Posted by 6dasarkel on November 23, 2008 at 9:30pm
A soilder's time in a frontline trench was usally very brief. Even when in the frontline a soilder rarley spent his time engaging in fighting while there.Life in the trench or on the "front" was very routine. There was three different sections to an army corps. The first and second section went to the front. The third would move to the rear to rest. Than they would cycle this. The first section would stay, second would move to rear and third would move to the front.During the day life in the trench was fairly quite. When night fell soilders than would move supplies to and from the trenches. This also gave the soilders time to switch to the rear if it was there time and to put up barb wire fences to help there defences.The chances of lving through front line withut an injury was rare. When a soilder in a trench was wounded there were certian soilders that were known as strecher bearers who would go and recover the wounded. They had to wait till the fighting died down then they would move as fast as they could to get as many soilders as they could before the fighting started again.Soliders were then treated either at medical unit or right there behind the trenches. As soon as the solider was patched up and able to hold a gun agian they were sent back to the trenches.The trenches also made getting sick very easy. Common infections were dysentery, typus, and cholera. Many soliders would also suffer from mouth and trench foot. Anouther common killer in trenches was exposure, temps. during the winter could easily drop down to zero degrees C. That old saying "cuddle for warmth" was not a good idea in the trenches either. With all the infections that spread around and little to no med. to treat them with you wanted to keep your distances from others when at all possible.This is pretty much how trench life worked. With machine guns, gernades, and other weapons soilders spent there time in the trench hoping to make it through the night.
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