stalemate and was home to some of the most gruesome suffering and horrible conditions that soldiers have ever been faced with.
Construction of the trenches:
The standard British trench was dug 3 metres wide at the top, 1.5 metres wide at the bottom and then at least 2-3 metres in depth, hardly enough room for a grown man to squeeze into. As well as this, they were fitted with many features to accommodate for the rough terrain and the harsh weather conditions. These were such as duckboards to cover the drainage sump and as a platform for the soldiers to stand on. However these were rendered useless when the winter rain would flood the trenches. The front of the trenches contained a fire step, used as a step for the soldiers to shoot over the trench, coils of barbed wire to slow an impending enemy attack, and parapets of sandbags and earth to cover a …show more content…
The stalemate stretched into the European winter which brought torrential rain and turned them into a “squalid mud bath.” The soldiers had to wade and stand in waist deep water for days on end. This took an eventual toll on their bodies causing blisters, sores, fungal infections and amputations from a disease known as trench foot. It is said that 20,000 British soldiers died from this disease in only the first year of war. As well as the rain, the freezing and windy weather caused frostbite and hypothermia as the trenches provided little protection with temperatures reaching below 0