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Conditions in the trenches during WW1 were horrendous. Better trenches would be about seven feet deep and 4-6 feet wide. Sometimes sand bags would line the sides of the trench otherwise a kind latticework wall of hazel branches was used (a bit like hurdle fences). Planking would be laid in the base. On the lip of the trench would be sand bags and barbed wire. Frequently, allied and enemy trenches could be as little fifty feet apart. Here and there dugouts were literally dug into the earth to provide shelter when the fighting wasn't too intense. Other than that there was little shelter. In summer the trench would be exposed to the hot sun and in winter to pouring rain and snow. The rain filled up the trench and water seeped in through the sides leaving the troops up to their knees in thick, stinking mud that made any movement difficult. There was no sanitation and rats were a problem. Diseases were rife such as dysentery and trench foot. There would be no relief for front line troops for weeks on end. Even a near miss from an artillery shell could collapse a trench or cause dugout to collapse burying alive those inside. The nearness of death, the fear of it and smell of it, the horrific sights of shattered bodies, the screams of friend cut in half and the constant shelling combined to send many men insane either at the time or later in life. Conditions in the trenches were literally hell on earth.

Life in the trenches was extremely hard considering the circumstances. This is because of the living conditions that soldiers were forced to live in.

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12y ago
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13y ago

Conditions were terrible. Men were constantly wet due to the awful and rainy weather conditions. they received little food and when they did it wasn't up to par, especially on the front lines. they had extremely hard biscuits that some soldiers reported were so hard that they wouldn't break when being bashed on a rock. they'd get canned meat and mostly drank tea. Many of the men developed illnesses and diseases that plagued the trenches. And perhaps worst of all - you were sitting ducks if the enemy honed it's artillery in precisely on that trench. It violated a basic principal of combat: Don't bunch up. There is a reason why trench warfare was abandoned after World War I.

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14y ago

Lives were very bad in trenches. The walls of the trenches all turned into a mudslide so soldiers had to make them with wood and sandbags. They buried the dead in there so they don't get shot. The cause of the smell brought lice and flies. All those reasons have made diseases and it had spread rapidly. Soldiers did die, and surprisingly a lot of them died, just because of the conditions in the trenches. Soldiers complained about the quality of their tinned food, yet rations were actually quite good. They could just sit down and have a rest, but they would drift to sleep so easily. They hardly had a bath and they couldn't even sleep because of the bugs everywhere .

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13y ago

- Smelly

- Lack of food

- Lack of hygiene

- Horrible weather

- Health was bad

- Diseases:

Lice

Foot trench

- Shell shock

- Rats

- Boredom

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15y ago

What were conditions like? Conditions in the trenches during WW1 were horrendous. Better trenches would be about seven feet deep and four-six feet wide. Sometimes sand bags would line the sides of the trench otherwise a kind latticework wall of hazel branches was used (a bit like hurdle fences). Planking would be laid in the base. On the lip of the trench would be sand bags and barbed wire. Frequently, allied and enemy trenches could be as little fifty feet apart.

Here and there dugouts were literally dug into the earth to provide shelter when the fighting wasn't too intense. Other than that there was little shelter. In summer the trench would be exposed to the hot sun and in winter to pouring rain and snow. The rain filled up the trench and water seeped in through the sides leaving the troops up to their knees in thick, stinking mud that made any movement difficult. There was no sanitation and rats were a problem. Diseases were rife such as dysentery and trench foot. There would be no relief for front line troops for weeks on end. Even a near miss from an artillery shell could collapse a trench or cause dugout to collapse burying alive those inside. The nearness of death, the fear of it and smell of it, the horrific sights of shattered bodies, the screams of friend cut in half and the constant shelling combined to send many men insane either at the time or later in life

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9y ago

Life in the trenches of World War I was no picnic. Specifically, snipers and disease caused soldiers to die on a daily basis. There were rat infestations in the trenches, and lice and other vermin were common problems.

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14y ago

It was probably comparable to living in an open sewage drain. Cold in winter, hot in summer, wet and muddy nearly all the time, not comfortable at all, and absolutely nothing romantic about it. Yet, the alternative was to be shot by an enemy sniper or machine gun, and this knowledge must have made living in the trenches seem a little better. Except for these conditions, daily life was similar to that of soldiers in any war; eating, sleeping, waiting, remaining vigilant, maintaining their weapons, and carrying out orders given to them.

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13y ago

It must of been very hot and stuffy as the trenches were quite small. They must of been clostrephoebic

it must of been stressful,terrible, scary, shocking, and horrendous.

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Q: What was life like in the trenches ww1?
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