Spotlight On

Trench Warfare: One new fighting tactic in World War 1 was trench warfare. Soldiers would dig long, deep holes in the ground to be protected form enemy bullets. The soldiers not only fought from the trenches, but they also lived there. If they got out of the trenches, they were as good as dead. Between the fighting trenches was "no man's land"- an easy target for anyone.
There were numerous sanitary issues in the trenches. There were various rat infestations. Both black and brown rats could be found, but the brown rats were the most feared among soldiers. They would eat the remains of dead soldiers and were able to grow as big as cats. Disease spread and food was contaminated. Soldiers desperately tried to kill them with guns, clubs, or anything they had, but rats could produce a great number of offspring so the chaos would never end. Lice, frogs, and other bugs and critters were found in the trenches as well as diseases like Trench Fever and Trench Foot. The fever was actually caused by lice and Trench Foot was caused by damp conditions in the trenches. It was a fungus on the foot and would sometimes result in amputation. The smell in the trenches was unbearable. The soldiers would rotate who was on the front line, but even those soldiers who were resting would end up fighting- depending on the conditions of the situation. Each morning, troops would be inspected. They would also eat breakfast, which was considered a time of truce. Each soldier would be assigned a job for the day, and if it rained, pumping equipment would be supplied. Life could get very boring in the trenches, and men would take advantage of that time to write letters home or read. Conditions in the trenches could have contributed to more deaths than actual gunfire.
Picture from: http://www.redstoneprojects.com/trebuchetstore/French_grenade_catapult.jpg