[Mariasu]

Hi, could anyone please explain to me why communication trenches were so important?what did they do?
thank you!

[Mr S Drew]

You will not get a better explanation of the trench system written for Year 9 students or GCSE students than John Simkin's entry on the Spartacus Educational Website.

Communicatrion trenches.

The whole range of information about trenches on the Spartacus site can be found here.

Hre is a picture of the trench system on the Western Front. The Communication Trenches are the ones that connect the three lines of trenches. (They run at 90 degree angels to the main lines of trenches.)

[iona.needs.help]

I need to know or get some sort of information on how soldiers in ww1 entertained themselves in the trenches also how would any injuries or accidents be delt with in the trenches. please i need a responce ASAP to help me . and any help would be welcome.
iona.needs.help

[Mrs Faithorn]

I'm not sure whether you really do mean in the trenches (ie. whilst the soldiers were actually fighting and living in a front line trench) or whether you might mean whilst the soldiers were in France/Belgium and involved in the war.

It's a common mistake to imagine that the soldiers spent all their time in the front line trenches when actually they spent only something like a week at a time in the front line and then were moved back into 'rest and recreation' camps before being moved forward again into the support trenches and then finally back up to the front.

On the assumption that you do mean in the front line trenches then any casualties were dealt with by 'First Aid' (ie temporary treatment). A soldier's kit would include 'field dressings' that could be used to bind up wounds, but there were no pain killers, or any sort of life-saving equipment like paramedics use now. Wounded men would then be taken by stretcher bearers back to the Casualty Clearing Stations and then to the Field Hospitals well away from the front line.

You can read more about all this on:
this page about the Stretcher bearers
and
this page about Casualty Clearing Stations. It's also worth scrolling down both of the pages to read some of the first-hand accounts of what it was all like.

These two pages are from the excellent Spartacus Encyclopedia of the First World War and you can find out more about Trench Warfare from the Life in the Trenches section.

Where 'entertainment' actually in the front line trenches is concerned I'm afraid I can't point you to a specific page of information. That sort of thing is usually 'buried' in things like soldiers' diaries and memoires of the war. When they were not under bombardment then they spent any free time writing letters home, playing cards, maybe singing to keep their spirits up, perhaps playing a simple instrument like a harmonica - things like that. Though making any noise that might attract enemy gunfire was not a very good idea

When the soldiers were moved back away from the front to the 'rest and recreation' camps then I think there would be some 'entertainment' laid on for the soldiers - things like simple concerts with singers and comedians and the soldiers could go out in the local town to drink etc. However I am finding it very hard to find a web site/page on this. If I do I'll post again, or maybe one of the other teachers who helps here can find something for you.

-------------------------
PS. If you are studying the First World War/Western Front more generally and if you can get the UKTV History Channel then you might be interested in watching (and taping?) a series of programmes being broadcast on Wednesday July 28th.

See all the details in our Calendar here.

This post has been edited by Mrs Faithorn: 27 July 2004 - 07:32 PM

[iona.needs.help]

thanks, but i couldn't find any infromation on illnesses in the trenches just how injuries were delt with on the links you provided.i mainly would like info in the frontline if that woulod be possible.

[Mrs Faithorn]

Mmmmmmmm..... I gave you the info. and links that I did because what you asked for was

Quote

.....  also how would any injuries or accidents be delt with in the trenches

.

If you actually looked a bit harder at the links I gave in my first reply then you'll see that I recommended that you look at this Life in the Trenches section of the Spartacus website. (NB Those blue words are a link to the page )

There you'll see links to:

• Trench rats
  
• Body Lice
  
• Trench Foot

Take a look at each of those. They were all things that caused disease and illness in the trenches.

However, I can only emphasise again that as far as any treatment in the trenches was concerned there really wasn't much on offer at all. Quite apart from anything else medical knowledge then was not as advanced as it is now. Eg. Antibiotics such as penicillin had not been discovered then.
_________________________________________________

Later
I have just come across a site about the First World War that I had not seen before. The main page is here.

This page on The evacuation and treatment of a wounded Tommy (Tommy = ordinary soldier) should prove useful - especially the first paragraph.

This post has been edited by Mrs Faithorn: 28 July 2004 - 04:19 PM

[iona.needs.help]

ok thanks

i was wondering if u have any other information in the sort of routine jobs that soldiers would preform in the trenches.I no i am being a pain but i need the help.

This post has been edited by iona.needs.help: 29 July 2004 - 09:30 AM

[Mr Field]

This isn't a pain, but Mrs Faithorn has already provided you with the links.

If you go to http://www.spartacus...k/FWWtrench.htm - look at all the options you have there.

You mention about Routine jobs - try using the links under the Trench System section. You need to look through and find what you want! The Spartacus site is the best resource on the internet for this.

If you want to get a bit more familiar with the whole Trench system I would suggest playing Mr Tarr's life in the trenches simulation on his website Activehistory.co.uk. However, you will not be able to do this unless your school subscribes to the site.

If you work through it you can then follow links to more detailed information as required.

This post has been edited by Mr. D. Bryant: 15 March 2011 - 09:57 AM
Reason for edit: Change link to activehistory site.

[chocoholz]

hi
I am doing a project in history about WW1 and life in the trenches.
I know about trench foot, shell shock, fleas, food rations and rats but we need to find out three more facts and i am totally confused about what else i could find out about! could you recomend any websites i could look on?
Thanks

[Mr Field]

Have a look at this question:
http://www.schoolhistory.co.uk/studentforu...381&hl=trenches

This post has been edited by Mr. D. Bryant: 15 March 2011 - 09:54 AM
Reason for edit: Remove 'dead' link.

[BakerBoy]

Well for my Hw, I have to design a leaflet on The Conditions soldiers would come face to face with in a trench, Assuming its the front line one, i honestly can say that i have no clue what Sappers do, or how the trenches were built, i have vague ideas of the conditions but not the full extent.

Ive searched the next and found this forum and thought, I'll give it a shot.

Thanks

Bakerboy.

[MrJohnDClare]

'Sappers' was just anothr name for engineers; see this site - http://www.aamme.com.au/histRAE.htm

To find out about Conditions in the Trenches, simply google "Conditions in the trenches" (remember to include the inverted commas) and you will find dozens of sites.

On digging trench, there is a wonderful thread ON THIS VERY FORUM!!! Click here - http://www.schoolhistory.co.uk/studentforum/....

[Tina]

Hi, Ive been searching the net for the following information but can't seem to find anything.

Any help welcome.

I need information about the 1st world war.

Can anyone give me any information on the following;

1.The trenches
2.Deaths in the trenches
3.Disease caught in the trenches and deaths
4.Where were the dead put
5.Any links to ww1

Thanks
Tina

[MrJohnDClare]

Tina
There is LOADS about this on the forum.
Go to the Forum Search Page and type in World War One into the KEYWORDS box.
Then follow the first few links.
You will get lots of stuff.