...Trench Letter Dear mom I have been fighting for six months now, I think the date it’s August 16, 1916 and I don't know how much more death I can bear. I don't feel any pride in fighting or dying for my country; at least not here in Somme. All day long all I see is people dying and I keep think I am next? I keep wondering will I be alive tomorrow. I see people jump up out of the trenches into no man’s land alive and then two seconds later fall back down because their dead. Two weeks ago while sitting in the trenches someone started yelling GAS! GAS! In that instant I feared for my life. I grabbed a gas mask, hoping that I would get it on in time, but there weren’t enough gas masks for everyone so I had to watch my friends suffocate from inhaling the gas. I can't believe I am here and wake up every morning wondering if I will wake up tomorrow. I wish that my friend would have never pressured me into doing this, but now he’s dead because when some of us had to charge his trench foot prevented him from moving fast so the machine gun blew him apart. The good thing though is that we don’t have to worry about rats, lice, and flies for a while because of the gas. Lately I haven’t been wanting to do my job. I’m supposed to be climbing up on the fire step with my Springfield sniper rifle but I’ve been too tired to do it lately. This kid who just started died today too; he was cutting barb wire and stepped on a bouncing Betty by accident. We only found him in pieces, or at least we think...
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...The new airship is taking the same flight that was captured on camera just months after the battle occurred. The modern airship will have the ability to document areas featured in the original film in present day. World War One trenches stretched for thousands of miles. Sandbags lined the front wall of the trench, which averaged about ten feet tall. These sandbags continued about another three feet above ground level. The rear wall was also lined with these sandbags to protect the soldiers from an attack from the rear. The walls were also were also lined with logs and branches to reinforce the walls because rainfall and the constant bombardment of artillery shells would cause the walls to collapse. The trenches were dug in a zigzag manner, so that if the enemy was able to get inside he could not fire his weapon straight down the trench line. During the beginning days of World War One airplanes were seen as useless for war, so it was mainly used as a reconnaissance tactic. These reconnaissance aircraft would photograph enemy trench layout from a bird’s eye view as well as enemy troop movements. By the end of the war reconnaissance aircraft had developed into fighters and bombers that brought a new era of warfare. During the war more airmen were killed in training learning how to fly aircraft than were killed in action. If the engine stalled at takeoff the pilots would not be able to recover the plane before it crashed to the ground as they didn’t have the speed, or the ability...
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...died due to the spread of diseases. Diseases as small as a common cold was spread or diseases such as shell shock or trench foot infested the trenches. Many of these diseases were contracted due to harsh weather conditions. Men were buried where they were killed, they didn’t have time to provide a proper burial. The trenches were littered with food scraps and trash. This caused an infestation of rats in the trenches, a man recalled that he was woken up by the sound of rats gnawing on a severely damaged hand. Another health issue that had a significant impact on the men is the Trench Influenza. This influenza was caused by lice, this disease was said to have killed more people than the war itself. Trench influenza ran rampant in the trenches due to the men not being able to wash their clothes. This caused the men to scratch unceasingly. The clothes they would wear were covered in lice eggs. When they would put their clothes on it would open up the egg, as a result, the lice, being verily infectious and dangerous, caused the soldiers exorbitant pain....
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...what is trench warfare and why was so much of World War 1 dominated by this method of fighting? how did trench warfare affect the duration of the war? Trench Warfare is most commonly used in WWI and was not a war of velocity. It consisted of death because of infections from trench water: rain water that stayed in the trenches and often infected cuts. It was rat-infested do the soldiers never went hungry. Because of industrialization in the late 19th century or 1800s, new fancy war weapons came into style such as machine guns, generic tanks from Britain, and early dogfighting planes. Machine guns could mow down any amount of people in a matter of seconds because of its velocity and mass firing power. To avoid those bullets each side dug ditches or trenches to take cover. Each side thought that by doing so, they could eventually take over the enemy by planting in. Most Europeans of that time were stubborn and the Germans were known to be belligerent people and the French to save their hides and the war's cause had no option to just not budge. English helped as well. Also, Germany came up with the Schlieffen Plan which was to fight two fronts: one in the west and in the east. They were killing Russians without much trouble but the English and French offered trouble so they had to stay in the western front and continue trench warfare in order to weaken the primary fighters in WWI. The strategy was basically a war of attrition or to see who gives out first and then the visitor...
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...The trenches are horrific, disgusting, and extremely unhygienic, as always. Pests and rodents constantly roam around freely, especially giant rats. Oh, those disgusting excuses for living things; they are horrific! I have witnessed one with my own two eyes, it was the size of our cat, Mittens! And all these men…we do not wash ourselves because of the limited access to running water and we do not have the time to worry about hygiene. Toilets are these large buckets that are put in side trenches, but we don’t always use them because we are left vulnerable to enemy attack. So, many of us relieve ourselves right where we are, and it is gross, I know, but necessary. The trenches reek of the smell of unwashed humanity every day, and it makes me want...
