Many of the soldiers who served in the trenches in the First World War were not much older than people in a modern sixth form. None had experienced anything like it before, and a large number of men kept diaries or accounts of their life at the front. Some of the accounts have been made into books and films which tell us about conditions on the Western Front. We can also read the diaries themselves and can look at old photographs.

Here are some topics to investigate:

What was it like getting up in the morning ?

What was the food like ?

What kind of work did the men have to do ?

The problems caused by the weather.

The dangers of living in the trench.

A letter home from a soldier to his mum.
 
 
 

  In winter, deep mud was everywhere, and great number-s of rats lived off empty bully beef tins and dead bodies. It was not possible to bring back all the dead and wounded: so we are able to bring in the wounded who do not lie too far off But many have long to wait and we listen to them dying. For one we searched for two days in vain
  Poor living conditions gave rise to health problems apart from wounds caused by gunfire and gas. The noise of the heavy guns was go great that many men suffered from some degree of deafness. A nervous condition called shell-shock was common, caused by living in an almost constant state of tension. The result was a trembling of the limbs or the whole body, and stammering. Many soldiers realised that the experience of war would change them completely One wrote: ... if we go back home we will be broken, worn out, rootless, without hope. Men will not understand us

Trench maintenance went on all the time, a job without an end.
 Owing to the weather or enemy action, trenches required repairing, deepening,, widening and trengthening, while new support trenches always seemed to be wanted. The carrying of rations and supplies from the rear also went on all the time
  Weapon cleaning was obviously of great importance.

 There was little clean water to wash in, although a soldier was supposed to wash his feet each day in winter-time and then rub them with whale oil to prevent the disease known as 'trench foot'. It was common for a soldier to go without a good wash or bath for weeks at a time. The result was that he developed skin diseases and became 'lousy' or 'chatty'. When he was taken out of the trenches for a rest he could try to de-louse himself:
A day's rest allowed us to clean up a bit and to launch a full scale attack on lice. I sat in a quiet corner of a barn for two hours delousing myself as best 1 could. We were all at it, for none of us escaped their vile attentions. The things lay in the seams of trousers, in the deep furrows of long thick woolly pants, and seemed impregnable in their deep entrenchments. A lighted candle applied where they were thickest made them pop like Chinese crackers. After a session of this, my face would be covered with small blood spots from extra big fellows which had popped too vigorously. Sometimes the soldier was lucky enough to go to a 'delousing station' where he could have a bath and exchange his clothes for a clean set. However, a few days later he would be as 'chatty' as before. At the end of a day in the trenches, if he was lucky, a soldier could snatch a few hours sleep in his dug-out. More often he was on sentry duty, or sent on a patrol to no-man's land or on a working party, carrying supplies from the rear to the front line or repairing the trench walls.
 

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