First of all A Trench warfare is what the man lived, breathed and slept through during the war, also they fought in them. The trenches were 2.13 meters deep and 1.82 meters wide. They were made out of sandbags, bullets and shells. The type of work that the men did in the Trenches were sleep,guard, lookout duty, play cards and eat. There were many, many different diseases because of the mustard gas that the Germans put out, so some of that gas is still on the air, so therefore it would cause medical problems. The reason for the Trenches to be zigzagged is because, so the enemy can't just shoot all of them in a straight line, that would be really easy for the enemy to shoot, but it's now harder for them to shoot because it is zigzagged.
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They
put barb wire fences at the front of the trenches, so it was harder for the
enemy to get in. Barbed wire was used extensively throughout the trench system.
While it helped to protect the trenches, it made it very difficult to attack
the opposing trench. In the dark of night, soldiers were sent out to cut
sections of wire to make it easier for the attacking soldiers in morning raids.
Minor cuts and grazes caused by the barbed wire often became infected in the
unsanitary conditions of the trenches. Not
all soldiers worked in the front trench luckily; troops were not expected to
serve entirely in the front line. They would rotate between the three lines:
the front line, the support line, and the reserve line, and then spend a short
period in rest, before beginning the cycle again. The time spent in each
section varied from sector to sector. In busier sectors of the war, soldiers
would spend far longer in the front line than usual and less time at rest than
usual. In a year only around two months would be spent at rest, and not
typically at leave. In a year, perhaps two weeks would be spent at leave— if a
soldier is lucky. A day in the trenches would begin with the Stand-to-Arms, a
process observed by both sides in the Western Front. Before dawn, the soldiers
would be roused by their commanding officers, and they climbed onto the fire
step to guard against raids by the other side. Afterwards, the troops would
fire in front of them into the early-morning mist in a ritual dubbed the
"morning hate," to doubly unsure their safety at dawn. Sometimes, rum
would then be issued, and soldiers used this time to clean their rifles, a feat
in the many trenches were muddy and dirty. Officers inspected the rifles, and
then breakfast would be served. In quieter sectors of the war, the two sides
would have a "breakfast truce," in which breakfast could be peaceably
eaten. After breakfast, the company commander inspected his men, and assigned
duties to each man. These may include repairing duckboards, refilling sandbags,
and draining trenches using pumping equipment. At dusk, the ritual of Stand-To-Arms
is repeated again, as it was thought that enemies launched surprise attacks at
dusk and dawn. Afterwards, supply and maintenance duties were undertaken, such
as the fetching of rations and water, or the patrol of No Man's Land. Some
soldiers were put on sentry duty: standing on the fire step of the trench and
observing the enemy. At night-time, the army might rotate their troops. This
process could take several hours.(Trench Warfare, 2013)
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