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...the corpses of the dead soldiers. Soldiers began to bury the bodies and as Leonard Thompson describes it, “ We pushed them into the side of the trenches, but bits of them kept getting uncovered and sticking out… The bottom of the trench was springy like a mattress because of all the bodies underneath.”...
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...The Mariana Trench is located in the Pacific Ocean, just east of the 14 Mariana Islands (11"21' North latitude and 142" 12' East longitude ) near Japan. As you probably already know, it is the deepest part of the earth's oceans, and the deepest location of the earth itself. It was created by ocean-to-ocean subduction, a phenomena in which a plate topped by oceanic crust is subducted beneath another plate topped by oceanic crust. The deepest part of the Mariana Trench is the Challenger Deep, so named after the exploratory vessel HMS Challenger II; a fishing boat converted into a sea lab by Swiss scientist Jacques Piccard. On this site, you will find information on the main characteristics of the Mariana Trench, its exploration, and its ecosystem. The Biology section of the site covers the fish and various (organisms and microorganisms) of the deep, what makes these creatures unique, and the fascinating ways in which they live and survive. The Oceanography section explores the data pertaining to the Mariana Trench and other deep sea formations. The Exploration section relates some of the events pertaining to the first survey of the MT, and the history of deep sea exploration. We have also included a section on the Mariana Arc, from an article published by NOAA(National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Magazine Online. In addition to this, we also added a nautical measurement conversion table. In closing we have added two supplemental sections...
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...Prior to the beginning of World War I the attitude toward war was extremely positive. People were excited about the war and they greeted it with enthusiasm. In Europe they were told it was going to over by Christmas so people weren’t expecting it to be long nor brutal for that matter. The press romanticized the war with various propaganda; so many men enlisted and were very proud to serve. They viewed it as they were going to be heroes and a victory was on its way; and no men wanted to miss the action. War made people, men and women, feel very nationalistic for their country, thus making them eager to contribute as much as they could to the war effort. Some men felt war was going to be a “great adventure” and gave “the war an ideal and almost romantic character”. All of Europe also helped romanticized the war and heroism because the people no experience with a long bloody war, they didn’t know what to expect. Contributions other than enlisting in the war were numerous. They men and women wanted to help out with the war effort for their country because it made them feel proud and integrated with the war. Some people contributed with food rations and where they donated food to the soldiers. Others planted victory gardens and some women took over the jobs the men did. Women also joined the Red Cross to help out in the war. The wealthier people donated money to the war effort so they could contribute in a way. In that early stage of the war they didn’t know how bad, long and bloody...
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...arms fire into the mist to their front, which made doubly sure of safety at dawn. Breakfast and Weapon Cleaning Following stand to the men would have their breakfast and clean their weapons. Breakfast would be brought up in containers from the field kitchens and the weapon cleaning would be done in shifts, with only a portion of the men cleaning their weapons at any one time. Inspection Breakfast would be followed by the daily inspection by the Platoon Officer and Sergeant. Weapons would be checked to ensure that they were clean and serviceable as would the men's clothing. Often this inspection would include a ‘foot inspection' looking for signs of ‘trench foot'. Trench Foot was a medical condition peculiar to trench life. It was a fungal infection of the feet caused by cold, wet and unsanitary trench conditions. It could turn gangrenous and result in amputation. Some 20,000 casualties...
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...World War I Soldier Joy Lisak HIS120 March 6, 2013 Rodney Cavazo World War I Soldier World War I was a tremendous and horrifying event that lasted four years from 1914 to 1918. It caused the death of millions of soldiers and innocent civilians, and an unknown amount of property damage. In the beginning, America tried to stay neutral but eventually it was necessary to join the Allied troops in battle against Germany. In 1915, a German U-boat bombed the passenger ship Lusitania, and many Americans were among the victims. This event was one of the main reasons that American’s public opinion turned in favor of entering the war against the Germans. Congress declared war in 1917. The Second Battle of the Marne was fought from July 15 to August 5, 1918 on the Western Front in France. This was the turning point of World War I when the Allies gained ground against the Germans and eventually won the war. It began with a German attack at the Marne River and the Allied defense that led to a win over the Germans. The victory came from 85,000 fresh American troops joining the battle along with the British and Italians (Duffy, 2009). The presence of fresh American troops, unbroken by years of fighting, boosted the Allies resistance. The Germans were successful in crossing the river to the west of the French town of Reims, and pushed forward for nine miles before the French, American, British, and Italian soldiers stopped their advance. This loss was the...
