What did the trenches smell like?

Answer 1

like dead bodies because you have a couple of people dead here and a couple there so together it'll smell like rotten human flesh!!!!

I think that's a little brief.

When new soldiers first came to the trenches, many often retched and were disgusted by the smells of the trenches. The smells were given off by loads of different things.

Like the above comment, there were rotting bodies. Approximately 200,000 men were killed on the Somme battlefields, and the smell of the flesh was almost as bad as the sight.

Overflowing toilets would give off another rather "unique" smell - poo and wee and many men would have had diarrhea from the disgusting food they were eating.

Very few men were allowed baths. Some had not had baths in weeks or even months and so would give off a disgusting smell of sweat - no deodorant The feet usually gave off the worst smell.

Trenches would also smell of creosol and chloride of lime, which was used to ward off constant threat off disease and infection.

Add to all those disgusting smells cordite, rotting sandbags, stagnant mud, cigarette smoke and cooking food, as well as the lingering smell of poison gas... and you have the most disgusting smell you have ever smelt - yet those brave soldiers just got used to it over time.

Hope that helped xx :) ♥