Letters From the Trenches: A Soldier of the Great War Read Online Free PDF

forward trenches, albeit at trench-floor, rather than ground, level. The facility itself would consist of a plank fixed a
couple of feet above a hole in the ground. Toilet paper? No chance! – the men used torn-up newspaper or any other ‘bumf’ (bum fodder) they could lay hands on. The latrines were
approached by a communication trench, and were never an inviting prospect. Many soldiers ‘improvised’; an empty bully-beef tin, for instance, could be filled and slung over the
parapet.
    The daily morning ‘hate’ was part of the routine in the front line. The day almost always started with an exchange of artillery shells, along with rifle and machine-gun fire,
beginning just before dawn, the time when an assault was most likely to take place. The ‘hate’ was a way of discouraging an attack.
    Death in the trenches was always a companion. If soldiers ‘kept their heads down’ they were fairly safe from enemy rifle and machine-gun fire, but shells and mortar bombs were
another matter. Gas masks were extremely uncomfortable and made movement or any strenuous activity almost impossible, although they were a reasonably effective protection against the gas. Every
front-line trench had gas alarms positioned along it at intervals, usually brass shell cases which, when struck with a metal bar, made a loud bell-like sound. These would be sounded at the first
sign of a gas bombardment, causing soldiers to fumble hastily for their masks.
    Surviving shelling was a matter of chance. Only the deepest and strongest bunkers could withstand a direct hit, but could act as a sump in which the poison gas would collect. There was no
defence against accurate shelling. A shrapnel shell would be packed with ball bearings that scattered when the projectile exploded. If one landed in an occupied section of trench, there would be
many casualties. A direct hit from a high-explosive shell would leave little trace of any nearby soldiers. Anyone in the same stretch of trench would certainly be killed or badly wounded. For this
reason trenches were not dug in straight lines, but with kinks and corners, often in a geometrical pattern like the battlements of a castle. This also had the merit of preventing any enemy soldiers
who might break into a trench from being able to fire along it, since there would be a turn every few yards, screening the next sector.
    From time to time small parties of soldiers from either side would venture into no man’s land. They would be sent out to repair or strengthen the wire, to reconnoitre the enemy trenches,
and perhaps to try to snatch a prisoner for interrogation. Of necessity, these forays would be done under cover of darkness. If the patrols were detected in their work, machine-gun fire could make
this a very unpleasant and dangerous occupation.
    Even less pleasant were the tasks Harry refers to as ‘suicide posts.’ These were concealed listening posts in no man’s land, often not much more than a shell hole close to the
enemy wire, in which a section of men would spend the hours of darkness listening and watching to try to gain some knowledge of the enemy’s activities. If they were detected, their chances of
surviving were very slim.
    By the time Harry arrived, the front line would have stunk of human waste and rotting flesh. It was a smell that the survivors would never forget. In some sections of the line the concentration
of death was overwhelming, so that it was almost impossible to extend a trench or dig a latrine without uncovering bodies or parts of bodies.
    The ordinary soldier, like Harry, would spend a proportion of his active service in the front line. About a third of his time would be spent there and in the immediate support trenches. A little
longer would be spent in reserve, ready to stand to or move in the event of an enemy attack. The rest of the time, about seventy days a year, would be spent in rest areas such as Poperinghe, well
behind the line. With a bit of luck,