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Life in the trenches - Part 3

60 second histories

This video covers:

A description of the practicalities and problems the army faced in the trenches when it came to supplies and latrines

One major problem of trench warfare is supply; getting basic things like water, food and ammunition to the troops in the front line. Everything has to be brought in by hand, so narrow zigzag communication trenches run from the front to the support line where the trenches are slightly better and sometimes there are dug outs to shelter from the weather. Ammunition and equipment stores are housed here and there’s also room here for the signals section and a Head Quarters for the officers to work from. There are also proper latrines dug into the support trenches for the soldiers to go to the toilet. In the front line trench these are often no more than a hole dug out of the way or simply buckets. Soldiers are encouraged to use these buckets and not to urinate indiscriminately although using empty tins and then throwing the tin and contents into no mans land is also perfectly acceptable. One problem was water was often brought to the trenches in petrol cans, so the tea was often laced with oil. Yuck!
20th Century
Trench Life
WW1 British infantry soldier
Key words: 
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