The Life of a Soldier Trench Warfare Boys

The Life of a Soldier Trench Warfare

Boys often lied about their age so they could fight

The Draft • Selective Service Act: allows the draft to begin • “War to end all wars. ” • 24 million men join • Lottery chooses 3 million • Called the American Expeditionary Force

Barbed wire Trench Warfare -25, 000 miles long -zigzagged -1/3 of casualties happened here Long range artillery No Man’s Land Support lines Front line

Constant shell fire brought random death Men were buried in the trenches after a shell hit

Conditions • Dirt • Mud • Smell • Disease • No sanitation • Colorless • No sleep • Open cemetery

Going “over the top” Waited for whistle Climbed over parapet into no-man’s land Almost all attacks brought total death Wounded were left

• Size of cats • One rat couple produces 900 more in a year • Ate food and corpses • Made nests in clothing • Itching • Caused trench fever

Trench Foot • Rain flooded the trenches • Feet couldn’t get dry • Swell up to 3 times the normal size • Amputation was rampant

Men who had no legs or arms were called “basket cases”

Tanks Grenades Rifles Weapons Machine Guns Flame Throwers

MUSTARD GAS

GAS Caused lungs to dissolve suffocation Blindness Most deadly biological weapon

• Could blow back on your own side • Smelled like pineapple and pepper • Some was odorless • Covered mouth in rag with urine • Some took 12 hours to take effect • Skin blistered, throw up

Shell Shock: Medical condition Mental breakdown Blighty Wounds: Give self an injury to get out of duty

Before and After Cloister of the Hotel de la Princerie

Before and After Village of Esnes

Assignment: Journal Entry You are to write a journal entry in your personal diary as if you were a soldier on the front lines of WWI fighting in a trench. The journal must include the following: • • Detailed description of surroundings (5 senses) Explanation of where you live, how does the trench look? Diseases or pests that you deal with Weapons Illnesses Your feelings about the war, your experiences What emotions would you have? • MUST BE 1+ PAGE