What is a Trench What is a trench

What is a Trench?

What is a trench? • Trench: a deep, narrow hole in the ground that is used as protection for soldiers • No man’s land: an area of land between two countries or armies that is not controlled by anyone

Where was the Western Front? Eastern Front?

Questions Ø Discussion: Why do you think they used trench style warfare? Predict positive and negative aspects of the trench style warfare. In 1918, about two months after winning the Iron Cross, Hitler was blinded by mustard gas during a battle. Hitler in WWI as a soldier

Why were trenches used?

Why were trenches used? Germany wanted to occupy French territory. Falkenhayn ordered his men to dig trenches that would provide them with protection from the advancing French and British troops. The Allies soon realized that they could not break through this line and they also began to dig trenches. The trench was effective cover and could be created by the men when there were no materials with which to build other defenses.

Conditions “Bodies” • Pvt. M. B. Person, 321 st Infantry, 81 st Division, wrote his brother about the horrors of trench warfare: "The worst of all is the men lieing around that have never [been] burried. You can hardly step with out step[p]ing on skeletons and graves the shells have blown some that have been burried out of the ground and you can walk along in the trenches and see their guts sticking out from the edge of the trenches. . . "

Conditions “Lice” • "August 9, 1918, Friday. While he is a nuisance, occasionally the "kootie" may become of real value. (I may have written this episode before. ) The Reward of the Kootie- A British officer was going through the front line trench, when he stooped over and reached back of his neck to pick off a "kootie" that was particularly irritating. Just as he got him off, a bullet passed immediately over his neck. He looked at the "kootie" and said: 'Son, you have saved my life; but for your persistent biting I would have been standing upright and that bullet would have caught me in the head. I know of no way to reward you except to put you back where you were and let you keep on biting. ' This he did. " From the Diary of Colonel Joseph Hyde Pratt, page 79.

Conditions: Sanitation

Conditions: Drainage?

Conditions in the Trenches Trench Foot

Questions Ø Why would one not want to get caught in the land above the trenches?

New Deadly Weapons http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=99 odq. GVYe 4 g&list=PLf. ZVZ k. Ts. XJI 0 MUz. WW 5 Nm 8 vh. Nv 1 g 7 y. W 2 Dg • What weapons do you notice?

New Deadly Weapons

New Deadly Weapons

New Deadly Weapons • http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=Wo. YWr gi. AKwk

New Deadly Weapons http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=i. HIp-hy. XKWc

Trenches Today

Questions Ø How did warfare change during WWI?