Daily routines in the trenches
For all the soldiers in the trenches, life was extremely difficult and they had a lot of chores that they had to do. They were not just firing and attacking the enemy. They were rotated between three lines, front line, support line and reserve line as well as a short period of rest then it began again.
stand to at dawn
The routine began by sergeants and officers waking those who were still asleep for the morning 'stand to'. This toke place an hour before the break of dawn. Every soldier was given a bayonet and told to take up their positions in case of raids, attacks, shell fire etc. Both sides had their 'stand to' however, each side knew that they were prepared for them and it was at this time of the day that attacks previously planned took place.
As it grew lighter, the ritual was accompanied by the 'morning hate'. At this time both sides relieved their tension by rifle fire into the mist of their front to assure the safety of the morning. |
Breakfast and weapon cleaning
inspection
This followed as soon as everyone was feed and weapons had been cleaned. Platoon Officers and Sergeants would come and take a look at your to see if it was serviceable and clean also this was the case with the clothes as well. Occasionally, with this check, your feet would be looked at to see if there was any sign or indication that you had trench foot.
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Daily cHORES
When the inspection was complete, jobs were assigned to each soldier. It could have been refilling the sand bags, repairing the duckboards, removing the water that had accumulated at the bottom of the trench, digging latrines and other kind of jobs that was needed to keep the trench in working conditions.
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daily Boredom
Because of the distance from the front line trench to the enemy trench, movement was limited to the essentials. So when the soldiers were not working they were settled down very quickly and soon boredom weighted heavy among them. With daily activities complete, soldiers were allowed to write letters home, read, repair their own equipment and prepare their own meals. They would try and catch whatever sleep they could however small it was as they could be woken up with a task that needed to be done.
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stand to at dusk
Re-supply and maintenance
With darkness falling, the soldiers would be given orders to stand down. The night's work of re-supply and maintenance would begin. Some men would be sent to the back to get rations and water whilst the others would be on sentry duty. This meant that they had to watch over the trench whilst the men slept and also keep and eye on the enemy. Sentries would never be on duty longer than 2 hours because they would be likely to fall asleep and it was thought a serious offence. It was punishable by death by the firing squad.
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Patrolling, listening post & wiring parties
With darkness descending also brought with it the need to patrol No Man's Land, man the listening posts and send out wiring parties. The patrolling was to have dominance over No Man's Land so the enemy could not launch a surprise raid over night. Sometimes, the enemy would be might when patrolling, then a decision would have to be made whether to fight or to just let them pass. If the choice was to fight, this would be hand to hand because to fire a weapon would cause the enemy to fire at you. The listening posts was so that the enemy didn't sneak up on you. The wiring parties were sent to repair the damaged wire or enhance it .
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