The Western Front
by The western front was a series of trenches that ran from the Swiss border to the Belgian coast during WW1.
It ran for 750 km where Germans fought against Australia and Britain. The western front received its name from the Germans.
Red line: Western Front
‘The water in the front line was everywhere a foot or more deep; it was intensely cold…If we had left [the mud] undisturbed, we should have been frozen in, and Bosche was rather active with his artillery’. This is a part taken from Second Lieutenant Gamble’s letters. The letter tells how the water was a problem in the war. It was up to a foot deep and was freezing. (‘A boshe’ is what the English soldiers called the Germans. It comes from the French language meaning head.)
The picture below is a picture of one of the soldiers creeping up the side of the trench to take a peek at the enemy. The picture reveals what some of the trenches on the western front looked like and how the soldiers fired at the enemy.
Shellshock- Shellshock was a major problem in WW1 and in the trenches. It was caused when an explosion is made near a soldier. It causes a vacum and when the air rushes into this vacuum it disturbs the cerebra-spinal fluid and this can upset the working of the brain. It causes soldiers to feel tired, irritability, giddiness, lack of concentration and headaches.
Keeping warm- Soldiers soon learnt that if they lined the trench floors with wood they would keep their feet drier. Also lining the sides of the trenches would help keep them warm. Puttees were long strips of woven wool. They were 3 inches wide and were used to stop water getting onto the skin. Men could also keep warm by staying in their caves that were dug into the side of the trench. Greatcoats, Jerkins, Breeches, M shirts were all pieces of clothing used to keep soldiers warm. Plastic sheets were used as raincoats.
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