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...I’ve been in the trenches of the battle of the Somme for a few weeks now, and I can safely say, the conditions have not improved since I’ve been stationed here. We have steadily, for two weeks been trying to push into no-mans land, without success. It seems every time one of our men pushes out of the trench, he falls back in without life. I’m worried one day that the soldier who falls back into the trench next will be myself. It is certainly not an easy life living in these trenches. We typically spend eight days in a frontline trench being shot at, then return to the reserve trench for four days, and after that we would have a short stay in a rest camp for another four days. By far the most relieving step in the trip was the return and stay at the rest camp. Although the Somme and the surrounding area are quite nice normally, in time of war it’s a hellhole. Non-stop shells going off, seeing the ones who you’ve become acquainted to fall, and on top of that, the extremely poor conditions of the trenches. Over these weeks I’ve had to endure the seemingly endless struggle of this great war. At this point I am almost regretting enlisting, however, I know once the war ends, it’ll be well worth it....
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...Trenches were long narrow ditches that were dug into the ground where some soldiers lived day and night. Only a small proportion of the army would serve there. The trenches were the domain of the infantry, with the supporting arms of the mortars and machine guns. The trenches were built in the front line or in any sort of dangerous places. But behind them was a mass of supply lines, training establishments, stores, workshops, headquarters and all the other elements of the 1914-1918 system of war, in which the majority of troops were employed. Frontline trenches were usually seven feet deep and six feet wide. The conditions for the soldiers in the war were very risky. Death was a constant companion to those who were serving in the front line...
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...their country! Others were simply afraid of receiving a white feather from the women. After 3 weeks of training they were sent up the line towards the front. The soldiers slept in dugouts which were of shocking condition. Why were the German dugouts better? – Because they could keep the land they’d already won which meant they had more time to make their trenches more ‘luxurious’. Each soldier had morning duties including Stand-To, refilling sandbags, repairing duckboards, cleaning out the latrines etc. During the soldiers spare time they would write letters back to Britain to tell their relatives how they are. The Defence Realm Act made sure all letters written must be censored before being posted off. Soldiers could not complain about the trench life! Other than writing home, another activity to do in spare time was to read the Wiper’s Times with their comrades. This newspaper made funny jokes especially about leaders. This temporarily relieved the soldier’s worries and as well as bringing cheer to their hearts, helped them to see the funny side of things. A second Stand-To is held at sunset when the light is completely gone and just like at dawn, the soldiers stand on the fire-step with rifles and bayonets to prevent unexpected enemy attacks. After it is safe to ‘stand-down’ a few soldiers still remain on alert if they have been ordered to stand on sentry duty for a couple hours. If you get caught falling asleep on sentry duty you will be punished with execution. By summer, the...
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...To what extent was battle of the Somme 1916 a learning curve? Some the mouth of hell pages 263-281 Lyn Macdonald Films used to show the troops in a good fun light masking the true events of the Somme, people getting anxious since some films were not as censored and families would start to worry especially when half the post home was censored with loads of the letter written off. There was photographers which both to pictures and filmed live events at the Somme which had a significant event on those families back at home since the films had portrayed for so long how the fight was a winning battle and that everything was fine from living conditions to casualties. For the first time the people of Britain are witnessing the true extent of war. The camera men would take pictures of the aid posts as well as the trenches which for families and new enlists was a terrible sight and worried the nation. The photographers were wary at the time that maybe it could cause a big scene back in Britain. The generals said that the push towards the line led to so many disappointments but yet no one stopped the tactics. There was said to be the first use of tanks on the Somme which was a turning point tin the tactics and the push became easier and was the success and edge needed for no mans land. Letters and diaries from the soldiers showed the boost in moral with the tanks and how Germans were terrified of these machines of the fields and that soldiers had stepped up there fighting and German soldiers...
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...Nicole Johnson 05 April 2012 Western Civilization 2 The Great War The war was supposed to be short, and be one of great movement like many other wars. However, it was characterized by its lack of movement instead. These standstill years were represented on the Western Front from October 1914 to March 1918. There was some movement on the Western front during these years though. The war began with movement by the Germans advancing throughout Belgium and France. Quickly though stalemate and trench warfare became the way of the war. Life in the trenches during the war varied between different fronts and sectors. But what was it really like for the men fighting in the trenches? Why were so many people unprepared for the outbreak of the war in 1914? The last time there had been such a huge conflict between nations dated back to the days of Napoleon. People did not expect one assassination to explode into a full-blown war. The conflicts between the initially involved nations had existed for many years, and it was assumed the assignation would merely lead to political, diplomatic negotiations. However, some argue that people were in fact prepared for the war. The only part that people didn’t expect was how the Germans attacked. When the Germans went through Belgium, this brought Great Britain into the war since they had ensured Belgium’s independence. Why did so many people expect a short war in 1914? Why wasn’t it short? Many world leaders felt the war would be...
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