Life in the Trenches

Life in the Trenches

Life in the trenches was really very hard for the WW1 soldiers. Flooding was a huge problem for them. Their latrines always used to flood. When it rained it filled up their trenches and the soldiers didn't like it but they fought through it.

There were so many diseases that the soldiers caught from living in the trenches. One sort of disease was trench foot, which sometimes turned into gangrene.  Nits and lice were also a big problem in the war, because once one man had caught nits and lice all of them were infested, basically. 

But there was one big disease and it was very common and still is when there are crowded, unsanitary conditions.  It’s called dysentery and was awful for the soldiers from all angles.  They felt and smelt terrible for days on end.  No hot showers or flushing toilets up at the battle front.

That is the main part of what life was all about for a soldier stuck in a trench. Of course, on top of all the discomfort and sickness and horrible infections, there was shooting, shelling and dying people all around.  I don’t think we have any idea of the true sacrifices the soldiers, who go to war to try to keep our country free, have to face and suffer, whether they are in trenches, tanks or tall buildings in war-torn cities.

War Reflection by Olivia F