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Life in the Trenches...
As we saw in the previously, life in the trenches in WW1 was very basic and at times extremely dangerous, and from reminiscences and testimonies of those who were there, life was 90% bored stiff, 9% frozen stiff and 1% scared stiff...
But what was life like during the 90% being bored stiff?
Let's look at a typical day: Starting just before first light, Stand To; All men standing on the firing step, weapons ready and bayonets fixed, head and shoulders above the parapet, watching for an enemy attack. (First light, being one of the best times to attack). As the light increases, so you drop down gradually until it is fully light when 'Stand Down' is given. At that point daytime routine begins, each man would receive his 'Rum Ration' as seen below, the SRD Rum Issue commonly known by men in the trenches as 'Seldom Reaches Destination' was issued by the spoonful due to its consistency and the alcohol content, a 'warming' elixir very much welcomed on a cold winter morning...
One man of the section would then take up position on 'Sentry Go' watching for the enemy (rotating every hour or two hours). The rest would begin cleaning weapons (half a section at a time so at least 50% of weapons were assembled and able to be fired) and washing and shaving. The platoon NCO's would begin to circulate finding how the men were in health, what problems if any they had if they were ill then issuing Sick Parade orders, as well as finding out how much ammunition each man had, each man had to have 100 rounds in his kit at all times. Once this was complete the Officer would probably come round and inspect the men and the trench position, from there the day was mainly the mens own, unless parties were required for fetching equipment and rations from the support lines.
Feeding would also begin; Breakfast depended upon conditions, at worst it would be cold Bully Beef and 'Hard Tack' biscuits at best a portion of bacon and bread and jam and of course the Tommy's necessary brew of tea...
Lunch, again depended on circumstances, Bully Beef, or maybe a tin of Pork and Beans, which consisted of a tin of baked beans essentially, with a piece of fatty Pork on top...
Or maybe a tin of Meat and Veg, commonly a tin of Maconochie's Army Ration stew...
Again, this could be eaten cold but usually it was warmed up over a small fire if it was possible to, or maybe it could be heated by using a solid fuel 'Tommy Cooker' like this...
Most time was then spent either sleeping, writing letters or working on repairing and modifying the trenches or whatever task the platoon Sergeant could dream up...
The worst job of course was assisting the Sanitary Corporal with maintaining the Latrines...
Then late afternoon came tea time, most of the time a hot meal was prepared behind the lines in a field Kitchen, usually it would be brought up along with the mail. This meal would usually be a stew of some kind, Cooked using one of these, a Soyer Stove...invented by Alexis Soyer during the Crimean War, so simple and versatile to use, that it was still in use by the British Army nearly 200 years later...
Once tea was over, then as the sun set and darkness approached, Stand To would be called. Again all men would be fully equipped on the firing step, bayonets fixed, gradually rising up until it was fully dark, again Stand Down would be called and then came the hardest part of trench life. Men would go into no Mans Land either as 'work' parties, putting up wire or repairing the wire defences, patrols would go out in order to 'Control No Mans Land' as the Field Service Regulations called for, men would also be on Sentry duty in pairs usually two hours on four hours off (usually staggered so that at least one man every two hours had someone next to him who was fresh)...Then we return to Dawn Stand To and it all begins again...
Photographs courtesy of Imperial War Museum, collections. The National Army Museum and DB Colour...
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